Broad beans coming up - too big?

[Galette]

My November planted broad beans have made a lot of growth probably due to the mild autumn. They are under a tunnel made from fleece and hoops and are currently about eight inches high and getting round shouldered!

Normally I leave them under the fleece until early spring then let them fend for themselves in the open ground.

I seem to have two options

a) to nip out the stem to keep them short, replacing the fleece (my preferred option - but would a sneaky frost damage the stems?)
b) to remove the fleece and let them get on with it - I fear the wind would knock them over and maybe a very cold snap prove too much for the plants.

What would you suggest?

[Galette]

[artichoke]

Well, I agree with your fear that they are getting too tall. I was ticked off a few years ago by our resident expert for sowing too early and producing over tall plants - and he was right. Strong winds and frosts pushed them over and blackened them.

What he did with his own was to earth them up like potatoes. I don't know why it helped, but he always had a good solid set of plants by the spring, ready to go.

Cutting them back sounds very drastic. But when my stems blackened and fell over, I did notice that more shoots came up from below eventually (except when the plant had been killed).

What about a combination? Earth up to protect the roots, and trim back a little so that you can keep the fleece on? Might try it myself.

Another observation: last year I sowed seed very late, just before the snow and ice descended in late November, and was sure, as the months went by with no sign of anything, that the seeds had died. But late Feb to March they started to emerge with barely any gaps and were more robust that my October ones. They had sensibly spent the winter underground. For that reason, I put another packet in recently.

[saddad]

Sound advice... nip out and re-fleece...  :)

[Galette]

Thanks guys.  Good stuff artichoke, nice to know that it's not just me that gets it wrong occasionally (actually - fairly frequently....!)

[Kleftiwallah]

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed the cold weather will halt their upward thrust.   ::)  Cheers,     Tony.