Vegetables > Runner Beans
I decided to fill the space left in my green house with runner bean plants. They have grown very well, look healthy and are flowering daily. But when the flower dies back it just drops off completely from the main stalk leaving no bean. They are watered daily and the greenhouse door is opened during the day for ventilation. I would be grateful for any advice.
This is not all that an uncommon problem. It is usually worse in hot and dry seasons, so it may be that your greenhouse is just too hot for the plants at the moment. You could try watering even more, mulching around the base of the plants to conserve what water you do give them, and opening all the ventilation in your greenhouse all of the time. There is a chance that sparrows or bumblebees are actually destroying your flowers, but given that you are growing in a greenhouse I tend to think it is the extreme micro-climate which is causing your problems. If you want to grow beans in a greenhouse, a French climbing bean would probably be better; or you could try lots more moisture-retaining compost under the plants if you do the same with runner beans next year. On the plus side you might just find that if you cut the runner bean down to the ground rather than pulling out the roots, and cover it with a thick straw mulch for the winter, it could come back next year - of course you might not want a runner that doesn't produce beans.
My runner beans this year have been splendid, lots of really healthy vigorous growth and the most flowers we have ever seen. Unfortunately very few of the flowers have become beans and although we have some beans its nothing like as many as we have had other years with about one tenth of the flowers. The only different thing we did this year was to compost the bean site in January whereas before I am ashamed to say we left them pretty much alone. Apart from feeding once or twice with phostrogen, just the same as we have done other years. The flowers are just dropping. Is it because they haven't been fertilized or is their something more sinister going on. We have seen quite a few wasps around the flowers this year.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi,
if anything digging in compost should have helped your beans, and may be the reason why you have any beans at all. I guess - not knowing what your year has been like - that you have had a hot and dry time of it. Runner bean setting is always worse in such seasons. Try to keep the plants better watered and don't forget that if even one bean on a plant reaches maturity that will be the end of flowering for that year. By the way, although sparrows and bumble bees are often implicated in the destruction of runner flowers, wasps are normally reckoned to be a gardener's allies until August.
If you have any questions on Runner Bean plants, e-mail us and we may be able to help!
If you have any questions you want to ask or any information you want to share please visit our friendly community forum.
Here are some of the topics being discussed at the moment:
- Vegetables Home Page
- Visit The Green Chronicle Shop
- Buy Gardening Books in The Green Chronicle's Book Store.
- See other Gardening Websites in The Green Chronicle's Directory.
Comment Script
Reader q&a on runner bean problems:
Seeds
Buy Organic Runner Bean Seeds from The Green Chronicle (Pay in $US, £, Euro).General Information
See our page on Runner Beans.Question
I decided to fill the space left in my green house with runner bean plants. They have grown very well, look healthy and are flowering daily. But when the flower dies back it just drops off completely from the main stalk leaving no bean. They are watered daily and the greenhouse door is opened during the day for ventilation. I would be grateful for any advice.
The Green Chronicle replies...
This is not all that an uncommon problem. It is usually worse in hot and dry seasons, so it may be that your greenhouse is just too hot for the plants at the moment. You could try watering even more, mulching around the base of the plants to conserve what water you do give them, and opening all the ventilation in your greenhouse all of the time. There is a chance that sparrows or bumblebees are actually destroying your flowers, but given that you are growing in a greenhouse I tend to think it is the extreme micro-climate which is causing your problems. If you want to grow beans in a greenhouse, a French climbing bean would probably be better; or you could try lots more moisture-retaining compost under the plants if you do the same with runner beans next year. On the plus side you might just find that if you cut the runner bean down to the ground rather than pulling out the roots, and cover it with a thick straw mulch for the winter, it could come back next year - of course you might not want a runner that doesn't produce beans.
Question
My runner beans this year have been splendid, lots of really healthy vigorous growth and the most flowers we have ever seen. Unfortunately very few of the flowers have become beans and although we have some beans its nothing like as many as we have had other years with about one tenth of the flowers. The only different thing we did this year was to compost the bean site in January whereas before I am ashamed to say we left them pretty much alone. Apart from feeding once or twice with phostrogen, just the same as we have done other years. The flowers are just dropping. Is it because they haven't been fertilized or is their something more sinister going on. We have seen quite a few wasps around the flowers this year.
Any advice would be appreciated.
The Green Chronicle replies...
Hi,
if anything digging in compost should have helped your beans, and may be the reason why you have any beans at all. I guess - not knowing what your year has been like - that you have had a hot and dry time of it. Runner bean setting is always worse in such seasons. Try to keep the plants better watered and don't forget that if even one bean on a plant reaches maturity that will be the end of flowering for that year. By the way, although sparrows and bumble bees are often implicated in the destruction of runner flowers, wasps are normally reckoned to be a gardener's allies until August.
If you have any questions on Runner Bean plants, e-mail us and we may be able to help!
The Green Chronicle Community
If you have any questions you want to ask or any information you want to share please visit our friendly community forum.
Here are some of the topics being discussed at the moment:
- Vegetables Home Page
- Visit The Green Chronicle Shop
- Buy Gardening Books in The Green Chronicle's Book Store.
- See other Gardening Websites in The Green Chronicle's Directory.
Post this page to:
Comments
Please enter your comments or questions in the form below. All entries are manually approved before being published so it may be a while before you see your comment on the page.
Powered by Comment Script
The most likely suspects are slugs and snails. They will hide under pots and pot rims during the day and then come out to feast at night(especially when it is wet).
To check out this theory have a really good look around the pots and the area around them. Look for places where the slugs and snails can hide. Little piles of leaves can shelter them.
If there is any debris on the surface of the soil in the pots slugs and snails can hide under it. Slugs can also shelter just under the surface of the soil.
If you find slugs and snails your best bet is slug traps, gravel around the pots and copper tape around the pots.
Since the yellowing is uniform and in the older leaves(?) and you are watering a lot a possible deficiency which springs to mind is nitrogen. This can leach out of the soil and the leaves will turn yellow. The other possibility is mildew which can occur if there is too much humidity. Have you thought of mulching and hand watering at the roots only? Is it possible that you are under or over watering? Look at the roots for any signs of rotting (over-watering) and make sure that the water is able to drain away ok. Stick your finger in the soil-it should be damp,not wet. Also have a really good look for any pests lurking in the soil,under the leaves or under any nearby dead leaves etc.
There are a few blights which can affect green beans but yours sound basically healthy. Also the beans sound as if they are ok which is an important point!
I think that the first thing I would do is to make sure the watering is right and that there are no obvious pests.