David in Normandy wrote:

Could broad beans
cross pollinate with the runner beans and lead to hybrid bean seeds for
planting next year?

Runner beans are Phaseolus Coccineus- according to my Holy Scriptures
(Ashworth's "Seed to Seed"), they do not cross with any other bean species.

In general, beans are self-fertile, so don't readily cross... I grow a
number of regular bush and half-runner types in a 4-foot wide bed, with a 4
or 5 foot block of soybeans as separators, and don't see cross-pollination.
The nice thing about beans, is you can look at the seed and see if there's
anything suspect about the parentage.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G