I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting seeds in
cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a better root. Has
anyone tried this and does it work ?

"hillier" wrote in message
...
: I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting seeds in
: cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a better root. Has
: anyone tried this and does it work ?
:
:No but the idea is that it gives plenty of root room as the roots grow
first on runner beans. I sow about 6 in a 9" pot and carefully pull them
apart when I plant them. It makes no difference what you plant them in as
long as it has plenty of room

"hillier" wrote _
I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting seeds in
cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a better root. Has
anyone tried this and does it work ?

Yes, we have used the centres of toilet and kitchen rolls. Gives an earlier
start and you just plant the whole thing so don't disturb the roots, also
avoids those pesky slugs and the pea and bean weevil.
Now use Roottrainers which are just a posh version of the same thing. :-)

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

The message
from "hillier" contains these words:

I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting seeds in
cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a better root. Has
anyone tried this and does it work ?

Best is to plant them in the soil. At the end of the season (and before
any frost) dig the roots up and store them over winter in dry sand in a
cool place which will not freeze.

When you plant them out, you get quicker growth, and several vines from each.

The following year, you get a whole bundle of vines, and so-on.

Until you forget them and the frost strikes...

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Bob Hobden wrote:

"hillier" wrote _

I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting seeds in
cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a better root. Has
anyone tried this and does it work ?


did that this year, am now collecting loo roll cores for next years
runners, sweet peas and early peas.

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I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting seeds
in
cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a better root. Has
anyone tried this and does it work ?

Yes, that's what we do. Also the cores from kitchen towel. (We never have
enough, but you can get rolled black paper tubes from the big Sheds to make
up the deficit).
If you stack the tubes upright in seed trays, loosely tied around with
string, they are easy to water and support each other.
We start all our runner beans this way and also half of our sweet peas. (We
put sweet pea plants in tubes in the ground at 10inch intervals with a seed
beside each. This gives a dense and long lasting display .... it is still
looking magnificent right now despite the poor summer.)

Sue da Nimm wrote:
I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting
seeds in cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a
better root. Has anyone tried this and does it work ?

Yes, that's what we do. Also the cores from kitchen towel. (We
never
have enough, but you can get rolled black paper tubes from the big
Sheds to make up the deficit).
If you stack the tubes upright in seed trays, loosely tied around
with
string, they are easy to water and support each other.
We start all our runner beans this way and also half of our sweet
peas.[...]

A friend always used to start his beans and sweet peas in tubes he
made out of rolled-up newspaper. IIRC, he secured the tubes by simply
tucking the ends in, but a stapler would do it.

Mike.

I've always started runner beans early, about 4 to a pot, but my
relations all plant them straight into the ground.

For sweet peas my father-in- law used to cut strips from plastic
fertilizer bags and roll and staple them into tubes. Probably about
the same size as a loo roll centre. One tug split them and brought
the roots out without damage for planting. Best sweet pea seedlings
I've ever seen.
I had a particular sunny spot to grow them, visible from the kitchen
sink, that I always used. To keep the soil sweet I used to
completely wheel barrow out the soil every spring and replace it with
fresh, over the top of a layer of compost.

Prior to retiring he also used the plastic coffee cups from the works
vending machine. He had made a tool from a cone with a sharpened piece
of hacksaw blade on the end which, when rotated, was just the right
size for cutting the bottoms out.

Bill
Derby

In message , Jaques
d'Alltrades writes
The message
from "hillier" contains these words:

I have been told I could improve my runner bean crop by planting seeds in
cardboard tubes, such as toilet roll cores, to give a better root. Has
anyone tried this and does it work ?

Best is to plant them in the soil.

Much prefer to sow in modules and then plant out myself. For things like
bean we use Rootrainers - we just CBA with toilet roll insides :-)

At the end of the season (and before
any frost) dig the roots up and store them over winter in dry sand in a
cool place which will not freeze.

There was a 'members experiment' in the HDRA mag, ISTR that the general
feeling was that while it did work, and theplanst were a little
eralier, it was a bit unreliable, and not really worth the effort.
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

The message
from Bill contains these words:

Prior to retiring he also used the plastic coffee cups from the works
vending machine. He had made a tool from a cone with a sharpened piece
of hacksaw blade on the end which, when rotated, was just the right
size for cutting the bottoms out.

I just stacked them a couple of feet high and pushed a piece of red-hot
steel rod through.

Don't try this in the kitchen folks! (Or the front room...)

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from Chris French and Helen Johnson
contains these words:

At the end of the season (and before
any frost) dig the roots up and store them over winter in dry sand in a
cool place which will not freeze.

There was a 'members experiment' in the HDRA mag, ISTR that the general
feeling was that while it did work, and theplanst were a little
eralier, it was a bit unreliable, and not really worth the effort.

I've always found it very well worth the effort, both with the earlier
and the much bigger crop.

(Killed by an early frost last year, but *THIS* year I'll be a bit more
careful.)

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/