i plant scarlet runner beans from th. jefferson's monticello each season and they usually do great. this season the vines are extremely lush and vigorous, but i havent seen a single pod set yet! i am seeing a few blossoms, but absolutely no pods and its august. maybe i am wrong, but shouldnt there be pods already? or am i worrying too much? ( photo / image / picture from razyrsharpe's Garden )
Wow, The vines are indeed quite lush. Say, you didn't fertilize them at all this year, did you? It almost looks as if they have had some extra nitrogen. Another thing is that runners need lots and lots of water. I do not know if you have watered them periodically. I often put cardboard in the bottom of the trench/planting hole to hold moisture fir their roots during the summer. I find that if I do not do this and it is a warmish and dryish summer then my runners do not perform well. I do not know if you are interested in how I do my runners, but here is a link that shows what I do: http://www.gardenstew.com/about14085.html Tell more about your runners this year.
thanks for the advice Sjoerd. we have had more rain this season than i can ever remember. we are about 4" over normal for the year! only fertilizer i put down was compost i made myself. it looked very rich though.
Hello RS--It looks like you have done your part and so has Mother Nature for your runners. It is a mystery...those beans of yours. This year I have had to water my runners every couple or three days this year. Especially now it is in the 90's and very dry. Good for French climbers, but very bad for the runners that I use. You know after thinking more about your bean sit., I realized that my runners have also not yet really given enough beans to make a meal yet. either. So maybe it isn't anything that you have done or not done...maybe it is just something this season. We may never know exactly what is going on with them. BTW--all the runners that I will have will be at the tops of the racks--no beans or flowers below that. Very strange. I am hoping that I can harvest tomorrow. We shall see.
An over abundance of rain can do this. Give them time to dry a bit. Some plants just don`t like a lot of water. It slows down flower production.
I only grow scarlet, sunsets, and painted lady runner beans. We had a wet summer a couple of years ago and my bean harvests were in September and October right into November.. It was so late a production that I was unable to collect seed like I usually do. :-? Maybe your summer will hold on late into the fall for lots of beans yet. You are getting the rain, and here where it is usually wet and cool we haven't seen any measurable rain in months and have been having 80+ temps.
found evidence of pods and blossoms yesterday! not much, but its there... i guess i am in for a late harvest of these. better than no harvest!
sjoerd, i havent harvested any scarlet runners yet. not much change in the original situation with them. i have counted exactly four pods. i am not expecting much this season unfortunately.
blossoms ( photo / image / picture from razyrsharpe's Garden ) pod of scarlet runners ( photo / image / picture from razyrsharpe's Garden )
