Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Anton on June 10, 2015, 14:55
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Fellow gardeners.
My wife bought me some supposedly runner beans a couple of months back. The packet did talk about stakes (it was in French and it referred to French beans, which surprised me a bit because I didn't know they did a runner-bean version of French beans). Anyhow, I started them off in pots constructed the wigwam and then planted the plants as soon as they were ready. They were growing nicely and have been doing so for nearly a month by now. However, two weeks ago I was wondering why they were not giving out any tendrils and took another look at the packet. In fact it is a variety of French beans that can be supported on stakes (I just earth them up and never bother with stakes). Anyhow, back to square one over a week ago, I put some genuine runner beans in pots and now they are ready to be planted out. Its a shame to just throw the"faux" runner beans away. Do you think I could life them up and put them somewhere else?
Anton
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If you can lift them with some soil attached they should move. They might slow down while they re establish, but should end up ok.
Mind you, you can get climbing French beans - they climb by twisting around the canes to climb, the same as real runner beans do. So do be sure what you have before you move them ;)
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If there is enough room, why not plant the runner beans next to the French ones and let them grow together?
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It sounds like you got bush beans as opposed to pole beans. The bush type shouldn't get much more than a foot in height and the plants will produce beans, for the most part, all at the same time. Pole beans climb and put out beans over a longer period of time. Last year I grew bush blue lake beans, this year I went with pole blue lake. If they are already a decent sized plant, moving them could set them back considerably.
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My climbing french beans aren't yet climbing. But then I have only recently planted them out because frosts around here can continue until early June (this year in particular). If you've got climbing french beans then they may still get going. However, I agree with azubah. Just plant some runner beans alongside. If they're dwarf french beans then you'll get a plant at the bottom of the pole and runner beans climbing up. If they're climbing french, then you can decide which you want to keep.
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Runner or climbing french beans don't have tendrils, at least mine don't. As MoS says they climb by winding round the cane or stake.
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Is a pole French bean the same as a climbing French bean? Is a bush French bean the same as dwarf French bean?
I have climbing and dwarf French beans and I'm wondering if the climbing beans will produce over a longer period than the dwarf (as mentioned by Lotuseed)?
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Is a pole French bean the same as a climbing French bean?
Yes
Is a bush French bean the same as dwarf French bean?
Yes
I have climbing and dwarf French beans and I'm wondering if the climbing beans will produce over a longer period than the dwarf (as mentioned by Lotuseed)?
Yes, they do.
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Pole and bush beans are the same thing, just different growth habits. Pole varieties produce more fruit spread over a longer period of time. Bush varieties produce less fruit but produce it all once so you get a glut so to speak. Last year I grew the bush variety since I wanted them for canning. This year i switched to the pole variety because I wanted them more for eating right away.
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I grow the climbing/pole varieties of french beans because my back hates :mad: cropping the dwarf/bush ones! It would rather stretch than bend. (Yup - bit of an issue with weeding there! ::))
But more people grow dwarf / bush french beans. I find that they like a little support so the base of a wigwam would be find. If you do move them, some peasticks or sheep netting to lean on, particularly if the site is windy, would be appreciated by the plants while they develop the root structure again.
If you do as azubah suggests and seems sense to me, then make sure you feed well during the season! Beans are all hungry little plants ...
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I grow dwarf french beans at the allotment because I find it difficult to make a structure that stands up to the wind that we get bursting across our exposed allotment.
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Bush ones get eaten by slugs on my plot
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Bush ones get eaten by slugs on my plot
The plants or the beans? I grow "Nautica" which seem to keep the beans up off the ground.
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Big fat slugs ate 37 out of 40 dwarf bean plants in my front garden last year :mad: