Topic: Broad beans finished?

[caroline7758]

Are broad beans"cut and come again"? or rather, are they supposed to be? Mine have not produced many beans and seem to have given up now. How do I know when they are finished? And what can I do to get a better crop next year?

[shirlton]

We sow Bunyards exhibition for a follow on crop after having such a bad two years with aquadulce overwintering.
Next year we are going to try to get a double sowing in of the bunyards cos they have really done well and leave the others alone

[Digeroo]

Due to contaminated manure my first two batches were a write off, so my third is just starting cropping and the fourth batch just setting.  Fifth batch just breaking the soil.   I am a fan of Masterpiece green longpod.  I try and sow another batch every two to three weeks.  Finally batch now chitting.  Might be touch and go as to whether they crop well.   The overwintering ones either do not survive, are eaten by something or only produce a tiny crop so I also have given up on them.    Trying Express as well since got the packet for 50p. 

[caroline7758]

Maybe i'll try sowing a few more now, then- nothing to lose except a few seeds!

[willsy]

Hi Caroline, everyone on our allotment site has had a bad crop of broad beans this year, maybe due to the weather or not enough Bees around to pollinate. Mine have been eaten to death by Ants, just a few beans just developing. Better luck next year. Ann

[chriscross1966]

All of my spring sown have been good, the overwintering were write-offs.... Having trialled them against my previous favourite (THe Sutton) I'll now always recommedn Express as a fast-to-crop dwarf.... it's a couple of weeks quicker than Sutton and with only a fraction smaller crop as far as I can tell..... I've been growing Masterpiece Green Longpod and Exhibition Giant Green Longpod plus a row of Crimson FLowered..... might get some more Express in to see if they'll follow on, but I do have a spectacular number of broad beans in the freezer already (10lbs+) so I might not bother....

chrisc

[landimad]

My suttons have done well this year and am looking forward to more when they are overwintered too.

[brown thumb]

i never grew broad beans this year as i am not keen on them i have read some where if they were cut down to ground level they will grow again has any one done that and what was the yield like and also they could be sown as a sacrificial crop by growing over the winter digging the complete plant and any pod in as a green manure as i have some seeds and thought about using them up in this way

[caroline7758]

Just to update, I didn't sow any more and I didn't pull them up, and now someof the plants seem to be havng a second wind (!), producing more flowers.  :D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've given up on overwintering, but I did have an early crop of Aquadulce Claudia, which was a waste of space. A follow-on crop of Red Epicure did much better, so I should have seeds later.