My daughters runner bean is dying...

[JennyGiraffe]

Help!

As a school project my daughter planted runner beans back in Jan (the teacher has since apologised for the timing) so now I have 8ft runner bean plants living in the kitchen!!!

During this nice weather they've been going outside during the day and in at night as they're flowering and I'd rather not bring the bees into the kitchen!

The last couple of days I've noticed that the leaves have started going papery and see through. Is that hunger? These things have to be kept alive at all costs!

If it is hunger what can I feed them with? Do they like tomato plant food or just a general plant fertiliser?

Thanks

[SarzWix]

Runners will be happy with tomato feed You could alternate between a general purpose (which will contain nitrogen for the foliage) and tomato feed which will promote flowers and fruit.

They also take up quite a lot of water, so they might need watering morning and evening if they're in a pot.

Good luck

[JennyGiraffe]

Thanks for your reply. They are in a pot, I have been watering them every day but maybe not enough, will keep a closer eye and add some tomato food in there as suggested.

I just need one bean off them and she'll be happy. Most of the other kids plants died once they took them home as it was so cold, and I guess other parents maybe didn't want such a huge thing in the kitchen, so she is very proud of it! :-)

[Flummery]

Might be a chance to buy a packet of runner beans and present them to the teacher with the sowing times underlined - and give the kids another chance!

[organic]

Good call there, Flummery.
Maybe even worth chucking in a couple of other easy to grow things too.


I've got to say, it's decent of the teacher to acknowledge the mistake in planting times and apologise.

[lottie dolly]

could they be burnt by the sun,especialy if you have splashed the leaves with water,just a thought,

[JennyGiraffe]

The bean planting was part of a project covered that term so there doesn't seem to be another opportunity for them to plant anything. The apology wasn't a general one; I mentioned at parents eve (end of Feb) about the pressure of having to keep a bean plant (a good 4 ft tall at that point) alive in winter, and she said that they've now planned to plant them later next year, and that most other peoples had died and the kids were quite sad about it. Such a shame.

It does seem like a slightly pointless project though to get them all excited to see the beans first growing and then have them all die from the cold/winter. Not sure what the class learnt from that!!

[JennyGiraffe]

could they be burnt by the sun,especialy if you have splashed the leaves with water,just a thought,

It started on just the bottom two leaves and has generally moved up the plant so I don't think that's it. I thought I'd heard somewhere that signs of hunger start at the bottom and move up.....?

[organic]

It does seem like a slightly pointless project though to get them all excited to see the beans first growing and then have them all die from the cold/winter. Not sure what the class learnt from that!!

Probably that growing things/veg is difficult, disappointing and something they can't get right.
Such a contrast from the potential for it to be relatively easy, exciting and fruitful.

Ah well. At least your nipper has a positive experience from it all.

Maybe you should get her to pass a few seeds out - or have a word with some of the other parents and offer them a few seeds to try again now the weather is a bit more appropriate.

[SarzWix]

I would definitely say feeding it is the thing to try first. Runner beans are generally considered to be heavy feeders, so they could well have used up the nutrients from the compost already. If you have chicken poo pellets, sprinkle a few of them on the surface so that they gradually dissolve into the pot with watering, if not, a general purpose feed - either will give the plant nitrogen for leafy growth. Then tomato feed for potassium/potash to promote the growth of the beans themselves.

[rustylady]

How many bean plants do you have? And what size pots are they in?