Can I save the seed from green pods? (They are very plump!) If I can, do I take the seed out of the green flesh to dry or do I dry the whole thing first?
Is it the same method for french beans?
Many thanks for any replies.
I have been saving seed of Canadian Wonder French Dwarf Beans for the past 7 years as many catalogues no longer list them. I leave a short row run to full maturity from my spring sowing and soon as the leaves start to turn yellow I lift the whole plants and hang them up upside down inside a paper spud sack in my back bedroom. he pods turn brown and I then pop out the seeds and lay them on the windowsill to dry out. After a couple of weeks I bag them up in paper bags ready to be used the following year. Any seed surplus after the next sowing I use in Chillies and stews. I have not yet tried saving Runner bean seeds but I would have thought that the same sort of procedure would apply. The only thing is that French Dwarf beans do not cross easily but Runners do So if you do save Runner bean seeds they may not be true to type - but there again you may stumble on a new better strain
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html
Thanks for the replies. I had read the real seed article but I guess it was telling me what I am not able to do! I need to get the beans out of the patch! I know people on here try all sorts of methods that don't appear in the books. I will try what you suggest powerspade.
Another question, has anyone tried growing runner beans as a perennial?
Quote from: InfraDig on October 08, 2012, 12:25:56
Thanks for the replies. I had read the real seed article but I guess it was telling me what I am not able to do! I need to get the beans out of the patch! I know people on here try all sorts of methods that don't appear in the books. I will try what you suggest powerspade.
Another question, has anyone tried growing runner beans as a perennial?
Yes, several times. Have cut off the vines a couple of inches above soil level just before first frost, then put the roots (which are tubers really) into a double plastic bag with a couple of holes in. Covered with a bit of soil and watered. Did up the handles of the plastic bag and stored under the bench in the conservatory, where it is just above freezing or warmer. I water very occasionally, but with the handles tied, there is not that much evaporation. In spring - April - new shoots start growing out of the tubers and after frost the plants can be transferred outside again. Not every tuber survives, but most do. Usually there are two shoots from every tuber, so there are often more plants in the second year. Yield is a bit earlier too. It is well worth doing. You can do it a third year too, but the tubers are getting weaker. Second year is recommended.
Just adding a bit of extra information - once when we had a very mild winter here - 6 or 7 years ago, the type of winter when we had to scrape the car windscreen twice only! And I had runnerbeans growing next to the rhubarb. I did not dig up the tubers just lef them, but one or two must have survived under the thick mulch that the rotting rhubarb leaves provided. The next spring this tuber resprouted. I have heard that people who garden in coastal areas, where they get almost no frost, do this regularly with good success. They cut down and then mulch and cloche their runnerbeans and they come back in spring every time.
That's interesting Galina.
Does anyone know
1) Do you get the same sort of yield?
2) Would an F1 variety remain a true F1?
Regards
Bluecar
I grew some Red Rum runners this year from saved tubers, they made strong plants quite quickly and were earlier into production although I wouldn't say overall production is more.
Yes if you grow runners from stored tubers they are exactly the same plant as you grew from seed, so an F1 will remain an F1. It's a good way of carrying forward a variety if you haven't had the chance to save pure seed. Although make sure as far as possible to only save healthy bean plants as it is possible for virus to be carried by them if they were infected the previous year.
I have lifted runner bean roots in the past and also had some resprout from the ground the following spring after a mild winter. That was a long time ago but I cut down my St Georges a fortnight or so ago just before some gales (Phew!) and plan to lift some again. I'll put them in old tomato growbag compost and store them in the shed. I don't expect to get a bigger crop, just an earlier one from them.
Given your comments, I think I'll experiment with lifting a few tubers and see how it goes.
WOW every days a school day - I had no idea that you could regrow your runners! I am definately going to dig some up and store them overwinter in the shed. Brilliant my FAVE things are runner beans and if I can get them any earlier so much the better :blob7:
Quote from: Jelliebabe on October 12, 2012, 16:07:07
WOW every days a school day - I had no idea that you could regrow your runners! I am definately going to dig some up and store them overwinter in the shed. Brilliant my FAVE things are runner beans and if I can get them any earlier so much the better :blob7:
'Hi Jelliebabe, just wondering where you live. My shed would not be frostproof here and frost would kill the stored tubers.
I have found that hanging up the whole plant can be a very messy business when the leaves dry out. A couple of years ago I managed to cover the entire house in bits of leaf not to mention the communal shed on the lottie.
I have had great success drying beans on the radiator. It is important not to take the beans out until the pods are crisp dry. I tend to store them in the pods until I want to use them.
I was not aware you could get F1 beans. French beans tend to come up true, though some varieties need more roguing than others. Runners are outbreeders and will not necessarily come up true, they need to be isolated to maintain the variety.
In mild years they have survived in the garden, and the early beans are very welcome, but I do not think they are a productive a new plants. When I have tried to have them indoors they have dried out too much. Too high a temperature and they start growing again, too low and they freeze, too moist and they rot and too dry they just die. Getting the right balance of temperature and moisture is a trick I have yet to master.
Quote from: InfraDig on October 07, 2012, 22:03:31
Can I save the seed from green pods? (They are very plump!) If I can, do I take the seed out of the green flesh to dry or do I dry the whole thing first?
Is it the same method for french beans?
Many thanks for any replies.
Yes, take the pods off the plant and dry them by a window. When the pods become brown and very dry, take the beans out and store them for next year. Simples!