Broad beans not setting after flowering

[smallholder dreamer]

Help - fairly new to gardening and can't find anything which might explain why my plants don't set beans.
I've grown broad beans for 2 years now and the plants grow nice and healthy get loads of flowers on them and then the flowers seem to fall off and leave a spiky tag with no beans. Can't see anything obvious, there are no blackfly. Thought might have been down to bad weather last year and lack of pollinating insects, but that is definitely not the reason this year.

[Two_Sheds]

It takes a few weeks between flower and bean ... you aren't getting impatient and ripping them out, are you?

[rustylady]

As TS says, it takes a while for the bean to develop. Make sure they have enough water and they should be OK. Mine are producing despite being dry and having blackfly

[smallholder dreamer]

thanks for your replies.
I've had some broad beans from a few of the plants - but most of the mass of flowers just seems to fall off. I thought maybe they weren't getting pollinated, but my peas are right next to them and they have been brill. When the flowers fall off there is a little stalk with spikey bits on where the flower was. No sign of pests - no black fly, ants. Could it be birds or mice?
This sometimes happens at the top of the plant and sometimes the bottom.

[alibobsy]

Doesn't the spikey bit then grow into a pod? Thats what happened on ours (first year with BB this year). Ours seemed to go from hardly any pods to being covered. Been popping the beans into loads of meals this week.

Had steamed new pots with beans and baby peas tossed in butter and freash mint-all from the garden mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

ali x

[paulgahan]

This has happened to me before. I'm still not sure of the reason, but things to try which seem to help include feeding ( I give them a dose of Phostrogen once a week during the peak growing period, but any general plant food should help), watering thoroughly every couple of days, and pinching out the tips of each plant once a good number of flowers have appeared, otherwise the plant tends to concetrate all its energy on pushing out more greenery rather than setting beans (you can eat the tender tips, very good stir-fried with a little ginger & garlic).