anthony123hopki wrote:
All the advice is to pick the pods asap so as to encourage further pod
development. How is this so given that the pods develop from their
flower, so therefore more flowers would have to develop in order for
more pods.

This is what happens in fact. In addition the beans are nicer when young so
pick them regularly and if you can't eat them all while fresh then give the
rest away, you will get more good beans yourself.


Does early cropping encourage further flower growth, or does the plant
flower only once?

Different cultivars have different flowering patterns. The ones favoured by
commercial growers flower over a short period and most of the beans are
ready together. This is advantageous as such growers like to harvest all at
once, often using machinery.

Home growers are better off with a cultivar that flowers continuously over a
long period so there is a steady harvest of beans. It is a while since I
grew them but I think blue lake are in the latter category. The cultivar
that I grew last summer produced continuously for seven months.


David