Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi All, I am still very new to growing fruit and veg and this year have had a go at runner beans. The plants have grown well and have been flowering very well for several weeks now, however i have just one bean growing. is this normal for this time of year? or is there a problem and if so what can i do?/what have i done wrong?

many thanks in advance.

There is time yet. I have a small row of runner beans in flower with just a few small beans but I am anticipating plenty more soon

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God Bless
Bill

http://drbillsveggies.blogspot.com/

ive only had a handfull and they have all grown very oddly. i spoke to people at the allotment i go to sometimes and it seems to be a problem everyone is having. i think it is the heat as no one seems to be getting many runners.

The heat has caused problems this year. I've got a short row of one called sunbright (I think) that is a late maturing one that should see me up to the end of september, & they are just coming into flower now so jopefully they have mist the worst of the heat.

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Iwas always told if you cant get your runners to set beans spray them with water and it always works for me

hollow101, I think this is probably the worst year you could have chosen to try to grow runner beans. The very hot and very dry weather are not the conditions they appreciate. Also, if you water them with cold tapwater, they tend to drop their flowers. Our plants have been absolutely covered with flower, and the majority is on the ground. We are getting some beans setting, but with the hot dry conditions they are going very beany and very dry early.

I think we should get a reasonable crop, especially if we get the rain forecast, but there's always next year, sigh.

valmarg

My beans this year have provided a few picking, but nothing like they normally do. I got lots of short beans and curly, which started producing the beans before the pods are developed properly.
I have noticed though a revival in my beans in the last few days and have many new beans growing properly and lots of new flowers too.

Fingers crossed a bumper harvest is still posssible

My beans have performed as well this year as they did last, but being from this far north we haven't suffered from any drought or had the raging hot temperatures that those of you down south have had to contend with. The only thing I have noticed is that they were a bit later in setting beans from flowers this year.

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

I was thinking that too SR - my plants have been in flower for ages, but just tonight picked two beans - to go with six dwarf french beans. Told OH its just a taster of things to come. So hope I'm right He is growing a little tired of carrots!

So now isn't the time to say that our 3 wigwams of Goldfield, Blauhilde and Kentucky Wonder are 'beaning' faster than we can give them away! Especially the Goldfield - very yummy too. Last week the OH took a more than half-full medium trug of beans into work because we didn't want to waste them. Everyone loved them.




(Oh and we've also entered cucumber fest. time!)

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

I always find that the first flowers on my beans develop into nothing. I always get excited at the first flush of flowers, then no beans. They always do this for me - but then come up trumps a few weeks later and start producing good beans.

My beans have been about the same as normal - maybe a little slower, but I wasn't sure if it was a different variety. They're coming on strong now and producing lots of beans, but it did take a while... so don't give up hollow101!!

add some sugar to water when spraying to encourage the bees to polinate the flowers.the setting of the flowers seem to be a big problem this season.

Jennie
You seem to be about two weeks behind me with a lot of veggies, so you can tell your OH that your beans will be arriving in floods in a fortnight

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

My beans have definitely been reacting to the weather. I got quite a lot to start with then no more set over the really hot weather, now they're setting again. So I think its the weather, hopefully it'll be better now its got a little cooler.

He'll be delighted! Although a small harvest tonight it was nice to have green veg for a change.

We have so many french beans that we have started leaving them on people's doorsteps and running away without ringing the bell....

My runners are a bit late this year, I've just had 2 good pickings off them so far but still quite a few flowers on.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.