No Beans

Despite the growth, I'm not getting any beans on my scarlet runner bean plants. I've been getting lots of flowers but they don't set fruit. There are several possibilities but none seem likely as I've grown beans in this container on this spot in the past and never had problems.

After lots of googling and filtering out information that appears wrong or misleading, I've narrowed down the possibilities and lack of pollinator insects is the most likely cause. I believe the flowers on these plants, although capable of self pollination, need a pollinator insect to help activate that mechanism. Not all beans are like this, but scarlet runners appear to fall into this category. I wonder if I can somehow do this myself?

If these plants aren't producing beans, I might need to do away with them soon. It's a hassle to have to water them all the time and they are starting to crowd out my melons that grow next to them.

Pumpkin Pollination

The first female flower on my sugar pumpkin opened in the night and lucky for us, a single male flower was open too. I clipped off the male flower to get good access to the pollen. Then with a small artists brush I delicately transferred all the pollen I could collect from the male flower evenly over the stigma in the female flower. A few days from now I should know if it worked or not.