French Bean problem

[paulgahan]

I am growing climbing french beans and runners on the same bamboo frame. The runners are shooting up their poles but the french beans (Cobra) are looking stunted & are still only a few inches high. The new growth looks dry & shrivelled, although all the plants have had exactly the same care, feed & water. Is the soil lacking something that french beans need but runners don't, or could there be something invisible attacking the frenchies but not the runners? I am mystified.

[OllieMartin]

My french beans are pretty stumpy and slow growing too. I'd be interested in the answer to this one.

P.S: Welcome to the Grapevine

[WeeGarden]

I'm having the same problems with Cobra too. The others that I'm growing, Blue Lake and Blauhilde, have reached the top of their canes. I sowed the Cobra a little later so understand if they're a bit further behind, but they don't seem to have that central long climbing stem.

I put another batch into modules over the weekend (the others were direct sown). Will see how that goes. It might have been that I managed to pick the dud beans out of the pack the first time...

[womble]

I had this last year and I think it was down to wind, not sure why the runners shouldn't be affected though.

[Two_Sheds]

My Cobras have been awful this year. First lot didn't germinate, 2nd lot only 2 did. These have just gone on the lotty but look terribly weedy compared to some of the others

[Pumpkin Becki]

Wonder if the seed companies accidentally mixed up their 'dwarfs' with their 'climbers' this year ...don't look at me like that, its possible

And welcome to the Vine Paul.

[bluemoon]

My Cobras all germinated, but they are growing very slowly considering the almost perfect growing weather, and the leaves look sort of wrinkled.

[paulgahan]

Thanks for the welcomes & responses. I suppose there is some comfort in knowing I'm not alone.
I've been doing a bit of Googling and have come across this site: Our plot on Green Lane Allotments - Click Here to ENTER | Manure contaminated with herbicide
Although most of the problems mentioned happened last year it sounds worringly similar to my current situation.
Can any of the people who are having the same problem verify that they have used manure which may be contaminated? I spread some horse manure given to me by a neighbour on a very small patch of my garden this year; fortunately my beloved broad beans were already in & are unaffected.
The curled, dry looking leaves shownon this site look exactly like my french beans.
Has anybody come across this issue before?

[glallotments]

This problem is still about this year. See Our plot on Green Lane Allotments | Victims of contaminated manure in 2009
The problem isn't related to a particular variety though.

[valmarg]

paulgahan, firstly welcome to the site.

Could I chip in my twopennorth of experience of growing runner and climbing french beans on the same frame?

We did this some years ago, and it didn't work. The runners are so vigorous that they swamp out the climbing french. We now plant our beans on wigwams. We keep the runners and climbing french beans separate, ie a wigwam of runners, a wigwam of climbing french, etc, basically so that we can see 'what's what'.

valmarg

[King Carrot]

I bought fresh cobra seed this year and its romping away fine, I also reckon the runners would prob give the french beans too much competition as they're heavy feeders the runners and make lots of fine roots going away from the stem - saying that, I planted a squash in the middle of a runner bean wigwam

[Two_Sheds]

Can any of the people who are having the same problem verify that they have used manure ?

No.
I've never used manure.

[paulgahan]

On closer inspection last night although the runners are climbing the poles much more vigorously than the frenchies, all the plants are showing signs of being affected by contaminated manure. Cupped, dry looking leaves, and not nearly as bushy as I'd expect.
Thanks for the advice about growing the 2 varieties together, I've always kept them separate before & will revert to that method next year.
In the meantime I used such a small amount of manure I'll keep my fingers crossed that they may recover enough to give me at least some kind of crop, although the site mentioned above states that beans are one thing that don't recover sufficiently to produce a crop. We live & learn.

[bluemoon]

I never use manure either, so it doesn't account for it. Actually after heavy rain the other day they now seem to be picking up. As has been said, I wouldn't grow runners with French beans, the French ones are too delicate in comparison and runners are rampant. I usually grow the French beans up wig-wams and runners up an 8 ft frame.