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Sad french beans - help please!
Jo the balcony gardener
Posts: 5
Hi - I'm a very very novice gardener and would appreciate some advice please! My French beans were happily growing up my wigwam but have recently started to have odd leathery, shrivelling leaves and black spots under the leaves. New growth is yellow and the whole plant looks very sad indeed. I have spotted some thrips and what I think could be spider mites so I've been spraying with garlic infused diluted soap spray. I'm afraid it could be mosaic virus but wanted to get some expert opinions before I throw the whole lot out (and start again? Is it too late to plant beans from scratch?). Will try to add photos. Would appreciate your help greatly!!
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I think the first critter is a thrip, fairly certain. The second, I think maybe is a spider mite (it's very tiny, size of a coarse grain of sand or thereabouts). Expert opinions welcome! This is my first season gardening and I'm still learning the ropes. Thanks!
Hi Jo
I don't think the insects are anything to worry about.
Have you fed the plants with anything? They look a bit hungry to me and they don't have a lot of compost in that pot. Try giving them some liquid fertiliser - seaweed fertiliser is good - that should perk them up a bit.
Also, have you been over-watering them? Is their compost permanently wet? If so cut down on the watering and let the compost get dry on the surface between waterings. Roots need oxygen as well as water and if the compost is sodden they can't breathe.
Next time, a bigger container for beans
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Looks like a small container and thirsty plants, especially in this weather. So the compost will dry out, and the plants will be stressed. You''ll be pushed to keep it moist. The local tip may sell old pots cheap if you don't want to shell out for a decent sized pot from a shop. Yellowing can be overwatering or underfeeding.
Thank you Dovefromabove and LeifUK for your responses and advice! The funny thing is that I bought the beans + wigwam from a garden centre already planted in the pot they are in. I think you could both be right and the pot is far too small for this much plant. So I might thin out the plants this weekend and give them a good feed with an all purpose fertiliser. They could be slightly overwatered (the compost doesn't seem to drain particuarly well) and I was paranoid about them drying out on my balcony, so perhaps a bit overzealous with the watering can. I'll try both and see if they can be saved. Thanks again for your advice!
Good luck Jo
Next year buy some seeds, a large plastic flowerpot, some bamboo canes and some compost - I'm sure it'll be cheaper and do much better.
But don't worry, we all have to start somewhere and we're all still learning.
Welcome to the wonderful world of gardening
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.