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Runner beans not developing.

PlashingPlashing Posts: 248
in Fruit & veg
Has any of you had problems with runner beans not growing to any length,grow to around 4" then the seeds start developing and the beans going stringy,all the time I have been growing them I have never had this happen before only on ones that get missed,I am watering and feeding them well,I have plenty setting but not growing to any length.Having heard the forecast for tomorrow I maybe not have any left on my wigwam in any case.

Posts

  • nick615nick615 Posts: 579
    All too often @Plashing problems with runner beans stem from them being grown in pots/raised beds etc., whereas done 'properly' in the ground and well prepared they're pretty well immune.  What's your situation?
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Billericay, EssexPosts: 6,280
    I think you can blame the weather
    I had some lovely runners just forming before the heatwave.
    They stopped growing when the heat arrived and the beans inside swelled leaving the beans about 4" long with fat beans inside and looking very rough and stringy.
    I did get plenty before the heat arrived though.
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • CamelliadCamelliad Posts: 229
    Runner beans were one of the only type of veg that I could grow successfully this year. They really took off when I moved the pot into shade - no direct sun. They shrivelled in direct sun.
  • cornellycornelly Posts: 930
    Ours had the opposite effect, they grew faster than we could eat them, family and neighbours had some but still many went uneatable by going stringy and tough, good long beans too, grown in the ground as always, twenty plants from my own seed.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 947
    My runner beans have grown well this year, average length 15ins but that is growing Enorma which is an exhibition variety. For the last few years I have dug a pit in the autumn and filled it with kitchen veg. waste. Cover with soil just before planting the beans in a circle around the edge of the pit. Leave a dip in the centre to water into.The beans love getting their roots into the damp rotting manure in the pit. It certainly helps to avoid them getting dry feet which is when they age prematurely.
    I do not show veg. I like Enorma because I hate slicing curly beans !
     I also check my beans as they begin to develop as I have noticed that as soon as the baby beans touch a stem or leaf they curl away from it so I lift them clear and let them hang straight down.
    A bit sad of me really!
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy North London Posts: 3,204
    I always grow climbing French and Runner beans. If it is a hot dry summer the French beans do better if it is cooler & wetter then the Runners are best. The ideal (which I'm working on this year) is grow the French first and the Runners a bit later then, if as we have this year we get heat then cooler wetter in Aug both do well.
    AB Still learning

  • nick615nick615 Posts: 579
    Joyce Goldenlily , you clearly prepare and get the rewards.  My version of your 'pit' would be lined with an inch or two of newspaper to hold moisture, and I keep my kitchen waste etc. in a large plastic bin for tipping into my pit nearer planting time, but the net result is still 'never fail'.  Everlasting 'sticks' complete the picture.
  • cornellycornelly Posts: 930
    The variety I grow is the runner bean that Enorma came from, I was given seeds by the man who bred them, he was a great horticulturalist Brythen Stenner, all the top show people grew them with great success, I have kept my own seed over the years, may be a little diluted in fertilization from other garden beans but still doing me well.
  • PlashingPlashing Posts: 248
    Thanks for all the replies,I will try better next year and take all comments on board.
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