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Hmm. They didn't bother a couple of weeks ago when it was chucking it down, and it's not rained very much since. I've no idea what's going on!
Quote from: Silverleaf on August 29, 2014, 18:44:44Hmm. They didn't bother a couple of weeks ago when it was chucking it down, and it's not rained very much since. I've no idea what's going on! Little drops of rain, just jiggling the runner beans into setting, rather than a drowning deluge which does the pollen no good perhaps?
Another problem with the flowers falling off beans can be what I call back door bees. These are small type of bumble bees that instead of going into the front of the beans they drill a hole in the back of the flower and take the nectar without pollinating the flower. Then all the other bees use the back door, finally the flower falls off and there are no beans. Using a feather or paint brush to pollenate can also help.
We grew Tumbling Tom tomatoes in a grow bag and it too looked like there weren't any bees visiting the flowers. So I got my make up brush and cross brushed all the flowers in case the bees didn't turn up and now we have over 100 tomatoes forming on the plants. Some of them might have been my cross-pollination but the bees also took part as they did eventually visit the flowers.
I did not have that many flowers on my runners and so I am not surprised that I have not had any fruit, or next to nothing in any case. there is still young growth on them, is there any chance of beans at this late stage or am I better of just ripping them out now?