How tall do my broad beans need to be to pinch out the tops?

[eskymo]

Hey All

My broad beans are reaching thigh height and I'm wondering when I need to pinch the tops out...anyone got any ideas...plus how muich of the top do I pinch out as this is an issue that confuses me somewhat.

[Don Vincenzo]

Hi Eskimo
usual I don't bother pinching out the top of broad beans and I still get good results. My grandfathers both farmers never did as it was an impossibility and overfacing doing it when you have fields of broabeans staring at you. However if you like you can pinch out two inches, doing so some people state that it helps the formations of the pods, perhaps you can pinch out half of them and leave the remaing to mother nature, at the end compare the results. Regards Don Vincenzo

[eskymo]

I've read somewhere that pinching out helps to stop an attack of black fly - not sure if that's tru or not, but that was the reason I was going to do it as we often get infested with black fly.

[Don Vincenzo]

I am not sure of it myself, sadly blackflies will attack almost any part of the plant. Yesterday I had to spray both broad and runner beans as blackflies appeared from nowhere and I couldn't see any ladybird doing her duty.
Don Vincenzo