Growing runner beans as a late forage!

[Curly green fingers]

Last year and this year Ive grown runner beans late, started the seed of ,June 10th there at there peak now I'm getting 3kg every three to five days . I've grown two 75 ft rows and my tunnel is full also ( 75ft) my girls are all over them hundreds of bee's I counted .
I'm thinking next year to plough the 2 acre field we have for runners beans .
What do you think ?. Has anyone had honey from runners? Advice most welcome.

 

[enrico]

My bees don't bother with them much. The bumblebees are the polinaters.
E

 

[Ian123]

If you could plant 1 thing I would go for borage expensive feed though and guess you want some return/crop

 

[madasafish]

If you could plant 1 thing I would go for borage expensive feed though and guess you want some return/crop

Phacelia is undoubtedly best.

 

[foghornleghorn]

Borage phacelia or buckwheat would probably be better options. Could be gotten to self seed too

 

[Curly green fingers]

I'm thinking of something that I can eat more so .I sell all my veg too a local market gardener and plants,so for the effort of ploughing ect I would like it to benefit both of us preferably this time of year as theres not much forage about and very little ivy.

 

[Murox]

I'm thinking of something that I can eat more so .I sell all my veg too a local market gardener and plants,so for the effort of ploughing ect I would like it to benefit both of us preferably this time of year as theres not much forage about and very little ivy.

Thats a big ask. What about something like Calabrese but leave some to flower. Or maybe some sun flowers, with the right variety you can have flowers and seed to harvest.

A farmer near where I live has planted up a strip alongside the road - selling the flowers for 50p each. Its wet and quiet windy where I live, they are still in flower and have been for all of August really. Sadly my own girls are probably just out of range for them.

 

[HelenHP16]

I also grow my runner beans for a late crop and was very happy to see lots of bees both bumble and honey on them. Closer examination however showed that the bumble bees were biting a hole at the back of the flower to get at the nectar and by passing their pollination duties, the honey bees were then accessing the nectar via the ready made access hole. Result - happy bees but no beans.

 

[Millet]

Do a three meter set aside all around the outside of the field and fill it full of dalia and beneficial weeds... my bees love the dalia at this time of the year..

 

[enrico]

Phacelia is undoubtedly best.

. And you can sow it every few weeks for continual flowering. It has a high nectar output too. Borage and phacelia together and you have a field of blue. plough it each year and the set seed will grow again. No need to buy any more!
E

 

[madasafish]

. And you can sow it every few weeks for continual flowering. It has a high nectar output too. Borage and phacelia together and you have a field of blue. plough it each year and the set seed will grow again. No need to buy any more!
E

Phacelia has a lovely delicate scent as well - but you need calm conditions to appreciate it.

 

[Finman]

.
When flowers have plenty of bees or bees are several per square metre, it means that the plant is not able to give food to many bees during a day. Over grazing.

A flower has limited amount of pollen, and often bees gather that pollen away during morning.


Good plants: Alsike glover. Long flowering period. White clower too
.

 

[TooBee...]

Yeh, I was thinking that Clover (don't know what type) would be best, it has a lot of flowers per flower head, with a lot of flowers per plant and a lot of plants per square metre... that's a lot!

 

[Ian123]

How about some autumn raspberry’s should provide a saleable crop as well

 

[oliver90owner]

Double rows of runner beans? That would be about 300 plants outside, plus the ones in the tunel (hope the ends are open or honey bess won’t get out!) - and getting less than a kilogram a day? Not very productive, methinks!

Not only would you need a lot of suspension for the beans, but also an outlet for the product. They need to be continually cropped or they stop producing any more flowers.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Double rows of runner beans? That would be about 300 plants outside, plus the ones in the tunel (hope the ends are open or honey bess won’t get out!) - and getting less than a kilogram a day? Not very productive, methinks!

Not only would you need a lot of suspension for the beans, but also an outlet for the product. They need to be continually cropped or they stop producing any more flowers.

Always putting folk down hey Oliver . Don't reply to my posts unless you have something good to say. If you don't mind.

 

[Finman]

Always putting folk down hey Oliver . Don't reply to my posts unless you have something good to say. If you don't mind.

He told how it goes in Real life. Fairy tales is a different world.

 

[Curly green fingers]

My weights were averages from last year finman perhaps it's the way he comes across sounds patronising to me .
I've been growing runners for 20 years who's living in a fairy tale . 3 kgs every three days for 6 weeks isn't bad .

 

[TooBee...]

My weights were averages from last year finman perhaps it's the way he comes across sounds patronising to me .
I've been growing runners for 20 years who's living in a fairy tale . 3 kgs every three days for 6 weeks isn't bad .

 

[Finman]

My weights were averages from last year finman perhaps it's the way he comes across sounds patronising to me .
I've been growing runners for 20 years who's living in a fairy tale . 3 kgs every three days for 6 weeks isn't bad .

1 kg bean honey per day? Or beans...