A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 pole beans

We grew "pole beans" (green) this year. All summer we had lots of leaves and plants that grew on a trellis type thing my husband made.....but NO beans. Then about 3 weeks ago the beans started growing. I must have picked 10 pounds. We eat them almost every night and I have a few bags frozen. What I want to know is can I save the seeds from some of the pods? Do I leave on the vines to dry or will they dry in the house? And does anyone know why they took so long to produce beans? We almost ripped the plants out a few times because they took up so much space. I am glad we waited!

Yes you can save the seeds, what i do is leave the biggest n best beans on the plants to dry!
some leave them till they burn the plants late autumn.
but i always take mine off when there brown, put them in a tray in the greenhouse for a couple of weeks.
just to be sure there fully dry!

There could be a few reasons why your beans didnt set.
weather
watering
birds picking off the flowers.
Hope this helps..