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are broard beans self fertile, i was thinling of making some small slim fleece or enviromesh  jackets for a plant of each variety to keep the strains pure. This wont work if they need a pollinating insect though.

I'm not 100% sure but I think they need the help of the insects. And I think if growing 2 different kinds of bean if grown to near each other they can cross pollenate. Someone will be along shortly to correct me if I'm wrong.

They need to be pollinated to get a reasonable crop, but they will self-pollinate up to a point, so you can use it for seed production. Trouble is, they're totally promiscuous; if I plant green-seeded beans at one end of the plot, and red-seeded at the other, I end up with all red beans. To be sure of keeping a variety pure, you need to isolate them, either by distance or by netting. I've given up trying to keep them pure, and I'm going the other way, mixing varieties to see what I end up with.

 :) Thanks folks, mmm what i thought but not what i wanted to hear robert, wanted to keep the reds pure, might grow a couple of plants at home well away form other bb's. Willsy i have finally found my black truffle toms, if you still want a few email your addy again as my hard drive went south before xmas took EVERYTHING with it.