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Runner beans not growing but have beans on!

me455me455 Posts: 7
in Fruit & veg
planted runner beans in soil rich with manure and they have grown about 10 inches and they have got beans on.  They don't seem to be growing anymore and there are no flowers on them.  I think it might be the cold weather we have had and its stunted growth.  Leaves look healthy enough -- QUESTION should I take off the little beans to encourage further growth?  the beans are about 3 inches long
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  • B3B3 Posts: 24,463
    Are they dwarf bean plants?
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • me455me455 Posts: 7
    No they're normal ones 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 82,743
    Two thoughts so far ...

    Did you save the seeds yourself or are they ‘bought in a packet ones’’? ... just occasionally there are mix ups in the packer’s processes. 

    Have the plants made any attempt to climb their supports?


    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 20,967
    Good heavens! My runner beans are about 8 feet tall with no beans. All the flowers fell off in the French heatwave. I'm in Dordogne. But where are you? I have just come back from 3 weeks in the UK and it wasn't cold.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • me455me455 Posts: 7
    Dovefromabove - a friend (greenfingers) had grown them from seed and gave them to us when they were ready to put in the ground - planted in a planter with lots of rich soil and manure.  They have grown a little bit but that's it and haven't really tried to grow up their supports

  • me455me455 Posts: 7
    Busy-Lizzie I'm in UK South Wales and we had a cold spell after we had planted them (temp at night time was around 10degrees for awhile) so wonder if that has been the problem.  Have grown the beans from the same source/person before and they grow like triffids
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 82,743
    edited July 2019
    I don't wish to cast aspersions 😊 but I just wonder whether your gardening friend also grows French or Dwarf beans?  

    So many of us fail to label pots :flushed: thinking we’ll recognise or remember which is which ... we’ve all done it ... some of us more than once 😂 

    Also its a little bit early for runners to be producing beans (in this neck of the woods anyway) whereas French beans are usually a little bit earlier. 

    Is that a possibility do you think?
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • me455me455 Posts: 7
    You may well be right Dovefromabove - as its odd that they're all the same size and got little beans on - oh well its little beans for me then :) - thanks for your comments
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 82,743
    Well, my thought is that if they’re not twining around the canes or whatever supports they have, then they’re not runner beans ... you can’t stop them twining if they’re runners 😂 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • LynLyn Posts: 21,373
    What size is the planter, and how many plants in it?
    they're better grown in the ground. Yes if they are still small weak plants, take off the small beans. 
    I take the first ones off to give the plants time to grow and strengthen first. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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