Help! I murdered my runner beans

[PaulBudd]

Returning from a weeks holiday I was dismayed to see my prize runner beans covered from head to toe in Black fly, you couldn't see the green stems they were just black!! Horrified and rushing to war I made the worst decision of my life...In the absence of my soapy water spray I used Tesco Anti bacterial surface cleaner !!! Now.. I have made some stupid decisions in my life but this one was in a different league !!! the next day about 3/4 of the leaves turned brown and died, the stems turned brown and the few beans I had curled up and went a mottled purple colour..

A week has now passed and in the Governments words "there are the green shoot signs of recovery" but very slow..

Question, will I be able to eat the beans once it has recovered or am I wasting my time nurturing these plants back into life..

[janeyo]

No idea, but at least they will be clean!

*sorry, gets coat

[Shadylane]

Aw bless y, that's a real stinker. Don't be too hard on yourself we all do insane things once in a while. I would have thought they'd still be safe to eat cos I think you can use that stuff on food prep surfaces can't you? That's if they produce anything of course.

Personally I wouldn't give up on them, but then I'm like that. Our beans at home all got munched by slugs and covered in aphids, there's only one left still fighting to survive and I just can't bring myself to pull it up, even though I could use the canes elesewhere and it's unlikely to produce much more then a couple of beans. Leave them and see what happens and least you can console yourself with the fact that there's always next year. This is our first year of lottie growing and my motto at the moment is 'next year will be better'

[taff]

Plant some more anyway, I didn't manage to get mine going till the end of June last year, and they lasted till October, it can't hurt...

[BumbleB]

Oh dear.......... mind you, at least they are recovering so you didn't commit full murder. I agree, get some more in. We have some later runners in large wigwam pots.

[ckfe]

.In the absence of my soapy water spray I used Tesco Anti bacterial surface cleaner !!! .

not laughing honestly ... snigger... oops i mean cough cough

[King Carrot]

Returning from a weeks holiday I was dismayed to see my prize runner beans covered from head to toe in Black fly, you couldn't see the green stems they were just black!! Horrified and rushing to war I made the worst decision of my life...In the absence of my soapy water spray I used Tesco Anti bacterial surface cleaner !!! Now.. I have made some stupid decisions in my life but this one was in a different league !!! the next day about 3/4 of the leaves turned brown and died, the stems turned brown and the few beans I had curled up and went a mottled purple colour..

A week has now passed and in the Governments words "there are the green shoot signs of recovery" but very slow..

Question, will I be able to eat the beans once it has recovered or am I wasting my time nurturing these plants back into life..

did it kill the black fly then?

hope you still get some beans off them

[Snadger]

It appears to have worked as a contact weedkiller? as you have new shoots appearing at least it wasn't a systemic weedkiller.
I would leave them but as has been mentioned sow some in between just in case!

[zazen999]

I'm still sowing for a late crop of beans - Pinto last week [they are just up now] and more borlotti tonight. Any spare space is getting beans for another week and then the leeks will start to be put in any cleared spaces

[HayleyB]

I didn't laugh - honest - NOT

I've got runners germinating to put in over my dwarfs do not despair and BTW, it's best to wash beans in water to clean them *runs and hides