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Post by robertb on Feb 11, 2013 13:32:42 GMT -5
Dunno about the States, but it was definitely grown as an ornamental when it first arrived in the UK
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Post by benboo on Feb 11, 2013 20:21:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice everyone!
I will try to order some Insuk's Wang Kong and other seeds from sandhill.
atash, let me know how your P. polystachios work out. I will order some anyways, but do you have any advice for keeping them alive once they arrive?
Oxbow, That would be nice, although I have little to trade. send me a pm.
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Post by atash on Feb 12, 2013 2:52:04 GMT -5
Judging from my own experience, they got a bad case of environmental shock from being shipped right out of the greenhouse, instead of being hardened off first. It didn't kill mine, but it did shock them into abrupt dormancy that made me think they were dead. And it might have done in Blue Adzuki's.
If you have a greenhouse or even just a warm cold frame (oxymoron, I know...), try putting them there immediately on receipt. Try keeping them in greenhouse conditions: warm but well-ventilated.
Also, I recall that mine arrived in a muddy mess. Now there is a dilemma: Leguminosae tend to get transplant shock easily, but most of them are fussy about drainage too. I didn't want to disturb the roots, but I wanted them to drain better, so I potted them up in something bigger, adding better-draining medium than what they were in.
The first year, they didn't do much. The 2nd year, one of mine shot up like a rocket. My guess is that being perennial, they spend more energy on building up the rootstock than the top. I suspect if I play my cards right, I could get blossoms this year. Does it require cross-pollination? It might. That might be a problem if the other one doesn't bloom, which probably it won't, for some reason having fallen behind.
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Post by zeedman on Feb 12, 2013 3:03:52 GMT -5
OK, I figured out how to post photos; my browser wasn't displaying all of the buttons. This is a photo of "Insuk's Wang Kong".  Note the length of the flower spikes. This had a longer period of bloom that any other runner bean I grew before last year, continuing long after the plants had set a heavy pod load. "Gigandes" had a pretty good showing in 2012, but then, it got a late start & never set its full pod load... I'll see how it does this year, under (hopefully) better conditions. |
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Post by blueadzuki on Feb 12, 2013 8:38:54 GMT -5
Judging from my own experience, they got a bad case of environmental shock from being shipped right out of the greenhouse, instead of being hardened off first. It didn't kill mine, but it did shock them into abrupt dormancy that made me think they were dead. And it might have done in Blue Adzuki's. No, mine actually were dead (even the roots dried up and or rotted, by the time I got rid of them they were mush) Though I suppose the environmental shock could have been what killed them. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Feb 12, 2013 13:00:32 GMT -5
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Post by diane on Feb 12, 2013 15:35:58 GMT -5
By 'small', do you mean the plants, the pods, or the seeds?
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Feb 12, 2013 19:07:36 GMT -5
By 'small', do you mean the plants, the pods, or the seeds? The seeds |
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 14, 2013 0:15:05 GMT -5
Atash, Doc Molly before she retired from GRIN told me that they are self-pollinating and outcross like mad. I'm not worrying about it because my entire goal is to find out varieties that will become perennial. Even if they cross at some point, the roots which get bigger and bigger will be the original strain.  They need insects to pollinate them, which is why they do poorly in captivity  |
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Post by atash on Feb 14, 2013 1:03:30 GMT -5
OK, please be patient with me, because this might be important: You're referring to P. polystachios, right? By "self-pollinating", you mean they're self-compatible, right? I sure hope so. By "outcrossing" do you mean to others of their kind, or even to other species? If other species, that wouldn't be a bad thing, because they could stand some domestication. I THINK P. coccinea also needs pollination, but that's not usually a problem; they're highly attractive to hummingbirds. It was only a problem for my bush types, that were too low to the ground, and didn't hold the flowers out enough, to attract pollinator attention. I have seen specimens in other people's yards just loaded with beans. Mine have always performed modestly. I probably don't plant enough of them. They probably pollinate better en-masse. At the University of Washington, they have tubs of them that hit about 25 feet or so. They presumably put them in frost-free storage for the winter. A hybrid between those two, if possible, might not be a bad thing. Both perennial, both fairly attractive, one of them domesticated. A hardier version of P. coccinea would make a great ornamental-edible plant for an arbor. It would be worthwhile to preserve the original, unhybridized species, on the theory that it's getting rare in habitat. Apparently Round-up (tm) has been hard on it.  Atash, Doc Molly before she retired from GRIN told me that they are self-pollinating and outcross like mad. I'm not worrying about it because my entire goal is to find out varieties that will become perennial. Even if they cross at some point, the roots which get bigger and bigger will be the original strain. They need insects to pollinate them, which is why they do poorly in captivity |
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Post by oxbowfarm on Feb 14, 2013 7:52:57 GMT -5
Rob, I think P. coccineus actually need insects to pollinate in a North American ecosystem. Which is fine if you have any bumblebee's at all, they are highly attractive to bumblebees as well as humming birds. Red flowers usually mean a bird pollinated plant, but I've watched hummingbirds feed on runnerbeans and they don't trip the flowers. They hover off to the side and poke their bill into the back of the keel where it meets the standard (banner) and never put any pressure on the keel at all. Maybe in the center of origin of runnerbeans there are species among the enormous diversity of hummingbirds or some other bird that behave differently, but North American migrant hummingbirds just rob the nectar without getting the job done. Bumblebees do the job, I've watched them. In order for a runnerbean flower to pollinate the keel has to be pushed down to slide the anthers over the stigma. It takes some decent amount of pressure. |
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Post by raymondo on Feb 14, 2013 23:16:09 GMT -5
Bumblebees do the job, I've watched them. In order for a runnerbean flower to pollinate the keel has to be pushed down to slide the anthers over the stigma. It takes some decent amount of pressure. That would explain the low productivity here. There no bumblebees on mainland Australia. We do have equivalent species though not the size of the bumblebee and they have no interest in runner bean flowers. Probably don't recognize them as a food source! |
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Post by steev on Feb 14, 2013 23:29:16 GMT -5
Damned insects! Don't they realize our needs!
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Post by oxbowfarm on Feb 15, 2013 7:16:04 GMT -5
Have you tried a white flowered variety Ray?
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Post by raymondo on Feb 15, 2013 16:15:09 GMT -5
Have you tried a white flowered variety Ray? No, only Scarlet Emperor. Do you think white flowers would encourage pollinators? |
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