Regarding green-and blackfly. I use a spray of boiled garlic water with a teaspoon of sunflower added to act as a sticker. This worked on my runner beans this year. My beans were not setting when the weather was so hot but are producing nicely now the nights are a little cooler.
these are mine today.. the beans and thick and fast but one side not so many..
my biggest prob is teh damn white butterflies on my braccias.. so many of them have killed over 300 catipillars so far and loads of eggs.. on going job three times aday..and as i take hem off they lay some more
My runner beans have been fantastic this year and were last year too. I use Thompson & Morgan's Moonlight beans as I find that the sparrows pull and red flowers off the plants and Moonlight has white flowers. The beans are tasty and prolific so I would recommend you try them next year. Not much you can do now except try some tomato fertiliser. I use this mid-season and it gives them that extra boost to keep on producing flowers. Good luck!
lady.. will try them ones.. sound good.. love runners but did far to many this year.. am now giving them away.. but they have don so well.. first time in a while.
My runner beans have been fantastic this year and were last year too. I use Thompson & Morgan's Moonlight beans as I find that the sparrows pull and red flowers off the plants and Moonlight has white flowers. The beans are tasty and prolific so I would recommend you try them next year. Not much you can do now except try some tomato fertiliser. I use this mid-season and it gives them that extra boost to keep on producing flowers. Good luck!
Me too, I buy mine from Dobies in Paignton but they are the same variety. First tried them about 3 or 4 years ago and they were so good I don't bother with other varieties now. I don't use the Tomato fertiliser though, I dig a couple of deep trenches early season and empty the entire contents of one of my compost beans into it, back fill and rake to a fine tilth, then when the beans are ready for planting out I put them in there. I use 8 ft bamboo canes and when the tips reach the top of the canes I pinch the tops out to promote extra side shoot growth.
So after throwing a net over the beans in desperation I have fewer bees. I even found a couple of small beans growing!! Hooray!! However I think the bees werent entirely the problem. Brught green caterpillars which are brilliantly camouflaged have been caught chewing! Ive now evicted them and thrown them to the birds
I have been told about a little black beatle about 1mm x 2mm in size that gets inside the flower and eats all the pollen, thuse stoping it being fertalized, the flower will then fall off.
Having looked at the flowers on my runners, i can see this little black beatle, so what i whould like to is what can be done about it, PLEASE. Cedric.
Take their guitars and drums away - that'll sort the little beatles out!
Posts
Regarding green-and blackfly. I use a spray of boiled garlic water with a teaspoon of sunflower added to act as a sticker. This worked on my runner beans this year. My beans were not setting when the weather was so hot but are producing nicely now the nights are a little cooler.
My beans seem to have been the subject of blackfly which have now been eaten by syrphid fly (hover fly) larvae. See this thread I started:
http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/problem-solving/syrphid-fly-larvae/97587.html
these are mine today.. the beans and thick and fast but one side not so many..
my biggest prob is teh damn white butterflies on my braccias.. so many of them have killed over 300 catipillars so far and loads of eggs.. on going job three times aday..and as i take hem off they lay some more
My runner beans have been fantastic this year and were last year too. I use Thompson & Morgan's Moonlight beans as I find that the sparrows pull and red flowers off the plants and Moonlight has white flowers. The beans are tasty and prolific so I would recommend you try them next year. Not much you can do now except try some tomato fertiliser. I use this mid-season and it gives them that extra boost to keep on producing flowers. Good luck!
lady.. will try them ones.. sound good.. love runners but did far to many this year.. am now giving them away.. but they have don so well.. first time in a while.
Me too, I buy mine from Dobies in Paignton but they are the same variety. First tried them about 3 or 4 years ago and they were so good I don't bother with other varieties now. I don't use the Tomato fertiliser though, I dig a couple of deep trenches early season and empty the entire contents of one of my compost beans into it, back fill and rake to a fine tilth, then when the beans are ready for planting out I put them in there. I use 8 ft bamboo canes and when the tips reach the top of the canes I pinch the tops out to promote extra side shoot growth.
So after throwing a net over the beans in desperation I have fewer bees. I even found a couple of small beans growing!! Hooray!! However I think the bees werent entirely the problem. Brught green caterpillars which are brilliantly camouflaged have been caught chewing! Ive now evicted them and thrown them to the birds
I had trouble with sparrows eating the flowers.
I have hung up old CDs with string so they spin - and flash in the light.. That has kept them off.
Take their guitars and drums away - that'll sort the little beatles out!
How do you eradicate the little black beetle on/in runner beans please?