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Runner Beans not producing

hellsyukhellsyuk Posts: 5
in Fruit & veg
My runner beans grew lots of flowers (which have now all gone) look very green and healthy and have grown very tall on canes, however I only have a couple of small runner beans out of 5 plants. Should I have a better crop by now or is there still time?

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello and welcome to the forum @hellsyuk :)

    Sometimes the first lot of flowers don't set, but there should be lots more buds ... my runner beans have just started producing (should pick the first ones this week) but I expect to still be picking well into September.  
    Have yours got more flower buds coming?
    Can you take some pics of your plants for us ... something might give us a clue as to what's going on. 

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





  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    As Dove says, we don't have much info.  Properly prepared, this shouldn't happen but these days so many folk try growing beans in pots, possibly through necessity I accept, but the flowers then need to be sprayed with a fine mist of water to help them set.  If you can devote a square yard to beans, you ought to be able to avoid future problems of this sort.
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Where you are makes a difference too. 
    Its been an odd growing year @hellsyuk but usually @Dovefromabove is pulling beans down south of me two weeks before mine in the midlands, and in Scotland its later still. 
  • hellsyukhellsyuk Posts: 5
    Thanks for your comments. We are in the South West. I have planted them in a raised bed next to purple teepee beans which have a good crop currently. I have attached some pictures for reference.
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    I can only guess - and it IS a guess - that there isn't enough nutrient in the bed.  These raised ones aren't conducive to runner beans IMHO.  All year I keep a 150 litre barrel in the garden, into which I empty anything biodegradable from the kitchen bin to discarded cabbage leaves and so on.  Having dug a 15 inch deep 3ft circular pit at planting time, I line it with an inch or two thickness of newspapers (to hold moisture) and tip the contents of my barrel in on top before backfilling the soil.  This never fails me, so I leave it for your approval.
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