Topic: Indoor runners.

[carolinej]

Hello :)

I am going to try growing some beans in my greenhouse to get an early crop. I have heard that french beans are OK as they are self pollinating. Is the same true of runner beans, soya beans and borlotti beans?

Thanks

cj :)

[cleo]

Not grown soya beans but otherwise-yes

[Jeannine]

Runner beans need the bees the french don't

[Hyacinth]

Runner beans need the bees the french don't

Thanks for the confirmation J. One of my ladies this week was talking of growing runners in her conservatory this year and I wondered about pollination...I remembered that I was once told that the way to encourage bees was to paint the flowers with a weak sugar solution?.....bees and ants then ???

[carolinej]

.I remembered that I was once told that the way to encourage bees was to paint the flowers with a weak sugar solution?

I read somewhere that growing sweet peas by the beans will attract insects with their smell. I am going to try it this year.

cj :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I doubt whether a weak sugar solution scattered about the garden would bring many bees in; it's got no scent, there wouldn't be much of it, and honeybees go for the most efficient nectar sources. What you want is something which will bring in wild bees which forage on whatever they find, rather then just going for flowers of a single species. borage is an excellent bee plant, and there are plenty of others. If you don't bring enogh bees in, try establishing nest sites for them.

[tim]

Runners, no.    French - especially the Hunter or Algarve type, YES!!

PS Sorry about the sticky things - slow learning curve!!

[Rohaise]

Is it possible to make home made "sticky things" ?     They are so expensive in the shops .     Your beans look fantastic Tim !
                                           Rohaise     

[Hyacinth]

The gentleman didn't scatter a weak sugar solution around Robert - he painted it on the flowers individually using a very fine paintbrush......but then weeks later he went to cut sandwiches for tea and eventually produced perfectly shaped 1" cubes.....and then later he went into a Home....

[saddad]

I grew Sunset Runners in the polytunnel when they dropped off the national list to avoid cross-pollination..
 ;D

[tim]

I stand corrected - always thought they needed pollination. Certainly suffer from a lack of it in most seasons.

[davyw1]

Why not get a spray, hot water, melt the sugar, let it cool, then spray the plant. the sugar will stick to the leaves  and any droplets from flower to flower will polinate the plant

[Jeannine]

Sorry to contradict but I would argue  that  true runner beans definately  do need pollination ,french beans on the hand do not.  If grown in a poly tunnel I believe thay had to get pollination from somewhere ,by insects perhaps but the flowers have to be pollinated by something I am certain.XX Jeannine

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you really want to try attracting bees use honey not sugar syrup. They can't resist the smell, as it's always easier to rob out a dead or weak hive than to make their own. Don't do it anywhere near a beehive though! I once made the mistake of leaving some sticky frames I'd just extracted honey from in my shed, a few yards from the hives. In a short time, it was full of thousands (literally) of excited bees. By the time they'd finished, every frame, despite being in a large bag, was completely dry.

[saddad]

They do need pollination Tim, sorry for any confusion, but being isolated in the tunnel there is a lot less chance of transfered pollen from outside,.....
 :-X