John Savage wrote:

"Marie Lawrence" writes:


Scarelet rummers do well in Melbourne, I grow them in shade and find beans
do not set in hot weather.



That's my experience too. Scarlet runners need to be watered morning and
evening in hot weather if you hope to have many set, otherwise the flowers
go to waste. Water the soil, not the leaves. I think they should be thought
of as a cool area climber. They are a perennial, coming up every year (for
nominally 7 years).



As soon as there is a cool spell lots of beans
set. White 7 year beans are good too, pick the beans before they grow
large and tough. Marie



The whites are hardier than the reds, and keep coming up year after year
more reliably. I'll mention here that the scarlet runners (aka 7 year beans)
produce a very large bean, and it is NOT stringless: it has string along
both edges. The plants are heavy producers, but so are the faster-bearing
Blue Lake and Blue Lake are stringless.

The green vegetable shield beetle has a strong attraction to the Scarlet
Runner/7 year beans, but doesn't seem to do much damage--just a few bumps
on the side of the bean.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)



We just eat the beans after podding.