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Broad Beans not developing?
pnwalsh
Posts: 22
in Fruit & veg
My broad beans have grown well and flowered fine but now lots of the tiny young beans are turning black and drying out. I had a slight black fly problem but nothing major and I have pinched out the tops which seems to have kept this in check. I've grown broad beans for about 10 years in succession and never had a failure like this, just the odd black fly issue.
I would say around 50% of my beans are developing ok and they rest are affected. Does anyone know what's causing this and is there anything I can do?
0
Posts
We've had some hot dry weather and beans take a lot of moisture to produce ........ have you been watering?
I finished picking mine about 10 days ago and they've been pulled up now, but until then they were getting half an hour of the sprinkler down among the bottom of the plants twice to three times a week, ever since flowering.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Blimey, you're weeks ahead of me! I'm located in the West Pennines about 1000ft above sea level and so far our summer has been pretty cool and damp so I didn't feel the need to water much. Having said that, I'm normally half way through my broad bean harvest by now so things are going really slow up here. My runner beans are still only half way up their canes so If i'm lucky I'm going to get a short harvest period before the Autumn lands. Having "Googled" the problem and failed to find the cause it could well be a lack of water issue as you say?
Thanks for the reply.
I sow mine direct into the veg patch in late October - I always sow Aquaduice Claudia and they stand our Norfolk winters very well ... they were under snow for 9 weeks once and still produced beans by the beginning of June
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi had a reasonal crop here just finish. If I sow some more now is possible to get another later crop, or best left until autumn for next year.
I'd leave it until autumn ... I'm going to sow some Pak Choi and similar where my broad beans were ... get a quick crop in.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'd settle for one decent crop at this altitude. I might give the Autumn sowing method a try though, what could possibly go wrong
If you're in a windy spot I think I'd put a fence of debris netting or similar around your autumn sown beans ... but otherwise, in my experience , Claudia can stand almost anything the winter can throw at them.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's very exposed and windy in my garden and any tall crops need to be staked. I've had moderate success with Bunyards Exhibition but will give Claudia and the netting a try on your recommendation, thanks.
Bunyards Exhibition are a lovely bean, but I don't think they're as hardy as Claudia.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think hardiness is the key to success up on the Pennines. Its a shame but I just can't grow a lot of things up here . I took a bit of a gamble this year and planted two new apple trees, a Discovery and Katy as they are ok for colder exposed sites so will see what happens, so far they are doing well?