My runner beans seem healthy although they've only been in the ground a couple of weeks. I made the mistake last year of rushing my bean fence with the result it was a botched affair that fell down at the first puff of wind. I was then constantly having to do running repairs and the beans never came to anything much. This time I have made sure they are fixed to stout metal rods and should not fall down.
I like to angle my canes at about 20-25 degrees from the vertical so that I can make sure the developing beans hang down from the foliage and do not become unduly bent. This means checking daily so as to extricate the trusses of beans early on in their development so that they can grow as straight as possible with the minimum of manipulation. When they are small it's a lot easier to straighten them. A bean that is a couple of inches long 2 weeks before show day should be the aim.
You need to pick daily to discard any beans that will never make the grade so that the plants continue to produce new beans. Aim for beans 12" (minimum) to 18" (ideal) on show day, each pod showing no sign of the actual beans i.e. 'being 'bumpy'. They have to be uniform of colour and freshness which means you really have to be on top of the watering. A judge will always snap one of your beans in half. If your bean is stringy it will be downpointed and could mean the difference between first and second place....or even worse! Beans should be laid flat on the bench, or on pieces of back painted board, all facing the same way in order to highlight their uniformity.
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