Jhenry30
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Climbing bean halo blight or something else?

Hello everyone. I recently planted some green beans both in greenhouse and outside, some direct and some transplanted. The direct sown are doing well I think but I am worried about yellowing leaves and slow growth on the transplanted ones both in and outdoors. I unfortunately transplanted quite late / clumsily and think I shocked their roots somewhat, which could be a factor. But I am wondering about blight. What do the photos suggest? I was worried if my homemade compost was deficient but the direct sown (healthy looking) indoor ones are in the same medium, and the outdoor ones in a different commercial organic compost sourced from a farm. Final data point: I started all my transplants this year in old turf soil experimentally. Almost everything seemed to grow well in it including the beans. The first and last photos are the transplants. Middle photo the direct sown. Thanks!
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applestar
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I don’t know what halo blight is/looks like so I hope someone else with experience will respond.

My mental alarm went off when you said you used old turf soil. Legumes/beans are particularly sensitive to herbicides commonly used for turf/lawn/grass. In fact when suspect compost, frequent advice is to try sowing peas or beans in it.

While it’s true beans are sensitive to root disturbance and transplant shock, I think it would be new growths that would show signs of outer root loss …but I could be wrong?

imafan26
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What variety of beans do you have and what kind of resistance does it have?
I can't answer about halo blight either since I have never seen it.
That being said, I always direct seed things like beans because they come up fast and don't like being transplanted.

I agree, using old soil can be a problem especially if there were issues with plants before, it is one of the reasons for rotating sites whenever possible. If you use homemade compost you should know what went in it. Diseased and plants sprayed with herbicides or long acting insecticides should not have gotten in the compost. Cold composting does not kill all pathogens and most home compost is cold compost unless your compost go hot enough. Compost that still has recognizable leaves and sticks is still unfinished and will compete with plants for nitrogen.

For the most part, compost is not a fertilizer or a soil, it is an organic amendment. Very few plants will grow in pure compost. If you add compost it should be incorporated in your soil well and usually I try to wait 2-6 weeks after tilling and amending my garden before planting to let the fertilizer and soil to settle out.

There are beans varieties that are resistant to bacterial and fungal diseases that are very good. In my world, pests and disease is what kills most plants, so I have to get varieties that are resistant to the most prevalent problems.

Mulching and removing lower leaves from plants that don't need them will help with splash back as well as using drip irrigation.

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest ... varieties/

Jhenry30
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Hi and thanks both,

Bean varieties were Cobra, Neckarqueen and Goldengate. I'm not sure which these are sorry! As for the old turf and the compost I can 100% certify that pesticides have been near neither of them, and I am very careful and fussy about what gets put in my compost bin, which you are right is mostly a cold affair.

The turf "seedling compost" as said seems to have been fine for the plants so far, but with that said I'll consider avoiding it for beans (or for everything) in the future. It was an experiment of sorts, predicated as said on knowing nothing herbicidal or pesticidal has been near the turf or the compost.

I did incorporate my compost as efficiently as I could with lots of turning and mixing. It was left to settle in the greenhouse probably 6 weeks or more in the greenhouse before planting, but not in the outside bed regrettably (where the farm compost was put) which was a brand new bed just dug not long before transplanting. And that is where the worst yellowing leaves are, so perhaps the soil not being properly prepared is an issue?

What do you mean by splashback sorry?



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