[Mark's Sussex Allotment]

Evening all,

I had forgotten to plan for runners this year and now have no space on my plan, so I saw sone dwarf runners on the Internet.

Anyone grown them, and what's the yield like?

Do they need minimal support?

[solway cropper]

I grow several varieties of dwarf runners and french beans and give them a little support from pruned twigs, etc. Yields are nowhere near what I get from climbing plants but then they are much smaller.

[Mark's Sussex Allotment]

OK thanks.

If I was to put them in a big pot about a foot wide by a foot deep, how much plants would be sufficient, do you think?

About 5?

[JayG]

Why grow dwarf runners when climbing ones are ideal for when horizontal space is limited?

A 16" pot would hold at least 4 canes and half a dozen plants - only real considerations growing like this are keeping them watered, and possibly guying the top of the canes to something immovable if they are in a windy situation and likely to blow over.

[Muls]

I do well out of dwarf french but never seems worth it with dwarf runners.

[Christine]

Have done OK with Hestia but they do need shelter as wind seems to affect them more than normal ones.

[Mark's Sussex Allotment]

OK, thanks for advice guys

[Pimento]

I grew Hestia too - an attractive plant but not a very big yield. I agree with JayG, if space is tight why not grow a few plants up three or four canes in a tub? A few more beans for your money! 

[syks grower]

I did it last year and got more beans from the plants in tubs than from plants in my sodden garden soil

[Mark's Sussex Allotment]

OK fantastic. What size tub would be ideal?

[Pimento]

Well the bigger the better, depending on how much space you have, but it doesn't have to be terribly deep - the wider it is, though, the more plants you'll obviously fit in! One of those tubs like the bottom of a beer barrel would be ideal - nice and stable so it doesn't blow over!

[Mark's Sussex Allotment]

So runners don't have a deep root system then?

How do they produce all that crop?

[Pimento]

Search me - I guess they've only got one season to grow in!  :happy:

[Mark's Sussex Allotment]

Very good point, and thanks for the advice!