Disaster!

[tim]

Not a bean setting!!  Good confetti?

[tim]

[pete10]

Had the same problem Tim .But a lot of spraying the flowers has seemed to have
sorted it.

[Robert_Brenchley]

My climbing french beans are setting without problems.

[sandersj89]

I managed a pick of runners last night, the first. Variety Red Flame. The lower flowers did not have a great set but things are improving the higher I go.

The pesky sparrows also have had a bit of a field day nipping of the flowers.

My borlotti beans though, right next door to the runners, have had a poor flowering but I do have some pods.

Jerry

[fbgrifter]

French beans do not need to be pollinated by insects but runners do, try growing them with sweet peas or under planting with other annuals to increase set.

[Chantenay]

Our bees are mischievously unco-operative. They have worked out a way to get what they want via the back of the plant leaving them unpollinated (I know - we have done all the necessary jokes thank-you  ;D). And if I leave the slightest bit of clover unmowed, they go for that in preference to the runner bean flowers. I have tried reasoning with them, but they just don't seem to understand what they are meant to do.

[kitty]

just been round with me spay mister-we picked a few last monday but they are slow-mind you-in this heat so am i so i cant expect better from them...
hope you get some to set tim..
kitty

[RobC]

I'm new to this game, some of my runners have set others not.  When should I spray?  How often?  What's it supposed to do?

[moonbells]

I thought mine weren't either, and had a good moan to Dad about them on the phone last night.
Then I went to water and found a couple of 6" beans that had set without me even noticing them... :)

So I think they're getting there, just not terribly fast because of the weather. Not a good bean year for me. FBs aren't even germinating and I've sown hundreds now.

moonbells

[Robert_Brenchley]

Runner bean nectar is difficult to get to, and bumblebees learn to bit a hole in the back to get it that way. The hole is then utilised by other bees, and the flower goes unpollinated. I don't have a solution to that one! If they're going for the clover, that suggests it's producing more or better nectar than the beans.

[Paulines7]

I have been picking my Blue Lake French climbing beans and Lady Di and Sunset runner beans for just over two weeks now.  A couple of people in my village have had problems with their runners this year so maybe the variety plays a part in it.   The runners I have were RHS recommended.


What runners are you growing Tim?

[vaca]

Had my first ever picking of runner beans yesterday, almost 1/2 a kilo!!

I'd heard about pollination problems so I placed a couple of lavender plants in pots around the beans in hopes to attract bees. I keep a few lavender pots and move them around the plot to encourage the bees to those areas of the allotment where I have flowers needing to get pollinated.

...I guess it's done the trick (but probably just beginners luck). Now if only more ladybirds would come along and eat up the blak flies on the runner beans... >:(

vaca

[laurieuk]

Some think that if you spray the blooms it helps with the setting but I believe that if you can keep the plants just moist at the base this works better.One person told me he sprayed his every day with sugar water but if you think this out it will encourage the bees and other insects to the sweet water on the leaves rather than the flowers.We have been picking for a couple of weeks, not massive but enough.

[Mrs Ava]

Ooo, like that I have runners and Tim doesn't, after all, he has tomatos and I don't!  teehee.

Picked a carrier full of enorma beans today - soooooooo long and slender!  Teachers were grateful!  ;D

[angle shades]

same here EJ  giving bags of runners away to fellow plot holders ;D/shades x

[fenyak]

re: black fly - discovered by accident...
I still hadn't got round to clearing the bottom end of my plot which had a few dock plants on it - I'd noticed that my broad beans hadn't been plagued by black fly this year - as the blackfly were all on the dock!
Looks like I'll try leaving a few dock grow again next year and pull them just before they start seeding

[amphibian]

re: black fly - discovered by accident...
I still hadn't got round to clearing the bottom end of my plot which had a few dock plants on it - I'd noticed that my broad beans hadn't been plagued by black fly this year - as the blackfly were all on the dock!
Looks like I'll try leaving a few dock grow again next year and pull them just before they start seeding

They also love the ivy on my shed, left everything else alone.

[tricia]

For some reason it was my rhubarb leaves that attracted blackfly this year ???. Nothing else so far.

Tricia

[Biscombe]

OH Tim! I know what you are going through!! :( Disaster for me too!! Too hot here in Spain! I spray my wonderful looking plants every day but still no beans!! I like the idea of planting lavender near by! Can anyone recommend beans that are good in the heat?!

[Svea]

@biscombe
you might find that your better growing season is in spring, and again in autumn.
certainly that is what the farmers down in southern italy do - the summers are too hot and dry. stuff grows from autumn to spring, basically.
have a chat with some locals?