Hi all, my beans started off very well with loads of leaf at the bottom but then go very spindly with not much leaf up the poles, ive also had to vertually coax the buggers up the poles, only conclusion i can come to is when they were planted it was very warm for a few weeks but then we had around 4 days very close to groundfrost, any ideas welcome, regards Andy
Mine are exactly the same, I had come to the same conclusion too. I think there are a few people with the same problem this year. I have just come in from doing a bit of coaxing just now. :)
T.
1. All plants have smaller leaves as they go up.
2. All Beans decline to climb. We tie ours up daily!! The gales haven't helped.
Picked these today because the firstborn will not go full term.
Do not worry, they will recover and you will have several leaders from each pole.
My late father's target of the first pulling by 1st July has long passed but they will make up for it.
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_Beans_Runner.html
I have just rememberd a photo that I took 3 weeks ago of another plot.
The owner planted out runner bean plants and carefully tied them up to the poles.
Within a few days they looked like this and I took the photo to use as a lesson on A4A about hardening off.
(http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/080626otherplot.JPG)
within 2 weeks they had fully recovered and were a mass of healthy green.
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_Beans_Runner.html
Agree with Tim - you have to teach beans how to climb.
And they always want to climb up the pole next door, too!
My beans are pretty much the same, all leaf at the bottom and not much at the top! I'm just hoping that they will suddenly start blooming!
My climbing French beans are like that, the Trail of Tears beans have been eaten back by slugs. I've had a bad stomach upset and hadn't managed to get them climbing, or the tender bits might have been safely up the poles by now. Hopefully they'll grow back.
Hope you feel ok now Robert :)
I think I'm getting there; I've got no energy, but at least my gut seems to be functioning again. I managed to lift the elephant garlic today (it's magnificent) but that was as far as I got.
lack climbing by beans surprise me since none mine have refused to climb.
You apparently want a duel over your knowledge, or otherwise, of gardening, but you definitely can't claim to be literate!
(by passing the nit picking) mine are the same and yet others on the site are romping away and have beans on them. I remember last year was the same only mine were fine then and now it seems is my turn. just have to hope to get a few before the frosts come
marg