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Last edited on November 01, 2026. View history

White Scotch Runner Bean

Phaseolus coccineus
Also known as Takamatua white (EN)

A variety of bean

A perennial runner bean that is not stringy, so it works as a green bean, a shellout or a dry bean. Don't blanch it before freezing. Plant 20 cm apart in deeply prepared beds and pinch tops out at 30 cm. Prefers cool, moist roots, and stops setting beans if too hot or dry. Grown for many years in Christchurch.

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White scotch runner bean facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
Optimal temperature 12–26 °C
Absolute temperature 5–30 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 800–1500 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 400–2600 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 5.5–7
Absolute soil pH 5–8.2
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

80–365 days
FAO EcoCrop

Max altitude

2800 m
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

very bright
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For white Scotch runner bean, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 80 days at its best temperature, about 1120 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your white Scotch runner bean will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Growing white Scotch runner beans

  1. Dig the bed and add compost 1 week before sowing
  2. Put up supports for climbing beans 1 week after sowing
  3. Water regularly at sowing every week
  4. Weed carefully 3 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
  5. Pick beans regularly at first harvest every week
  6. Leave some pods to dry for seed 6 weeks after first harvest
  7. Pull out finished plants and dig in the roots 8 weeks after first harvest

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Time to harvest

If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 80 to 365 days.

From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.

Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Phaseolus coccineus L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Rosidae
Fabales
Leguminosae
Life form herb
Life span annual, perennial
Habit climber/scrambler/scadent
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture medium
Optimal soil fertility high
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity low (<4 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours)

Learn more about white Scotch runner beans

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