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Post by traab on Feb 9, 2012 10:21:35 GMT -5
I would like advise or to here of your experiences getting runner beans from the subtropics to mature seed in a temperate garden.
I had planted runner beans from a central American market and was only able to see one flower a few days before frost. I will try again and want to keep the variety/ies and produce seed Extreme techniques are welcome. I assume equal hours of night length to day length (short day) may trigger flowering. They come from long growing seasons.
Last minute I dug roots which are dormant in the cold and I plan to set out if they survive.
My question is what ideas may our global readers/writers have to share for producing seed.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 9, 2012 12:02:29 GMT -5
Traab you are right on target. It seems in my garden the first year I plant a runner, it doesn't do that great. If it comes back from the root, it does wonderfully. Otherwise I have to get it to seed and acclimatize to the light in my garden, vs. tropical garden.
One year I took one of those large peat pots and started the bean inside. (Watch for white flies!) By the time we got to spring, it was happily growing up a little trellis. Eventually, a little at a time, I got it outdoors. It survived and I got a handful of seed. The second year, I got a quart of seed.
Try getting seed from someone nearer your latitude than directly from the tropics.
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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 9, 2012 12:26:49 GMT -5
Not sure if this is helpful but I'm growing temperate runner beans inside in a sunny window. They aren't flowering (not surprising) but I wonder what you could do with that? It makes a pretty house plant.
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Post by traab on Feb 9, 2012 18:07:12 GMT -5
Thanks for these experiences, it looks like a second season after overwintering may be needed.
Has anyone gotten tropical runner beans to produce the first year? Early planting or shading plants part of the day to increase the dark period?
Your experiences can save me a lot of trial and error or at least direct it!
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Post by turtleheart on Feb 12, 2012 9:35:07 GMT -5
my aztec and tarahumara runners fruited fine here in PA, but the stink bugs did their worst to them.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 12, 2012 13:12:36 GMT -5
I did Tarahumara as well. They were very late to make seed, although they were loaded with flowers. They did not want to climb like my other runners. They were very much like a dumosa. I had fewer beans off of them than any other variety. These were from Native Seed Search. So I know that they have been traveling North and acclimatizing. I saw some runners on GRIN that I was interested in. The ones that grow in the Milpas...but Molly the curator for beans was too busy to talk about it to me. Attachments:
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