Broad bean problem

Barbara344 · July 2020

My Broad beans look healthy, flowering well, and then the flowers just drop off leaving no bean pods. Is it possibly lack of pollinators, or something else? They have been given regular feeds.

Plashing · July 2020

I think the weather is the problem its been so up down stuff doesn't know what season it is,one minute its hot and dry then its cold windy and damp so there hasn't been the insects about to pollinate the crops,I have been lucky because I had bees making a home in my garden incinerator near my beans and all my fruit and they came out and pollinate,so I am having plenty of fruit and veg.

Barbara344 · July 2020

Thanks. We do have bees but I have noticed there are maybe not as many this year.

Dovefromabove · July 2020

I think at one stage the wind was blowing the flowers off the stems.

Our broad beans have finished now ... we were picking them from mid May until the end of June. I sow a winter hardy variety in late October.

Barbara344 · July 2020

Thank you. there certainly have been windy days, but these flowers stay on and then just die off.

BobTheGardener · July 2020

Broad bean flowers, while self-pollinating, do need entering by bees as they have a 'trigger' which releases pollen onto the stamen which is only activated when a bee enters the flower. Apparently, you can simulate this by gently flicking each flower with your finger so that may be worth a try. Some species of bees seem to have learnt to bite through the outside of the flower to get to the nectar so don't do the pollination part of the job, the slackers!

Barbara344 · July 2020

Thank you, I'll try the flicking. I can't bear to see lovely healthy plants producing nothing!

Broad bean problem

Posts