This year as an experiment I've left my runner beans in, I've cut them down to ground level mulched with leaves and home made compost, I read some where a gardener digs up his beans ( as they are tender perennial) and plants in pots in his greenhouse to over winter then they make better plants for the following year Have anyone done this and was it successful ?
Yes I tried this some years ago , a complete waste of time. They did grow but did not really produce a crop.
Yes I do this. Cut the roots leaving a few inches of stem, pack them into a plastic shopping bag, put soil around them so the roots are covered. I water them in and tie the handles to keep moisture in. I water very sparingly over winter. They are stored under the bench in the conservatory where it is light and frost free, but not too sunny.
In spring, they resprout from the roots. Usually where a plant had one stem, the overwintered root produces several stems and this is why they often do much better in their second year. However I have not managed to get every root through winter, there are always some losses.
I have had plants for a third year, but they are never that successful, I guess the root is getting tired and a bit old. Two years is best. I would say they are a shortlived perennial. :wave:
I have always cut them down and left the roots in the ground because someone said that they add nitrogen to the soil but I always dig them up when I do the bed in spring perhaps I should cover them for the winter and see what happens
Quote from: laurieuk on November 14, 2018, 15:52:58
Yes I tried this some years ago , a complete waste of time. They did grow but did not really produce a crop.
ME too !
Not for me, a lot of faffing about for what? plus the nodules left in the ground are supposed to be good. Dib a hole, drop a bean in, job done.
I tried this once. I covered the beans with a heavy mulch rather than lifting the plants. But they died over the winter. I have never been tempted to try again. On reflection I decided that most seasons I had far more beans than I could use. It is so easy to get a good big crop by conventional methods I have decided the extra hassle is not worthwhile.
QuoteIt is so easy to get a good big crop by conventional methods I have decided the extra hassle is not worthwhile.
My thoughts exactly!
I never shut my mind of doing other things and love to experience different methods and if they die theres nothing lost as they were going to be pulled up any way
Last year my White Emergo runner beans were in one of the very rare areas where I have light soil, so when I was removing the haulms in November some of the roots came with them and 2 looked particularly good - about the size of a medium carrot and very clean and rot-free.
I put them into 2 spaces in the Polytunnel - not by any means where I wanted them, just what was available.
I had so completely forgotten them that when they sprouted I didn't know what they were - I recognised them and remembered when they got to about 2m.
As it happened my seedlings were late and so these 2 were well ahead of them - it was just a pity that they hardly flowered and set nothing.
Then I realised they were too hot (the PT was scorchio this year, and they never ventilate properly without a roof vent) - I couldn't work in there between 10am and 6pm though I could gain an extra hour at both ends by lying down on the job.
Anyway, I could lead shoots from one of the plants out of the PT where it produced a modest crop.
The other was useless where it was so I moved it - I got it out with more than a spadeful of earth on it and puddled it in a big well prepared hole about 0.5m wide with lots of organic matter. The key thing was that I covered it with a tent of carpet - just less than 1m cube with light only coming from sunrise & sunset. Kept it in there for 9 or 10 days with daily water and then I started letting more light in. By the end of the fortnight it was completely in the open and sprouting great guns.
It created as much foliage as I normally get from a 3 seed tripod, and nearly as many beans so it was a big success - but still more work than planting 3 seeds at the right time!
I see it mainly as an example of how you can transplant the most unlikely stuff at the most stupid time of summer - but only if you give it a week of near total shade to adapt (the carpet also insulated - black plastic would have baked it).
Obviously if I'd been thinking straight I would have transplanted both as soon as they sprouted - on that basis it's worth burying a few good roots in a PT - but accept that if the winter is any harder they are a write-off. I wouldn't bother mollycoddling them or taking them home.
Cheers.
Quote from: brownthumb2 on November 15, 2018, 23:22:01
I never shut my mind of doing other things and love to experience different methods and if they die theres nothing lost as they were going to be pulled up any way
If it is a rare variety, bearing in mind that it is not straightforward to produce pure breeding runnerbean seeds ( the flowers must be covered in blossom bags and handpollinated unless there is only one variety in the vicinity), then growing the same plants for a second year gives many more seedsaving chances. This is the reason I started doing it.
The other reason is that in my location it is not just a matter of dibber a hole, pop a seed in and done. Mine need to be pregrown indoors, planted out when too large to be slug fodder, then protected with a bottle, that stays in place throughout or they become vole fodder. The replanted ones are never troubled. :sunny:
I've had some differing views and experiences on this subject I thank you all And will let you all know what mine is at the end of next year