As in, "Where's the Beans?" I planted some in early spring and by early summer I had vines 7 ft. tall and they filled out the trellis but I only got a handful of beans before the heat put a halt to it all. I pulled them and replanted in late July/early August. Again, lots of vine, tons of flowers and no beans to speak of. At the same time as the second planting, I put in some Japanese Yard Longs and they are going nuts. The vines look like a colony of Rastafarian's have set up house. I'm picking much more than I can eat each day.
Today, I pulled the KW's, turned over the soil, added some good compost and put in some Sugar Snaps. Hopefully, these will do what they are supposed to do this time of year. I've never had KW's do this, especially twice in one year. Just goes to show you, nothing is static.
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engineeredgarden
- Green Thumb
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- Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 11:51 am
- Location: NW Alabama
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LindsayArthurRTR
- Green Thumb
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- Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 10:41 pm
- Location: South Carolina, Upstate
I had blue lake pole beans do the exact same thing this year. They grew beautiful vines that climbed all over my corn and even some about 10 feet up on sunflower stalks. They produced maybe 12 beans until about 2 weeks ago. And, they were loaded with blooms, that just fell off. Now they are going crazy! Beans everywhere. I just replanted bush beans, and it looking like they are doing great now too. It a little cooler during the day here. The highs have been in the low 90's verses the 100's. It's still been really dry though. I am sure that the intense heat here in the carolinas is what prevented my blooms from setting beans.
No Applestar, they were planted from fresh packs of beans----both times. I'm suspecting heat for the second crop planted in late July/ early August but the failure of the first crop planted in early spring really puzzled me. Last year I had more pole beans than I could possibly eat. I put plenty in the freezer and put up so many quarts of beans that I still have some in the pantry.applestar wrote:That IS weird! Were they from same packet of seeds? Aren't beans and peas self pollinating? Is there such a thing as sterile bean flowers?
At least the Yard Longs are going great. I'm picking up to 50 of them a day and they are all between 18-24 inches in length. I gave a bunch to a neighbor the other day and when she asked what was in the bag, I told her some Okra and 70 ft. of beans. She'd never seen beans that large before.
That is weird. I grew KW and found them to be extremely prolific.
To my knowledge, Apps, bean flowers are strongly self-pollinating, possibly pollinating themselves before the flowers even open.
The heat could have very well been the culprit for your first crop, Gumbo, but the second one is a mystery. Are you growing them in the same spot as last year's beans?
To my knowledge, Apps, bean flowers are strongly self-pollinating, possibly pollinating themselves before the flowers even open.
The heat could have very well been the culprit for your first crop, Gumbo, but the second one is a mystery. Are you growing them in the same spot as last year's beans?
garden5 wrote:That is weird. I grew KW and found them to be extremely prolific. Are you growing them in the same spot as last year's beans?
Yes I am growing them in the same area. I have a trellis permanently anchored in 2 areas of my yard. The smaller of the 2 for cucs and the larger of the 2 for green beans and other vining bean types. I guess I could try the KW's on the cuc trellis and plant the cucs on 1/2 the larger trellis to see if that works. That still doesn't explain how the Japanese Yard Longs are doing so well on the bean trellis since I grew them in the same spot last fall.
I tried Kentucky Wonders for the first time this year and didn't have any luck with them either. We did have a hot summer (for West Michigan) this year, but I wasn't impressed. My friends and family that grew different types of beans had them coming out of their ears. Not to mention the beans we did get weren't very nice. They didn't have rust, but they had yucky black spots on them. I'm definitely trying a different kind next year.
I've talked to lots of gardeners here in Middle TN this year, none of which had any luck with their beans (pole or bush) this year... everyone I know had very little, if any, production.
Too many days of extreme heat, seems to be the general consensus here.
This just doesn't seem to have been "the year" for beans.
Too many days of extreme heat, seems to be the general consensus here.
This just doesn't seem to have been "the year" for beans.
