Runner bean "Firestorm"

**veggiechicken** · 26-04-2014, 08:02 PM

I'm trying them this year for the first time

**Greenleaves** · 26-04-2014, 08:05 PM

Have you sown them yet VC?

**Potstubsdustbins** · 26-04-2014, 08:08 PM

Grew them for the first time last year.

They were prolific so much so that this year I am growing them again and have cut my bean row down by two plants.

Taste like Red Rum and they freeze well.

**veggiechicken** · 26-04-2014, 08:13 PM

Originally posted by Greenleaves View Post

Have you sown them yet VC?

Yes - I have 6 sturdy plants in root trainers in the GH - sounds like 4 plants too many

Also growing White Lady for the first time.

**Greenleaves** · 26-04-2014, 08:14 PM

Thanks, looks like a plan

**Greenleaves** · 26-04-2014, 08:16 PM

Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post

Yes - I have 6 sturdy plants in root trainers in the GH - sounds like 4 plants too many

Also growing White Lady for the first time.

I have grown White Lady for a number of years, great taste and sets really well. Long croper too.

**andy_j** · 27-04-2014, 05:35 AM

I have firestorm and moonlight both here on my desk ready to be sown today. First time with them, ive heard nothing but good about them

**Thelma Sanders** · 27-04-2014, 08:00 AM

I grew both last year, but preferred Moonlight - the pods of Firestorm weren't as smooth as Moonlight

**mothhawk** · 27-08-2016, 06:26 PM

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to grow Firestorm again from self-saved seeds? I've got one or two that have grown too old to eat green, so I thought I'd leave them to ripen the seeds, but does it come true again?

This is the first time I've grown them, and I'm really pleased, they've cropped very well through the heat we've had, while Scarlet Emperor has had loads of flowers which haven't set because the nights have been too warm, and is only just starting to come into a good crop now.

Next year I shall sow Firestorm early, and not sow SE until June, so that I get beans from them later, and hopefully less mass of growth at the tops of the canes, which has taken a battering from the strong winds we've had.

**Penellype** · 27-08-2016, 07:27 PM

Firestorm does not appear to be F1, but it is described as a cross between a runner bean and a french bean. I think if it was a first generation cross it would say so, and therefore I would be hopeful that it would breed true, but hopeful rather than confident.

**mothhawk** · 29-08-2016, 03:25 PM

Thanks, Pen, that's what I was wondering about, whether it would come true as it's already a crossbreed. I'll try the damp kitchen roll test on a couple of beans when they are ready to store, to see if they will actually sprout, then give it a go next year.

**bearded bloke** · 29-08-2016, 03:53 PM

Been having a 'dig' around & found they are a hybrid .....

French bean x runner beans crosses; Moonlight™ and Firestorm™ were also stars of the show with their self-pollinating and smoother bean characteristics.

.... so the question now is, does seed saved from hybridised plants come true

off for more 'digging' I think >>>>>>>>>>

Info' taken from .. Tozer's Runner Beans Nominated Best Buy Runner Beans by Which? Gardening | Tozer Seeds News

**Thelma Sanders** · 29-08-2016, 07:33 PM

This blog considers bean crosses
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2011/0...-bean-crosses/

If the only way they can make the cross was by removing stamens for each flower there would never be enough seed to be sold each year. Once the original crosses were made and plants raised, the seed must grow true, surely.

**Penellype** · 29-08-2016, 07:51 PM

I wouldn't expect them to breed true, if they are a hybrid.

Suppose there was just one gene that determined whether it was a runner bean or a french bean, lets call it B. All beans must have 2 copies of this gene, suppose runner beans are always BB, french beans are always bb. If you breed a runner x french cross, all of the offspring will be hybrids, with one B and one b each. If you then breed the hybrids together there are 4 possibilities - BB, Bb, bB and bb. Bb and bB are obviously the same, so half of your 2nd generation will be hybrids, 1/4 will be runners and 1/4 will be french.

It is highly unlikely to be as simple as that, and the more genes there are involved the harder it is to breed a 2nd generation offspring that has the relevant charactaristics of the hybrid because the number of possible combinations increases rapidly as the number of required genes increases. That is why F1s don't breed true.

There is no harm in trying it, but I would not be hopeful if these beans are a first generation cross.

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