2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[Ridgerunner]

the fertility of the soil may affect the type of growth to some extent.

Or maybe growing conditions. I have two different growing seasons down here due to the length of the warm weather. Usually if I plant early I get consistency on growing habit, though this year is a bit challenging. But if I plant during the heat of summer some climbing beans may look like a bush. It's usually the semi-runners or half-runners that do that, not the full pole beans. I may have a semi-runner next to what looks like a bush.

These beans are still segregating so I can't be sure what I have until I replant them in the spring. Sometimes they really are a bush, sometimes they come back as a semi or half runner. It's the same soil so I think it's growing conditions and not fertility.

 

[heirloomgal]

Hoping for some diagnostic help.
Have found a few bean plants, mostly bush except 2, that are losing leaves and the new growth seems to be dying off. It was only about 3 plants, but still concerning as I found a couple more today. One died, a pole. The climbing shoot dried right up and all the established plant growth did too. Can't see any pests, but one of the bush beans I pulled out tonight seemed to have a hard, hollow stem. No idea if this is random from plant to plant but I'd like to figure this out. Reade Krobbe has a couple plants like this. Seems to start with older leaves falling first then new growth wilting and dying. There are branch stubs being left behind. We have had a lot of rain, and the ground hasn't been dry in quite awhile. Quite worried about this recent discovery.

 

[Zeedman]

There are also short runners on Tiger's Eye. I sowed my own seeds harvested from plants growing in an isolated place. I don't know what to think about it.

When I grew Tiger's Eye, most plants had one short runner for me as well.

That some bush beans can grow as true bush, or other times form short runners, may not entirely be a question of soil fertility. IMO it is more likely that the runners are natural for healthy plants of those varieties, and that stunting - due to less than ideal conditions - causes the deviation to runner-less bush habit. Soil fertility, soil moisture, weather, plant spacing, planting date, and perhaps even latitude are possible influences.

 

[Artorius]

@heirloomgal
This is bean fusarium dieback. I don't know if this is the correct name in English. First, the tips of the shoots dry, then the entire plant withers and dies. I saved a few plants by spraying with Magnicur Energy or Aliette. I don't know if you can buy them in Canada, but maybe you have something with a similar chemical composition there.
Spraying was only effective in the early stages of the disease. When the leaves begin to wilt, it is unfortunately too late.

 

[Zeedman]

@heirloomgal
This is bean fusarium dieback. I don't know if this is the correct name in English. First, the tips of the shoots dry, then the entire plant withers and dies. I saved a few plants by spraying with Magnicur Energy or Aliette. I don't know if you can buy them in Canada, but maybe you have something with a similar chemical composition there.
Spraying was only effective in the early stages of the disease. When the leaves begin to wilt, it is unfortunately too late.

In cooler Northern climates, Verticillium wilt is more common. Both have similar symptoms, and their ranges can overlap. I lose a few plants every year to Verticillium, of several species (including beans). I've had to pull & destroy 3 bean plants for wilt so far this year. Verticillium wilt is the major obstacle to growing okra & eggplant in my climate, since it will take advantage of plants weakened by cool and/or wet weather.

 

[flowerbug]

@heirloomgal
This is bean fusarium dieback. I don't know if this is the correct name in English. First, the tips of the shoots dry, then the entire plant withers and dies. I saved a few plants by spraying with Magnicur Energy or Aliette. I don't know if you can buy them in Canada, but maybe you have something with a similar chemical composition there.
Spraying was only effective in the early stages of the disease. When the leaves begin to wilt, it is unfortunately too late.

