I had them growing on a fence last summer, no string needed. I didn't fertilize but used good soil (mushroom/garden soil mix). I didn't try deadheading, so not sure about that. The plant was extremely productive and produced lots of flowers and beans.

'Does deadheading keep them blooming?' ???? I hope you'll be eating the beans not deadheading. ;-)

Lots of threads about them over on http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/legumes

They will keep blooming if you do not let the pods grow large. Pick them young before the seeds enlarge and steam them. Yum. During hot weather the plant will flower but the flowers will drop and will not form pods....nothing to eat then, but no pods to get too big and affect flowering if you miss seeing them either. Bean production should pick up again when the weather cools. Runner beans do well in cooler temps than regular pole beans, probably one of the reasons they are popular with floral_uk.

Mine climb fine on bamboo trellis supports and metal rebar panels. If your structure doesn't have parts near the ground you may need to give them a little help to get started. I water only when it gets quite dry and mulch around the base to try to keep the soil evenly moist and cooler during the summer. Go easy on the fertilizer or don't use any at all if your soil has been amended recently with compost.

Our scarlet runners are hummingbird magnets...very fun to watch those amazing birds!

I will try the beans, but I really am trying them for the hummingbirds, so I'll pick them small to keep them flowering. Good to know they will grow up bamboo without string, the legs of my structure are about that thick.

Thank you all very much….I'm looking forward to them, this is my first try with them.

If you pick the beans young they will continue to flower. Mine sometimes crop from mid June to early November. Pick the beans young and use as you would any green bean. Beans and hummers aren't mutually exclusive. I only wish we had hummers here - we have aplenty of runners for them. To me growing runners and not eating the beans would be like growing a crop of a delicious vegetable .... and then throwing it away.

I guess I've had this idea in my head that the beans are not as tasty as regular pole beans. I plan to grow my usual varieties of pole beans and bush beans in the vegetable garden. I got the idea to grow them for the hummers because I saw one hummer visiting my regular pole beans last year and someone on line mentioned the Scarlet Runner Beans for them. That is a nice long season of beans you have. You sow direct? How early are you able to sow them?

I personally do not sow all direct because I try to get an early start. I sow a dozen indoors, then another dozen indoors a couple of weeks later and finally another dozen outdoors direct in early May. Then I get a succession of different aged plants and a longer crop. I don't have much success with other beans as my site is not warm and dry enough.

It is possible that yours will not be as tasty as mine because we have a huge number of cultivars to choose from here where they are a staple summer vegetable. If yours are just generic Scarlet Runners they may not have been selected for pod size, tenderness, stringlessness and flavour as ours are. But I would certainly give them a go. Pick young - that's the key. If you can feel the beans in the pods they are getting a bit too old. You may also need to string them if they are not a culinary variety.

Wow, that's so funny. I've always found it interesting how different the UK market is from the USA market. I found two varieties available when I was looking and that's it. So, yes, they are the generic Scarlet Runner Beans from Johnny's Seeds. Thanks for those tips. :-)

I love scarlet runners and grow them somewhere every year. I like to eat the dried beans. Anyway, for hummers you should try a pillar of cypressvine morning glory (Ipomoea quamoclit). Easy to grow, NOT invasive like other morning glories, and the hummers love them. Renees garden, many others have seeds, they would have them at a box store seed rack I bet.

BComplx - Thanks for that tip. I will look for those too. I haven't seen those on the Hummers List before.

I grew like 8 plants of scarlet runners last year. I started them indoors and when it was safe I planted them all at the base of a bamboo teepee shaped structure. I trained them up... meaning I wove them loosely around the bamboo by hand and then gently secured the tips leaving like 6" with a green zip tie. Eventually the plant just started winding around itself and then pushed out a bazillion leaves and clusters of flowers. I should say that scarlet runners are favourites for those wanting to decorate fences or places in their gardens, and the flowers are a more reliable... not to mention stunning treat in fresh garden salads than the actual beans. We got hardly any beans, but the flowers are absolutely delicious and taste like tender young beans, they're gorgeous and will make you the talk of the garden party if you show up with a scarlet runner salad with edible red flowers! My property manager used to hang out and chat just to snack on the blooms lol

I always grew scarlet runners as ornamental, but last year I harvested the dry beans and put them aside. I finally cooked some last week for the first time. They're delicious...they taste like black beans, just ten times the size. So I've planted several of them this year. You could deadhead one for the hummingbirds and use the others to produce beans.

Prairiemoon, the RHS Runner Bean Trial tested 28 cultivars. I grow mostly Painted Lady but since I save my own seed there are the odd all red-flowered plants which pop up.

It's a strange thing but over here they are grown exclusively for green beans and I've never heard of anyone eating the dried beans. Of course, if you leave the beans to ripen on the vines for dry beans the plants will slow down in production. I did try them as 'shellies' ( a term I never heard until I started hanging out on GW. I didn't like them much.

There have been a lot of discussions on the Peas, Beans and Legumes Forum if you want to read further. Runner Beans

Floral - Thanks for the link for further discussion. I think I will have to leave one or two vines to go to dried seed as Shelma suggested and try them because we do eat a lot of chili and it would be nice if they worked in that recipe. But, yes, it would slow down production of flowers to do that and that's the main idea for now.

Bcomplx - I use cover crops, so that is also a great idea.

Miss Moose - we never eat blossoms, but I will have to try these.

I didn't realize there was so much interest in Runner Beans and that they had multiple uses. I also like to collect my own seed, so I will try that this fall. They are very attractive, very large seeds and what's easier to sow than a bean seed?

Thanks...

The seed is very easy to keep over winter. Mine usually just sits in an old plastic carton somewhere in the kitchen. I don't even bother to cover it and some years it's right by the stove. Germination is always very high.

Try eating the green bean pods before seeds developed. Best green beans ever.