Scarlet Runner beans overwintering

While at the local nursery I mentioned I grew Scarlet Runner beans this year. He said they usually overwinter here in zone 8b. The majority of the vines look dead. So I guess I'm not sure what he means when he said "overwinter". Does this bean tend to grow new vines the next year or do some of the vines survive to continue growing next summer?

All I can think of is that maybe he meant that they self seed and the seeds will survive until next year? This years vines are annuals and will not reproduce again next yet, winter or not as I understand it.

They are herbaceous perennials but I'm surprised that he said they would survive a zone 8 winter, they certainly don't survive over winter here.

If you can keep them frost free, they will sprout next year however they are so easy from seed, I personally don't see the point of going to all that trouble, you don't get much extra yield from a 2 year + old plant and using up valuable greenhouse space ... up to the individual I suppose.

I had such a magnificent harvest this year :) Near the end of the season, I stopped picking any beans and let them all go to seed. In fact, I still have many pods drying inside. Will have a few hundred seeds so not worried about having to replant next year.

Thats the wonderful thing about runner beans, the crop seems to exceed demand regardless of family size ;) Fortunate that they freeze well!

I agree. Someone told me these guys only grew a vine of 12ft, but after growing them as a kid, I knew they grew longer than that. I put up 10 bamboo poles that stood 6ft tall after they were in the ground and strung them all together with a type of twine purchased from a local nursery. From the top strings, I attached several long strings for the beans to climb up. I planted all of my beans in April sometime and by the end of June, they were going nuts, as you can see by the pic below. I fed my garden with 6-1-1 fish emulsion every 3 weeks and watered regularly.

Within two more months, the beans, their beautiful flowers,and good tasting beans I might add, had taken over my garden. :) This was the first garden I had grown since I was in high school and had a blast. I have plenty of seeds left over if anyone is interested.
Oh! This is what my garden looked like two months later :-)

What a wonderful crop you must have had! Very happy beans.

We grow these for ornament as much as the crop, the brightness of the flowers is quite unusual.

Here's another question. Even though I was able to dry plenty of seeds to trade and grow next year, the last batch of pods I had to pull off of the vines before they were dried as it had started raining. I brought them all in to dry and many have dried just fine, but others decided to germinate. With my surplus of pots and potting soil, I figured what the heck and planted all that germinated. Has anyone ever tried to grow these guys inside before? It's more of an experiment than anything else.

My beans are now over 3 feet tall and are climbing all over everything. I think the reduced amount of sunlight has produced stalks that are a little weakend. I can mist them and they'll fall over.

Hi I'm new to this website and so very excited! It's great to hear from people as excited about gardening as me. I saw these scarlet runner beans in a catalog and got excited cuz they also attract hummingbirds (another passion of mine). I went yesterday to our local garden/home store and lo and behold they had them there. They were Lilly Miller brand seeds. I thought I was going to have to order them cuz they were special and I had never heard of them before until I got to this website. Question? Did you start them inside and did you use any kind of bean/pea innoculent?

I'm intrigued by the use of innoculant. I've never heard of it b4. Is it some sort of sterilization

emilyrasmus
Your bean crop is absolutely fantastic
I wish they did better here cos runner beans are delish (cooked or raw)
Dwarf/French/Bush Beans are a good crop here but every year I plant the seeds too close and when they mature the're too hard too pick


Ash

Juli,

Nope, no innoculant. I bought the Lily Miller seeds last year and they grew just fine. The dirt in my garden is very good and I fed my vegi's 6-1-1 fish emulsion every 3 weeks during the growing season. I did start them inside after a number failed to sprout due to a burrowing insect laying eggs inside the beans. I planted them outside when there were about 6" tall and had no other problems. I had to water them every morning and if it was very hot (or summers tend to be hot and dry), I would also water in the early evening as well. I spaced each of the 15 seeds about 8 inches apart and then sent down strings for them to climb up.

Picking was always fun as it was more like detective work since I had to look in all of the nooks and crannies to make sure I didn't let them get too large. I picked them just before the seeds started any major development. If I they stayed on the plant too long, they tended to be woody less tender.

To avoid stepping on the vines, I always went out in bare feet. During the peak season, I picked beans every other day and everyone around me had beans to enjoy. I planted them in mid-April and they kept growing until our wet season started in mid-October.

The only problem I encountered during their growing season was dusty mildew since I was watering them in the evening and they had wet leaves over night. I picked off the 6 affected leaves (caught it really early), changed my watering habits, and no more problems.

I still have plenty of extra beans I'd be happy to share. Towards the end of the season, I let dozens go to seed and have more than I could grow in 10 summers.

--Emily

Have you offered them in the trade section of this website? You might be able to trade them for something else really interesting. It was only dumb luck that I found these. I hope mine turn out as nice as yours did. They are from the same co.
-Juli

Juli,

I've sent out many, many runner seeds all across the country since October. Actually, I sent out about 100 more in the last week. Besides the scarlett runner seeds, I have about 7 others I have excessive amounts of. I just posted what I had and what I was looking for and I've lost count of how many different kinds of seeds I have now. Seed trading is great :)

I think the reason mine turned out so well is that the soil is great and I added a bunch of compost to it as well. I continually watered. We had a few days of temps over 100f and I neglected to water enough so the small beans just sat there and weren't going to mature. At this point, I pulled all of them off, watered a lot, fed them, and watched them explode. I think these guys are pretty tough. They do like a lot of sun, so I planted them in the sunniest area of my garden.

I'm not any kind of expert of these or anything. I'd welcome to any suggestions from anyone who would to add some. :)