I know this is a Pacific Northwest oriented forum, but I've always found this site to be a treasure trove of info for any gardener. Though I'm in Calgary, Alberta, I figured I would toss this up to your community to see if there are any answers. This is my first time growing runner beans, and they are behaving a bit sluggish and are now showing some problems. They have also faced some challenges. They were late to sprout due to a cool wet June, they have been battered by 60-100km/hr winds about once every 7-10 days, and have been blessed by hail once. The warm weather has come in sudden spurts between cool and rain. They are tall now, about 2m or so, but not a lot of leaving or blooming going on. But I’m seeing some strange mottling in the lowest leaves on some of the runners. Any idea what is going down, or is it just stress? http://i.imgur.com/CxmtB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/npycd.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9RwT2.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0FaRs.jpg http://i.imgur.com/BQ2wS.jpg http://i.imgur.com/t6nQN.jpg
Marcus - you have just described our spring in the Pacific Nortwest. Since no one else has had much to say I'll chime in. My guess is that it is just the crappy weather and wind. So many similar complaints have come through the plant clinic this year. Beans, tomatoes, squash, you name it. The slugs and snails have been really busy this spring also. Pull off the really yellowish nasty looking leaves and bag them and put in the garbage -NOT the yard waste or compost just in case it is something that could crop up next year. I know this isn't much help, but don't give up on us. Welcome to the forum. ;)) barb
I look at your photos. A month ago, mine was like that too. I left it, and gave some water when I saw it was too dry, and fertilizer as well. The weather is better now, more sun, temp has gone up to 23 degrees. You know what, I have lots of flowers and beans too. I harvested a few 2 days ago. I guess, much is to do with weather. It needs higher temp to grow.
Thanks, I figured as much. We had a warm spell a bit ago and the beans shot up 2 feet in as many days, but then more rain. Oddly my tomatoes are doing pretty good, its not going to be a bumper crop, but they are setting fruit. They do get a heck of a lot more sun though... Ah well, next year I'll plant the beans in the sunnier parts of the garden so they get appropriately baked. ( *ba-dum ching!* ) :D
It is strange, while my beans do well, my tomatoes are not doing as well. They grow slowly, don't think they have time to fruit even. The biggest plant is only 1 foot tall.
