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Post by oxbowfarm on Mar 13, 2015 18:13:24 GMT -5
My mass-cross project was a disaster, not due to the beans themselves though. Unfortunately the trellis I put up was inadequate, and it collapsed most spectacularly on a windy, stormy night in July. So I ended up set back one year. I fortunately have a large amount of seed, but I am disappointed.
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Post by Al on Mar 14, 2015 3:28:03 GMT -5
I frequently see collapsed bean trellises at our allotments, people under-estimate the weight & size of the foliage which acts like a big sail by July.
The usual wigwam of bamboo canes is often unstable due to the lack of a diagonal cane to counter racking forces. I am referring to wigwams here rather than tipis, there is a difference. The wigwam traditionally was a long structure with a ridge pole.
My solution is 2 pieces of steel reinforcement mesh for concrete, about 2 m x 3m (8' x 10'), these have bars set about 20cm apart. I simply set these about a metre apart & prop them against each other, the tops interlock & the bottoms stick into the earth. No need to tie together & absolutely solid.
Iceberg lettuce grew well under the wigwam between the rows of beans, this year I will try parsley as it is said to be happy in shade.
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Post by robertb on Mar 14, 2015 5:00:33 GMT -5
My solution is a wigwam for each variety. The poles need to be well spaced at the base for stability, but if one gows over it doesn'r matter that much as it doesn't pull the others down with it.
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Post by reed on Mar 14, 2015 7:27:08 GMT -5
I use appropriately spaced locust trees or set tall heavy posts and put a tight run of electric fence or barbed wire high enough to walk under kinda like a clothes line. Then, string, wire, bamboo or what ever I use is secured to the run of wire at the top, it eliminates the need for a strong anchor at the bottom. Very strong, works for beans, tomatoes or whatever needs vertical support. My oldest, smallest garden has a permanent grid of these posts 20' apart. The wire also serves to support shade cloth when necessary, high enough to walk under. Got a 50' one all ready for my runner beans, just waiting for time to put them out.
I first tried this with metal posts but they were not tall enough to be able to walk under and they were not strong enough, couldn't tighten the wire without pulling them over.
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Post by hortusbrambonii on Mar 14, 2015 11:30:49 GMT -5
Speaking of interesting runner beans, when I was in the organic food store in Antwerp I saw dry scarlet runner beans the size of 'gigantes' from Greece. Must keep myself from buying them...
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Post by Al on Mar 14, 2015 14:16:30 GMT -5
Those high level wires of Reeds sound good for larger plantings, especially like the idea of standing under the beans. My steel mesh involves a lot of reaching through the mesh to pick beans, or crawling. The kids no longer think its fun to go bean picking in the green tunnel. Drat.
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Post by cletus on Jul 6, 2015 16:21:36 GMT -5
It could be interesting to introduce some of the vulgaris x coccineus material from GRIN.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 13, 2015 22:58:41 GMT -5
Today I poked poles into the garden for the runner beans to climb. My daddy didn't plant any pole beans this summer making the poles available for the runners. I felt like the poles were charmed, because he has previously grown runner beans on them. So far this year, the runners have been grown perfectly as far as the farmer's behavior: Weeded and watered appropriately. (Just to keep things real, I ended up abandoning the red-podded peas in the colder field. Too many weeds.)
I planted one row about 125 feet long. Two plants were flowering profusely today. Many plants are runts and might as well be culled. Some plants had vines up to 2.5 feet long.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 30, 2015 19:19:32 GMT -5
The runner bean project is progressing marvelously this year! I expect to harvest much more seed than went into the ground. Finally!!! Good thing, because I went all-in on the seed. Didn't even save a backup archive. This is my 7th year working on trying to grow runner beans. Some of the seed I'm growing this year is the third generation in my garden. Some of it is new varieties. Some of the plants are loaded with pods. Some of them have flowered and flowered without setting fruit. Thanks everyone that shared seeds! And especially Holly who keeps trying to turn me into a beaniac. (Might be getting there. The runner bean row is about 150 feet long.) Most of the plants have white flowers or scarlet flowers. A couple of them have bi-color flowers.  There are a lot of pollinators on them: Hummingbirds, bumblebees, honeybees. |
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Post by squishysquashy on Aug 30, 2015 23:24:42 GMT -5
Joseph, you got pod set in August?? What are your daytime temps? I assume it cools off significantly at night.
I have my own "landrace" going. It contains two varieties of runner beans: Four Corners and Tenderstar hybrid. I have 7 good seeds to show for it...each plant set 2 pods. Sadness. I plant my beans in March. It gets hot in May and doesn't cool off at night here. I am shooting for earliness, but hot-weather pod set would be nice, too.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Aug 31, 2015 12:19:59 GMT -5
I really like the for corners variety of runner bean.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 31, 2015 12:39:07 GMT -5
Highs during the day have been about 90. Lows at night about 50, minus the radiant cooling...
7 seeds is a great start! At least something can survive your growing season.
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Post by reed on Aug 31, 2015 14:07:38 GMT -5
I planted about 100 seeds of several kinds and looks like I may get half that back. The woman planted maybe a dozen in some big pots along the south wall of the shed, I figured they would just fry there but they doing pretty good. I pretty much left mine to fend for themselves and she watered hers so maybe that's the difference. A third or so of mine died of some sort of mold / stem rot disease during that month long period of rain. The pots no doubt had better drainage. Anyway, should have enough seed to try again next year. I watched and they were all visited a lot by bees and hummingbirds.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 1, 2015 23:20:00 GMT -5
I took a few photos today to show the diversity of my runner beans. Some of these are 3rd generation in my garden, and some are recent arrivals. Some didn't flower much at all, and haven't set fruit.  Some flowered like crazy all summer long, and haven't set fruit. The pollinators are loving them.  And some set fruit prolifically!  Finally. Looks like I am well on my way to being able to grow runner beans reliably in my climate. The fall frosts are expected within a week or two, but there should be plenty of viable seed already, even if it ends up being harvested as shellies... |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 11, 2015 9:33:59 GMT -5
I have already harvested more runner bean seeds for replanting than my entire harvest last year: I'm calling the harvest the earliest of the early. Not like it's early any more, it's more like late season, but gotta start somewhere. There are lots more coming on. There are so many runner beans this year that I felt comfortable harvesting some as shellies. (The smaller beans in the photo are common beans.)  |
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