In cooler Northern climates, Verticillium wilt is more common. Both have similar symptoms, and their ranges can overlap. I lose a few plants every year to Verticillium, of several species (including beans). I've had to pull & destroy 3 bean plants for wilt so far this year. Verticillium wilt is the major obstacle to growing okra & eggplant in my climate, since it will take advantage of plants weakened by cool and/or wet weather.

thank you both for those replies as i'm sure i've seen some of that in the gardens here, but it isn't normal for it to affect the entire garden. just a plant here or there that looks like it just has an issue with the roots.

i've never gotten into looking into it closer or treatments because i just figure it could be some bug has eaten the roots or a fungal infection or a bacterial or viral thing or ... well, life is pretty complex, i just pick from the survivors and get on with things at the other end of the spectrum (which is survival and the next generations).

and not that i'm saying you shouldn't try to do what you want here to get a crop or results, but that my own goals are entirely aimed at keeping things very simple and not worrying about the things i can't really control completely (weather, other people, animals, fungi, bacteria, virus, etc.). i am aware, i just like to make sure to keep my priorities in mind...

as an example i had someone over the other day for a quick tour and they were going on about how hard gardening is and how disappointing it can be and i tried to tell them that by choosing to focus on some things they are skewing their viewpoints to the negatives and not seeing the positives. sure, if i wanted to i could stay inside all day and watch tv and not do much at all, but then i'd be missing out on the nice days and the birds and other interesting things that happen outside. i don't need to see more misery and destruction, i know it's out there, i'd rather work on things that i like instead and have some chances to see a small snapping turtle, a flowering bean or pea plant or the many other flowers and the bees and ants and other bugs, and some mushrooms growing out of an old log and ... so it was a conversation that could have been summed up by saying "pick to do that which will make you happy" or something similar. perhaps not so many words. haha...

for sure there are things that are issues and trials, but i don't want to let them take over my entire perspective or interfere with my happiness or my goals. just things to take into account and then move on.

 

[flowerbug]

this morning's picture of the peas and beans that were planted the earliest. they are doing pretty well in comparison to the beans that were planted later.

in my last post i talk about not letting things get me down, but these bean patches are certainly showing signs of stress from the weather. there is a lot of rust and bacterial spotting on these plants. probably the worst i've seen. i won't pull or remove all the infected plants, just have to see what happens.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Bean Acres Photo Update. West Raised Bed Planted June 5, 2021. Entire surpace watered Three Times for 1.5 hours after planting. The area received a 2 inch rain on June 20, 2021

Good germination in both beds. A couple of varieties I filled in a few more seeds.

2 Photos. West Bed Built in 2020 Weeded June 30th. Took about 4 hours to weed the entire bed. Local native soil is very loamy. Weeding went fast and was easy to pull even the smallest seeds without snapping any off leaving some of the root in the ground.

Raised Bed East Built In Early April 2021. East Bed Planted June 7, 2021. Entire surface watered 3 Times for 1.5 hours after planting. Weeded July 1 & July 2. Weeding in this bed was slower. Purchase soil. Origin is assumed to be somewhere in the county. Probably farm field being developed into a subdivision by some construction company. Soil was harder and drier. Not nearly as loamy as the west bed. Needed to loosen soil around weeds first to be able to completely extract weed with root intact. Weeding took two days. Both beds are now ready for installation of weed barrier fabric to control weeds and create a barrier between soil and plants for increased plant health and higher seed quality.

Both Beds in the late afternoon sun

 

[heirloomgal]

Thank you so much @Artorius @Zeedman
Yes, I think one of these is the cause after doing some research on those suggestions. I'm not sure which one as they are hard to tell apart. At first I thought it was a simple overwatering issue from so much rain in the last weeks. The soil has not dried out in weeks and I think this weakened them, some even look a bit stunted.

It is lucky there aren't many affected, this is a new one for me. Mind you, I'm growing more beans than usual this year. I'm a hogzilla with my plants and seeds, so it pains me to lose any. Probably not a realistic approach. Network beans also have me on high alert for any possible problems. Well, dry weather is underway now. Hopefully this is the end of seeing such issues.

 

[Triffid]

I've noticed this fusarium wilt on a few beans here, too. The Petit Gris are the worst affected. The stems go brown at the soil line and a few centimetres above and then the whole plant yellows, flops and wastes away. It's been overcast and rainy for most of the past two months, with no end in sight.
However, the bean seedlings I grew in vermicasts are beacons of health. Should have fed the worm bins more