Growing Runner Beans.
I've just moved to a new house and not having many plants i have decided to grow a few. All of my plants seem to be doing okay however the runner beans don't seem to want to grow. I firstly took two top lids from a pair of Apple ear phones case and for one of them i cut out three cotton wipes and placed it at the bottom before making it soggy. After that i then placed four beans on either side of the casing before i then used the exes cuttings to fill the gaps between them. Once i put the beans in place i cut out another cotton wipe and placed it on top before then made a tape hinge so that i could put the other lid on the top to create a box. Ive been keeping this on my shelf at room temperature waiting for them to grow. after that having not been successful i then decided to plant a single bean in a small flower pot to introduce the seed to some nutrients from the soil with the warmth from my room and a good amount of water but this still was not successful. despite plenty of warmth and water what else does these beans need in order to grow? Or is there something I'm doing wrong here?
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It could be that you have a duff lot of seeds.
Seems a bit early to be sowing runners anyway.
I do them at the end of April in cardboard tubes (as supplied wrapped in toilet paper) full of seed compost. Stand them all in a tray with a little water in the bottom. Harden off and plant out (tubes & all) in late May.
Or sow them at the end of May where you want them to grow, but expect to lose many of them to mice.
+1 Steve.
Okay so i have dug them up to take a look and for the pot it was starting to get rotten so maybe too much water then.
I was thinking of growing them at my balcony where i have metal railings thinking it would look quite nice.
Thank you for all the help by the way.
Yep - runner beans will climb nicely on railings - as long as they're high enough! Big pot though, or growbag, as they have extensive roots.
If your balcony railings aren't very tall or there's not much room for big pots, you could have a look at dwarf climbing French beans. They don't (I don't think) cling as runner beans do but they are shorter and can be tied in to canes and the canes tied to the railings.
I didn't understand what you meant in the OP, with all the messing about with ear phones or something. Just put one bean in each pot of compost. Not four.
sow at the end of April or beginning of May, for planting out in June.
Benijie; using a pot or loo roll middle is what I find easiest as the excess water can drain away (it is very easy to over water plants in our enthusiasm) and it's a lot less fuss than had you tried to transplant a seedling from cotton wool to soil (they are very delicate) when it out grew your case.
Try again in a few weeks, I find beans don't need as much fussing as you think so don't think they're like new born that need your undivided attention.
good luck!