Hi,
I have been trying to grow stringless varieties this year, mostly so far 'Polestar' but have to say that I'm not enjoying the beans at all, they are stringless but instead the whole pod is fibrous and indigestible, even when picked quite young.
I'm now having a (late) go with the white flowering Desiree but wondered what others had as their favourite stringless varieties for flavour and vigour?
Many thanks.
Hi CC, I wonder if it's the weather? I usually sneak a crop of fresh beans from my Borlotti before letting them go, but the few beans I picked were tough - very unusual, lack of water?
I do so love Sun Bright runners - the beans are excellent, and the foliage is very striking. Stand by for comments from concerned lottie neighbours if you grow them ;)
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,72/topic,22660.0
I grow runner bean 'White Lady'. Apparently stringless, heavy cropping and absolutely delicious!
I am also trying the french bean 'Cobra' this year. So far this looks a promising bean - again free cropping and tasty.
Watering is the key to runner beans. They need plenty of it (if you can provide it that is). I grow mine in my garden and have set up a leaky hse irrigation pipe around them. Of course in an allotment this isnt always possible.
The way around this is to make sure the soil has plenty of organic matter in it prior to planting to hold on to whatever moisture is available.
Hope this helps
Thanks SS and GC...
SS, reassuring really to hear that you've also had tough beans... I just figured it was the variety, but then no one would ever grow these if that was the case. Thanks for the recommendation of Sun Bright, nice picture.
GC, I've heard of 'White Lady' before, or maybe I'm confusing it with 'Lady Di', which is supposed to be a white flowering runner too? Not sure... either way I'll be looking into the variety for next year, thanks! I'm also growing the french bean 'Cobra' but having such a poor yield from them... I picked a grand total of three this morning. They were supposed to be 6ft climbers but so far have been stuck at half that for the last couple of months.
For the bean area I dug in many bags of compost manure, sand and growbags. I can only assume it's all down to the lack of water, something I'll definitely remember for next time.
Thanks again.
Growing Czar again - a white flowered runnerbean. I can't remember if it is stringless, but if you leave them to dry, they are like butter beans (which, if mixed with breadcrumbs, make chocolate biscuits in the mouse-mill!).
Hi, Lady Di is red flowered but is stringless and of excellent quality (even this year).
I grow Stenna it is a variety that many exhibitors use as they grow very fast, so you get long beans (15 - 18 inches) with no strings. Thye may be a bit pricey to start but I save seed every year so the cost is soon almost nil.
We are also trying an HSL bean - Black Magic i think it is called. I spied a bean and a pole full of flowers. I seemed to have misplaced seeds last year of Salford Black :'(
Laurieuk
I grew Stenna this year because I wanted some long beans for showing.
A disaster.
None of the plants has reached the top of the 7' cane supports and the canes are visible virtually from ground level. They have all stopped flowering and growing. Lots of beans however from the earlier flowers.
The row has been watered every day and fertilised to encourage growth. Something wrong?
My Borlotti beans are doing very well and producing lots of beans to eat green.
Will I growStenna again ? Possibly if I can save any seed but maybe I should go for another source. Any recommendations?
I grow 'Liberty' (Robinson's) which are among the longest beans available.
I eat them when they are about 10"-12" long which is about half their potential length.
I find about six plants along with the French & Kenya beans I grow gives me all the beans I require for the year .
Your way of growing is different to mine but then we all have our own ideas. My row has been in the same place for 20 years, I dig compost in each year but I do not water. We have had a hosepipe ban since last summer. I believe if you have humus well down the roots will go down to find the moisture. Friends in the village suffer badly with birds pecking the flowers but we feed the birds all year and I think if they are busy eating my seed and nuts they leave my veg alone.
Quote from: Common_Clay on July 25, 2006, 16:08:35
GC, I've heard of 'White Lady' before, or maybe I'm confusing it with 'Lady Di', which is supposed to be a white flowering runner too? Not sure... either way I'll be looking into the variety for next year, thanks! I'm also growing the french bean 'Cobra' but having such a poor yield from them... I picked a grand total of three this morning. They were supposed to be 6ft climbers but so far have been stuck at half that for the last couple of months.
For the bean area I dug in many bags of compost manure, sand and growbags. I can only assume it's all down to the lack of water, something I'll definitely remember for next time.
Thanks again.
I am surprised to hear your experience with cobra. I for one have been quite impresed with the variety, not least that it crops evenly up the stem rather than higher up like the runner beans. Growth has been strong - just as vigourous as the runners. Yeild has also been good, had several nice portions of them with meals of late. Perhaps its just the lack of water again?
There are definetly two seperate 'Lady' runner bean varieties which I guess are both white flowered. I grow White Lady, but there is also 'Lady Di' as well.
I'm really pleased with my Red Rum and White Ladies, although it's hard to tell which is best as they're all jumbled up. White Lady slightly larger & probably just has the edge for volume (although RR was 2 weeks earlier!).
To repeat, Lady Di has red flowers. I should know I have a lot of very healthy plants of it at the moment.
I grow painted lady, for the pretty flowers and Sunset, but much prefer CFrench Beans... Blue Coco, Top of the pole, and Mr Fearns... all from HSL
much better perfomance in dry conditions and so less likely to be stringy!
;D
Yesterday I saw Cobra growing for the first time on a friends allotment and I was impressed with them, so much so I think I will be having a go with them next year.
Interesting about the Cobra french beans, maybe I won't give up then and try them again next year on a different patch of ground.
Just about to cook my first runners of this season (been a bit late getting all my beans in) -- variety is Galaxy; will let you know in a bit whether they're as good as they were last year!
Later :)
THE TRICK IS TO PICK THEM YOUNG NO MORE THAN ABOUT 9 inches.
Chefs delight and gardeners pride are not always the same thing with vegies. You can tell the stringy one when preparing them if they do not snap in two cleanly, throw them away.
In hot weather, they like to have a mist of water sprayed over the growing vines. Do it late in the day this helps to keep them tender too.
They like to be planted closer together than the instructions tell you.
Runner beans like a lot of organic matter, and it helps them to grow quick, place it round the base of the plant. It does not need to be too well rotted as beans like it rich. Slow growth adds to the toughness.
I leave several on the vine to grow fat, dry out and make next years seeds no need to buy expensive varieties if you follow the above guide for cooks.
If you still have no success to your taste, then try growing climbing french beans.
This year I am growing Enorma, not sure whether they are stringless or not! However this week I have picked the first crop and they were delicious. Plenty of flowers on the top but not so many at the bottom.
For a French Bean crop, I would go for Blue Lake everytime. Been picking pounds of those already.