Tillering

[StringfellowParticipant]

Charles, in your most recent book you mention a process called tillering – three stems growing from one broad bean seed in this case.

Could you provide some more information on this process please? Is it a natural occurrence or a technique that can be applied etc. I have tried to find more information on the net to save bothering you again , but there is little if any info available.

Thanks and hope the green house has arrived safe and sound…..

[WillsandlandsMember]

I first saw this on Malta. I had a go, quite successfully, on my allotment near Leamington Spa. I cut the leader to 5cm once the stem was about 10cm. They tillered well but variably; 2 to 5 new stems being produced. Needed much bigger spacing than normal (as on Malta, about 20 – 30 cm) and they were more susceptible to wind damage. They cropped about a week later than those untillered and were, again, very variable. Some new stems produced few pods but most were as prolific as the untillered. Certainly a good way to make bean seeds go further!
Hope the soil dries out in time for Spring
Cheers Will

[charlesModerator]

 This is interesting Will as I have not encouraged tillering by doing that, having found it happens naturally on many beans that are sown in autumn and winter. You make a good point about wind damage as the new stems come out at an angle and are often slighly "floating" above the soil, where they leave the main root. So some string around the bed is worthwhile.

The great thing is that if you have lost some beans to winter weather, you may still have a decent harvest after the surviving bean plants have made new stems and filled out the gaps between plants.

And yes, the soil should finally start to dry out after a relentless run of wet weather. Three weeks mostly dry looks possible. My new greenhouse is up, at a cost to the soil unfortunately as they assembled it in saturated conditions, see This Month later today….

[StringfellowParticipant]

Thanks to you both for your responses.

It will be interesting to see how many of the broad beans I sowed back in early November end up tillering naturally. In addition, I may try Will’s method on a couple of plants from February sowings to see what happens.

Back in October I sowed a couple of rows of broad bean, closely spaced, for leaf as a quick salad bowl addition, doubling as a green manure (as in ‘How To Grow Winter Veg’). Following nipping out the tops for salad, I fleeced the plants in an attempt to over winter them. Some plants have survived, so far, and most have tillered – I just didn’t know that this was the name for it.

Can any other plants be treated in this manner, as a possible way of increasing yield?

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