[greetwellboy]

I have had a really good crop of runner beans ( scarlet emperor).
Now they have finished and plants and canes are down.
Can I save the seeds that are left over for next season.
I am a newbee.
TIA
Regards
Dave.

[mumofstig]

Yes, you can save them. Keep them in a polybag once you are sure they are really dry, as sometimes they have pea or bean weevil, and you won't see them til they emerge in the bag in early spring 
I year I had a bagful of the blighters - but if you do see them in the plastic bag, put it in the freezer for 24 hours to kill off any weevils or weevil eggs.
Most of seeds will still grow even when they're a bit damaged 

[AnneB]

One thing to note is that runner beans will cross with other runner bean varieties very easily.  If they cross then next year's plants won't be the same.
You will have no problems if they have been growing away from other varieties.
They cross with Gigantes beans, which are a type of runner.

[greetwellboy]

Thanks very much for the advice.

[Kleftiwallah]

Our runner beans were a mixture of dark red and black.  By saving the seeds that were predominantly black, after each harvest I ended up with totally black seeds.  Well, it's something to do!

Cheers,  Tony.