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Storing French Bean seeds

Birdy13Birdy13 Posts: 595
in Fruit & veg
When my French Beans finished this year I kept back some of the pods to provide bean seeds for next year. My question is simply this: once the pods have dried and turned brown should the beans be left IN the pods until sowing next year or should I remove the beans from the pods and store them differently? If the latter, how and where should they be stored?


Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I take them out and store them in a brown paper bag or envelope and keep them in a dry sideboard drawer. 
    😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Birdy13Birdy13 Posts: 595
    Hello Dove, thanks for that quick reply. Am I also right to leave the beans in the pods until the pods are dry and brown? And are the beans only ready to leave their pods once the pods have split open on their own?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hi @Birdy13  😊 I keep them in a dry place and remove the seeds when the pods are dry and brittle. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Birdy13Birdy13 Posts: 595
    That was more or less my instinctive thought but it's good to have it confirmed.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    😊

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Digging-itDigging-it Posts: 117
    Hi, I have just been saving French bean seeds from my plants grown this year. BUT I have so many I can’t possibly use them all next year does anyone know if it’s Ok to dry the seed and use them in stews/casseroles like cannellini or borlotti beans? 

    Thanks

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited November 2019
    Yes.  That's what they do round here anyway.  I don't grow beans as they need too much irrigation.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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