Runner beans - finished

[Dorothy rouse]

Please can someone advice, my runner beans are finished and dying back, should i leave them in the ground to die right back or is it OK to dig up and remove canes now, do they 'add anything' to the ground?

[Thelma Sanders]

You can dig them up and add them to the compost bin

[Alison]

Or you can just cut them down to the ground, put the tops in the compost bin and leave the root bit in the ground which is what I tend to do. Mine are still producing so you're quite unlucky to have lost them so early.

[Kleftiwallah]

Before you chuck 'em onto the compost heap, chop the stems up into short lengths. It is annoying when a couple of years down the road, the bean stalks are still in long strings.

Cheers, Tony.

[veggiechicken]

Welcome to the Forum Dorothy. Could you put your location on your profile please to give us an idea of your local growing conditions.
Runner beans take nitrogen from the air and store it in nodules on the roots. So I cut my beans off at ground level, compost the tops and leave the roots in situ.
Don't be disappointed that your beans have finished - I'm still waiting for mine to start

[arpoet]

Yes, welcome to the funny far... sorry, Forum, Dorothy.
My beans are romping away and as i sowed in succession over a couple of months i expect to keep picking until November.
If they look like they are dying back they might want some food... I spay with miracle grow and sprinkle grow more when it forcasts rain, to keep em tip top.
Roger

[Thelma Sanders]

Mine have finished cos we've already had a couple of slight frosts

[Newton]

Ouch.....frost already!

[Two_Sheds]

I spay with miracle grow

That's an oxymoron, no?

[Two_Sheds]

my runner beans are finished ...should i leave them in the ground ?

Those famed nitrogen nodules don't exist, at least not after the plant has produced beans, so they aren't going to add nitrogen to your soil.

However, as the roots rot, they will naturally aerate the soil, which is good.

I've been chopping up old bean foliage with seccys and leaving on the soil as a mulch: it's improving the soil no end

[Bigmallly]

Well you learn something new everyday....Cheers TS.

http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_a/a-129.pdf

[veggiechicken]

Well you learn something new everyday....Cheers TS.

http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_a/a-129.pdf

That's way too complicated for me to understand so I'm sticking with what I've always done!
And see this :
Nitrogen release from a legume crop occurs as the above-ground plant
residues, roots and nodules gradually decompose. Soil microorganisms
decompose the relatively nitrogen-rich organic material and release the nitrogen
to the soil when they die. Usually about two-thirds of the nitrogen fixed by a
legume crop becomes available the next growing season after a legume in a rotation
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/management/files/sq_atn_6.pdf

[Dusty Rhodes]

If they are dying prematurely due to incurable disease, then you might want to dig them out now.

[Two_Sheds]

From BigMally's link:

"nodules on annual legumes generally lose their ability to fix nitrogen, because the plant feeds the developing seed rather than the nodule."

[Two_Sheds]

Nitrogen release from a legume crop occurs as the above-ground plant
residues, roots and nodules gradually decompose. ...Usually about two-thirds of the nitrogen fixed by a
legume crop becomes available the next growing season after a legume in a rotation

That's if the crop isn't harvested, but is left to rot into the soil.

From your link VC:

For perennial or biennial legumes such as alfalfa or sweetclover, 40 to 70 pounds of N are produced per ton of forage if the crop is left unharvested.
If the crop is harvested as forage, the remaining stubble and roots will return 5 to 15 pounds of nitrogen to the soil