This is what happens to me every time! It doesn't help that I never get them out as early as I could. Still, as Dawn mentioned, they will probably produce pods later on. My Insuk's Wang Kong are growing very vigorously. But I know, given this heat, that pods won't appear until late summer.

I haven't grown garbanzos since the 90s, and that was back in Hidalgo Mexico. Then, we had very hot days and nights in the 70-80s. They set pods just fine. But that is a very different situation than Oklahoma, with heat day and night. That's all I can comment on them.

George

Mine don't have any beans either, so you're not alone. I didn't know it was because of day-length or anything. I thought they just didn't grow many beans.

I grew them last year and they didn't set a pod until very late and then just a few. I did get enough to save seeds, but didn't plant any this year.

Same here, lotsa flowers, no beans last year till cooler weather came. Then they went crazy and made so many beans, I still have over a full quart jar of the dried beans! A few of the beans that fell to the ground wintered over and came up this spring. I was kinda surprised about that! But if you dry them, be sure to give them a LONG time to dry.

I tried cooking some and I thought they were just OK. I mean, if I was really, really hungry I'd eat the cooked dried bean. DH is annoyingly picky about food and he ate a little bitty bowl and then didn't eat any more. So I had the rest of the pot to do something with and I didn't want to eat them every day for a week. So I poured off the liquid and saved it to add to soup, then pureed the beans in the Cuisinart, added chili seasoning, cooked ground beef, onion and green pepper and rolled them up in flour tortillas. Poured chili sauce over all and topped with sharp cheddar cheese and baked. LOL, DH had two helpings. I haven't tried 'em as green beans because I was a little put off by how hairy the pods were.

I have Insuk's planted this year and they are blooming profusely. BTW, is there a difference, tastewise, between Insuks and Scarlet Runner? They look the same to me. --Ilene

I too have beautiful scarlet runner beans, selected for two reasons. 1st is companion planting with color. In this picture, you can see Scarlet Runner vines and blossoms on several corn plants. As of July 21st, most of the bean plants are happily growing in the corn, and much of the peaches and cream corn plants are 6 to over 8 feet in height. Some of the beans plants are beginning to outgrow the corn. Since the beans are for reproduction of the plant, I expect them to be ready by mid august for consumption. However, I am planning on shelling most of them and drying for winter cooking.

Welcome to Gardenweb, W. T. Those are handsome plants, both corn and beans. I have't tried to raise the scarlet runners since 09. I don't have room for things that aren't productive.

I'm growing both Scarlet Runner Bean and Insuk's Wang Kong on the garden fence out back (but only a couple of plants of each) and on the 12' tall decorative windmill in the back garden, but I'm growing them for the flowers for the hummingbirds. If we get any beans to set after the weather cools off in the fall, those will be my seeds for next year.

I save the rest of my bean-growing space for pole beans that will produce a good crop in our weather, though not much produces in the heat we're having now. The only pole beans maturing beans right now (our high temp today was 101) are the Rattlesnake beans. Other varieties are growing well and blooming, but the heat-induced blossom drop continues (as always).

When a bean is semi-bush does it need a trellis?

On the osu guide is says dig a furrow before planting seeds and cover with peat moss. How deep does the furrow need to be and do you have to dig one for the plants to survive?

Off subject I know but help would be nice.
Thanks all Tree

Beans are usually planted in a furrow an inch or two deep. The purpose of the peat moss is so that the beans can come up without breaking. The peat moss is soft and actually allows you to plant in a deeper furrow. No you don't have to plant in a furrow; you can simply plant into individual holes, but if you have clay soil, it is a good idea to use the peat moss or something softer than the soil to cover with. And no semibush beans don't NEED a trellis in the way pole beans do. They don't get nearly as tall and usually don't twine like poles do.

To add to what Dorothy said, I've never put up a trellis for half-runner beans, which are a semi-bush bean, but sometimes they will turn nearby plants into trellises for themselves to climb. It doesn't hurt anything if they do that.

Sometimes semi-bush beans only put out short runners because there is nothing to climb, but if that same variety has something nearby that is tall enough to climb, I've found the semi-bush ones will climb it and get larger than the identical plants of the same variety that don't have anything to climb. I've had half runners get 6' tall if there is something to climb or even lean against, but they'll stay 2 or 3' tall or long (the longer runners kind of trail back down to the ground) if there's nothing around for them to climb.

On most semi-bush beans, the package or catalog description will tell you how tall the plants will get. Usually it is only 2-4' max, compared to many bush beans that get only about 20-28" tall. Pole beans, though, can easily climb 8-10' high (or even taller) if they have a trellis that tall.

Hi Dorothy, Dawn, reviving this thread. I won a Scarlet Runner Bean plant off Stringer Nursery's Facebook contest. Does it do well in full sun, or should I plant it somewhere with afternoon shade? Seems like I'm planting this really late since y'all had blooms since June. Thank you!

I've had it do well in both full sun and in morning sun/afternoon shade, Eileen, and I doubt it matters that you're planting late. It will get established now and start growing and then I bet it will bloom like mad in the autumn.

Might even be a better time to plant a runner bean. Get it through the next few weeks, and it will likely thrive in our long mild fall.