Runner Bean Seed Question?

Hello I hope you can give me some advice:

I have been stripping away the remains of last years runner beans toda to get my borders ready for this years crop. Can you tell me if planting the beans/seeds from the pods of these ol plants will be better, worse or no different from planting beans/seed fresh out of a packet?

Also can I use seeds for runner beans and Jalapeno peppers that bouught last year or is it better to buy new packets this year?

Thank you for any help, im a bit new to this

-- candide

Reply to
candide
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Hi, The seeds from the old bean plants will grow. Porovided that they are not F.

1 . hybrid you will get a true plant, if they are F. 1. they will grow, but may be different from the original plant and may or may not be edible. Last years seeds will proably grow and be all right. I woul try a few before you buy any more, and see if they germinate. Hope this helps you.

Richard M. Watkin.

Reply to
R M. Watkin

Properly dried, your harvested beans will grow as well as newly purchased seeds.

As to seed longevity, check out the list at

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it will tell you that last year's beans (3-6 years) and pepper seeds (3-5 years) should still be viable for planting this year. That's provided they've been stored reasonably well. You can always do a germination test. Here's how:
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fun.

Ross Southern Ontario, Canada. AgCanada Zone 5b Google Earth:

43º 17' 26.75" North 80º 13' 29.46" West To email, remove the "obvious" from my address.
Reply to
rossr35253

Thank you very much for your help Ross.

I appreciate it!!

-- candide

Reply to
candide

Hi candide. My expierience with this has been that the seeds from the old plants work better than the packets, as long as plants are open polinated, and they have not cross polinate with other plants from the same family. Plants like beans and peas are usually OK because they seldom cross polinate (or so I've read). Plants like Peppers might be better to go with seed packets, because your more likely to get what you want.

The seed packets usually have a date on them that tells how long they will be viable. As long as they have been stored in a cool, dry, dark area, (I keep mine in a paper bag in the frig) they should be fine. The worst thing is that there will be a slight decrease in germination. If you are not sure about it, follow the old saying "When in doubt-throw it out". Best of luck, Dean.

Reply to
Big D

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