Who's the bean expert?

[JimWWhite]

I need a bean expert. I planted a 4'x8'x1' box with purple speckled butter beans (giant limas for our friends up 'Nawf'). I treillested them and trained them to it. The foliage is absolutely beautiful and everything seems to be healthy. Lots of little flowers and my bees are working them regularly. I don't see anything eating on them either. But I can't find a single butter bean on the vines. What's with that? No beans. When I planted them back in late April I did not add any fertilizer because I know that nitrogen causes this sort of thing. Last year I had cabbage, kale and onions in that box. I did add two bags of cow manure to the box and worked it in before planting the beans. So, they've been growing for nearly two months now with plenty of water in good soil but no beans. I feel like such a failure... (that's supposed to elicit sympathy for someone). A cry for help...

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are about four, maybe five, bean experts on here and I'm not one of them, but I've had that happen before. My blue lake pole beans can sometimes bloom for weeks before beans start to set on. Then when they do, they go wild. I don't have a reason why but I have a suspicion. Maybe the experts can tell me where I'm wrong.

Beans don't need pollinators. The flowers are perfect, both male and female parts. But they need something to shake the flowers to get that pollen where it needs to go. Bees should be doing that just shaking the flower even if they don't transfer pollen. The wind could do that. I've tried going through and just shaking the beans myself to get them to self-pollinate. I think once they do start to make I pollinate them just moving them around picking the beans. That's why once they start they produce like no tomorrow.

Something I've read is that this needs to happen during the middle of the day, say between 10:00 and 2:00. I don't know how true that is either.

I'll just mention these to try to help get the conversation going and see what the true experts say.

 

[ChickenMomma91]

I'll have to remember that when i start my beans thx ridgerunner

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Have they been experiencing odd periods of cold? We've been having cold night and hot days lately - the heat is enough to keep most warm weather crops growing well, and the cold nights aren't enough to kill the plants but enough to make the flowers abort (fail to produce fruit).

 

[Ridgerunner]

I was hoping @Bluejay77 @marshallsmyth @aftermidnight or maybe @Hal would see this thread. They could give you a better answer than me.

This probably won't make you feel any better, but I ate my first green beans of the season tonight for supper, Blue Lake bush. This is a few weeks earlier than normal for me.

About 4 or 5 days ago, I did walk along that row shaking the plants to try to pollinate the flowers. I don't know for sure that made a difference but I think it did.

 

[Hal]

Now I have seen it, Ridgerunner tagged me in.

High nitrogen will lead to leaf growth at the expense of producing flowers but since you have flowers that is not likely it.
If there is a lack of exposure to beneficial microbes that help fix nitrogen then extra nitrogen can be beneficial to make up for the lack of nitrogen the plant would otherwise not need, for example growing legumes in containers they often don't get exposure to such microbes (also some soils lack or have very few of these microbes hence the sale of innoculants). Before I go off topic I should get back on topic

What have your temperatures been like during flowering so far? TheSeedObsesser is on the right track, too high or too low can cause flowers to abort.
Moisture stress during flowering can also cause flowers to abort, plants drying out plus heat is a double whammy.

That is my two cents anyhow.

 

[897tgigvib]

I don't know why that's happening to your Limas.

It never happens to my Limas or Vulgaris Beans.

But, flower drop always seems to happen with my Coccineus Beans. SeedO sent me some super pretty Coccineus varieties. Flowering beautifully, then dropping. I don't think one has set yet.

I'm just guessing, but it may be soil ph or temperature, or maybe those coccineus varieties need a big patch.

Limas set pods easily. They just want hot sunshine. I think give them time in the hot sunshine, and pods should set.

 

[Hal]

I don't know why that's happening to your Limas.

It never happens to my Limas or Vulgaris Beans.

But, flower drop always seems to happen with my Coccineus Beans. SeedO sent me some super pretty Coccineus varieties. Flowering beautifully, then dropping. I don't think one has set yet.

I'm just guessing, but it may be soil ph or temperature, or maybe those coccineus varieties need a big patch.

Limas set pods easily. They just want hot sunshine. I think give them time in the hot sunshine, and pods should set.

Marshall, Phaseolus coccineus is the least heat tolerant of the lot. I have to time them to flower really early or really late during cooler weather otherwise I won't get a pod.

 

[aftermidnight]

Jim, sorry I can't help with the butter bean problem, I do have a few Black Jungle Butter Beans growing in the greenhouse but we don't get enough heat up here to grow Limas outside. Mine in the greenhouse are just starting to flower now. I've only grown them once before (in the greenhouse) they set pods so we did get a taste, really yummy and enough seed for myself and someone back in Ontario (hotter summers), they did well for her. I'm hoping growing them next to the door which is open all summer they will eventually get used to our climate so I can grow them out in the garden.

As to runners (Coccineus) they like cooler summers, which we have up here, for those in hotter climes there is a variety you might like to try, 'Insuk's Wang Kong', it can take more heat than most runners. There has been much discussion on another forum on them.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/legumes/msg0913095728728.html

Annette

 

[JimWWhite]

Wow, great responses, Folks! It's been warm, humid and breezy here in central NC. The nights have been in the mid to high 60s and days have been anywhere between 83 to 95 for the past few weeks. My soil pH is right at 7. I haven't had to water very much because we've been getting summer showers and t-storms in the late afternoon. I'll have to water tonight because we've not had rain now for the past three days. Now since I originally posted this I do see my bush beans are finally starting to put on some pods. I'll probably go out this evening and see if there's enough to pick. But I still can't find a single butterbean. I see lots of blooms and they haven't been dying and falling off or I'd see those too.

Thanks, everyone for your input!!! That's why I hang around here.