By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Many people this year (2011) seem to have problems with getting Runner Beans to set beans despite the fact that the plants were flowering more than well.
According to many of the seed companies at the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this seems to be a very common complaint from many a gardener and even though, as people say, there have been bees about.
Bees are fine but legumes, which means all beans, peas, etc., require bumble bees to do the pollination. Honey bees and the majority of other bees only pollinate open flowers. Legume flowers are closed flowers and it is 99% of the time only the bumble bees that pollinate this group of plants.
It would appear that the bumble bee was not flying when the majority of the Runner Beans were flowering and thus no pollination took place. Therefore beans will be few and far between at those locations where this happened.
This shows how important all bees and pollinators are for our food growing and it only needs one of them not to “function” properly at a certain time and the harvest will fail.
Pollinator attracting plants, especially those that bring in bumble bees and other bees, are something that, I think, we all must look at and also at ways to providing homes for our bumble bees and solitary bees, etc.
Personally, I am definitely looking at providing a section in the garden that will attract those bees, and especially the bumble bee, as I like to grow and eat beans, and also at providing to dwellings for such bees.
© 2011
