Precocious broad beans - or what ?

[Woofster]

I have some The Sutton broad beans on my lottie and I noticed today that they are in flower already. I planted them in the greenhouse last November and put them out on the plot about two months ago protected by some fleece. Is anybody else's beans in flower already ? Maybe it is because I am in the balmy south east ?

[roitelet]

Could be Woofster. Just hope that there are some pollinating insects about and you should get a good crop.

[Snadger]

Your'e not alone..................the balmy North East, NOT, has got some of mine flowerring as well!

[Paulottie]

Aqua Dulces in Flower over here in West Sussex too....even more precocious cos they weren't pampered softies like yours, no green house or fleece here- I just stuck them in the ground....I may be balmy too tho

[kittykat8]

Some of the leaves of my broad beans are showing black around the edges, any idea


Marion

[Maf]

Some of mine have black edges too.

I scientifically assumed it was..

Broad Bean Black Edge Disease

[kittykat8]

I wondered if the frost had them


marion

[Snadger]

Some of the leaves of my broad beans are showing black around the edges, any idea


Marion

Frost or even severe cold winds can blacken the leaves!

[Growem]

I had flowers on a couple of my broad beans too. I planted them sometime before Christmas (silly me didn't note exactly when) and they are still only about 10cm tall, yet there are flowers!

[Two_Sheds]

My Super Aquedulce have had flowers for a couple of weeks: no fleece at all. They nearly got battered to death in the gales last week, but seem to be hanging in there.super aque,autumn sown,26.4 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

BTW, modern broad bean varieties are not entirely dependent on insect pollination to set seed.

Broad beans will still produce some beans if not insect-pollinated, but insects (bees) will certainly increase the yield. You will see bees on your beans, but they aren't necessarily pollinating: some bees (and ants) will rob the flower of nectar, without going anywhere near the pollen, so contribute nothing to pollination.

I find this fascinating, sorry if it just bores everyone else with the science bit:-

"The pollination of broad bean ... was studied by Free (1966) who concluded that insect pollination greatly increased production of broad beans but had little effect on production of field beans.
Darwin (1889*) showed that 17 broad bean plants covered with a net to exclude pollinators produced only 40 seeds, whereas 17 exposed plants produced 135 seeds.

Holden and Bond observed that the pollen (of a broad bean) is in contact with the stigma 24 hours before the flower opens, therefore ...are capable of selfing (self-pollinating) " Chapter 4: Legumes and Some Relatives

[The Germinator]

ive just been to the lottie to water stuff in greenhouse and my broad beans are flowering to....glad im not the only one...should i put them outside protected by fleece??

[pigletwillie]

Mine are only just through the compost (they were sown in pots) and wont go out for another 3-4 weeks yet. They are Witkiem Vroma.

I will try sowing some in November and overwintering them in the tunnel this year.

[Eyren]

I found Witkiem rather poor last year (not helped by the weather, of course!). This year I'm trying Super Aquadulce and they are really nice healthy-looking plants - though not flowering yet. They were from a spring planting, though, as I didn't get my act together back in the autumn

[Cutecumber]

Black or brown leaves on broad beans - sometimes just the edges, sometimes the whole thing - result from very cold conditions. They are necrotic, i.e. dead bits. My Aquadulce have been very badly damaged by cold this winter. They are theoretically hardy, but in reality it's not difficult to kill them - I've done it before and I think I'm about to do it again

[Paulottie]

Blackleg is usually a result of wind rock rather than the cold itself. My Neighbour is of the opinion that if you plant before end of Nov. they get too big before the winterand thus are affected more. A wind break definitely helps.(this is why box hedging was traditionally used as bed edging)