Do bean pretty much self-pollinate or what?

They pretty much self-pollinate. What small amount of CP you might get is not an issue unless you plan to save seeds.

Dave

Thanks for the quick response. Some of the beans, I might want to save the seeds but not the bush lake or romas. They are just too cheap and available. Others just are not offered everywhere..Like the yard-longs and some of the butter beans I have.

Beans do self pollinate; but they can also cross. The amount of crossing is determined by many factors... distance, pollinator presence, the availability of other pollen & nectar sources, among others. Some varieties (such as "Goose" and "Jimenez") cross more readily than others. I've seen beans with crossing as high as 50%, but as a rule, 1-2% is more typical.

The yardlongs should be no problem for seed saving, unless you grow more than one variety.

The butterbeans, though, are more prone to crossing. They are very good nectar sources. If you grow only one variety, you should get reasonably pure seed; but if other limas are being grown by your neighbors, you might still get a few crosses.

Provided that you are only saving seed for your own use, any crossing which might occur is only a minor inconvenience. If you intend to share seed, though, or if any of the seed you intend to save is irreplaceable, then you would need to use stronger isolation methods.

Placing the two beans as far apart as possible would help. So would the use of "barrier crops", other pollen or nectar sorces placed between different varieties of the same species. Barrier crops can be either flowering vegetables or herbs, or patches of flowers that bloom at the same time as the vegetable being protected. I'd recommend placing the butterbeans & yardlongs between the two beans, since they provide a tall physical barrier as well as nectar. Planting squash, cukes, okra, basil, and other flowering plants between the beans will also reduce the chances of crossing.

Agree that butter bean varieties are a different animal when it comes to crossing. As zeedman said, as much spacing as possible on them, stagger your plantings, and you can even bag blooms on them for seed saving.

My response above was based on your initial info of "green beans" (Pole and bush blue lake as well as Roma's and yard-longs)", not butter/lima types.

Dave

I appreciate the info.. last year I barely had enough green beans, either roma or regular to eat much less worry about saving any seed. This will be my first year for yard longs. i have one variety right now, a bush type. But am thinking of ordering some pole type.
The butter bean were an after thought. I got a few (like 7 seeds several years ago) and have been keeping them going since. They are red but not speckled like the Pa Dutch butter beans/limas. I have no idea what they really are.

..."They are red but not speckled like the Pa Dutch butter beans/limas. I have no idea what they really are."

If they are a pole variety, "Carolina Red" is one possibility. "Red Willow Leaf" is another. Both of those are fairly common. There are other all-red heirlooms as well, and some of those hale from your neck of the woods... but my guess is that what you have is one of the two above. Digdirt is closer to your region, he might have other suggestions.

how dose a bean self pollinate? Like is there something in the soil, help me out please
Josh

It is a function of the evolution of that species. Nothing to do with the soil. Some plants need other plants to pollinate, others don't.

Dan

In the past, I have been less than thrilled with the performance of Blue Lakes here in the Deep South (could just be me). Last year I grew LA Purple Pod Snaps (pole type) and Kentucky Wonder (also pole type). Both did extremely well and were delicious. KW did better through the hottest part of the summer. The Purples were our favorite flavor of the two. Both of these are open pollinated varieties.