Broad bean ignoramus

[kathyd]

Hi

I planted some broad beans recently in my polytunnel (think they were Sutton), expecting them to grow over the winter and flower whenever it is they're meant to flower in the spring. However, due I assume to the very mild weather and the lovely sunshine, they all started flowering madly 2 or 3 weeks ago, even though they're still quite short and stumpy. Wonderful, except that I have no idea what the emerging beanletts would look like or where they'd appear from, and 'something' has been munching on the plants quite badly and I don't know whether they've munched away my baby beans, or whether they'll appear eventually, or whether they've flowered at a daft time and I won't get anything anyway, or... *pause for breath*.

So does anyone have a picture of a tiny new broad bean emerging please, so I can see what I'm meant to be looking out for? And how long would it take for them to appear after the flowers fall off?

Thx

[rustylady]

The bean emerges from the flower. Be patient, wait and see.

[Snadger]

Do broad beans not need bees and suchlike to pollinate them?

[northepaul]

Yes.......

[kathyd]

got lots of flies, do they count?? also the occasional butterfly and wasp... or should I try using a paintbrush and pretend to be a bee...?

Thx rustylady, I'll try - not noted for my patience though .

[J.V.]

Hmm... my honey bees are still flying - just - but bumble bees seem to do most of the pollinating work on my broad beans and they've gone into hiding here. I doubt that they have been pollinated. If they have, you'll soon see thin beans form from the stem, from where the flowers have dropped...

The mild weather and perhaps a somewhat early sowing seem to have brought them on too quickly - you want these to flower next year to crop a few weeks earlier than a spring sowing. They should not really be cropping now, and even if they somehow got pollinated I don't imagine they can develop useful pods at this time of year - sorry

You've done better than me, though - mine have been destroyed by (I think) bean seed fly - thanks to the mild weather, again. We still have time to sow some more to over-winter properly - I'm sowing replacements tomorrow

BTW - The Sutton will be "short and stumpy" - 30 to 40 cm is normal (unless yours are somehow more stumpy than this?).

JV

[Two_Sheds]

Do broad beans not need bees and suchlike to pollinate them?

No, they are self-pollinating to an extent, but you will get many more beans if the bees get at them

... expecting them to grow over the winter and flower whenever it is they're meant to flower in the spring.

They flower when it's warm enough, not when the calendar says it's spring

You could well lose these early beans ~ any lush long green growth is very susceptible to frosts (although the roots will survive, the tender green leaves can turn black overnight).

For this reason, don't sow too early. I sowed mine direct last week (outside, that is). I want them to be about 4" high at most before the frosts come.

If your leaves do turn black, cut the stems down to a couple of inches high: they will regrow

[salome2001]

I have seeds to plant this week... and also eight plants about 3-4 inches high that I grew as aminopyralid sacrifice plants to test a load of pony poo. (the pony poo passed: plants in the poo not only grew without any evidence of contamination but are bigger and stronger than their control plants) Hoping they don't get too big to survive the winter!

[jackie j]

I havent sown mine yet its on my to do list.

[kathyd]

Hi JV

Had hundreds of honey bees in the tunnel earlier, a swarm that lost its queen sadly, and they all died over the past few weeks . Delighted to hear I'm not too late to plant some more beans though! Thought I'd missed the boat there! I'll put some in outside, and also a few more in the tunnel to see the difference.

30 to 40 cm sounds about right, apart from one or two which only made it to half that size before getting over-excited. Good luck with your next batch .


Hi Two Sheds

I suspect you're right and they've come too early, but never mind - was fun watching them and even more fun checking excitedly for beans each day even if they don't show - drives the dog mad, she'd rather I was chucking her ball around. I was wondering if cutting them off at the bottom would be any use, so now you've answered my question, thanks! Thought I'd wait a week or two 'just in case', and if no beans appear I might chop the plants and see what happens.

Hi Salome2001

Amino what?? Did you plant in pure pony poo (now I recognise the term pony poo...)? Or was it with compost? Do you know if donkey poo works? Our neighbour has a couple in his field and says I'm welcome to poo pick.. heh

Hi Jackie J

So what's the latest you'd get away with? End of November? Is this the same in a tunnel as outdoors?

Such a lot to learn!

[Two_Sheds]

Amino what?

Aminopyralid, a very effective herbicide/weedkiller, unfortunately it thinks vegetables are weeds too. It comes into the veg plot in manure

Do you know if donkey poo works?

Yep, it does: BBC NEWS | England | Devon | Donkey manure used to grow grass.


If you want to be really radical, use humanure too

[chris]

I remember watching a TV show where all "value" brands were grown in human waste as a manure. Treated obviously.. I was initially a bit like "ew", but then like "hmm" and "why don't they use it more often - its in abdundance?" That's a whole other argument though (cattle & the methane they produce vs meat consumption value etc etc).

Anyway, I just sowed 72 aquadulce yesterday.. had forgot about them until I looked in my seedbox!

[zazen999]

For this reason, don't sow too early. I sowed mine direct last week (outside, that is). I want them to be about 4" high at most before the frosts come.

If your leaves do turn black, cut the stems down to a couple of inches high: they will regrow

In Brittany and in a polytunnel, I'd say sow whenever you like!

I currently have golden mangetout growing, and I mean cropping, outside in Derbyshire. So broadies in a poly many many miles further south is perfectly fine IMHO.

[hamamelis]

Hmm, reading this, a few of mine grew a bit faster than expected- been a lot of sun here the last few weeks- and are about 6" tall, maybe a bit bigger.
Is that too big for this time of year, and would cutting them back help them at all?
Nothing's looking like flowering, just growing fast.

[kathyd]

Lol humanure?? Actually, our french neighbour swears his father used to use human waste on his strawberries, which were always delicious... ack! I think for me this may be taking 'responsible' and 'natural' gardening a bit too far! Although I did watch something on TV once about treated human waste, and it sounded fine - but I've never seen it in the shops, or at least no-one's ever 'fessed up to it . I've never been sure why animal waste is OK, but not human. Anyone care to clarify? Bearing in mind I'm currently eating my dinner...

I hadn't considered nasties which come in animal manure though - I'll have to be careful where I get it from in the future.

Zazenn999 - I'll keep planting then, and see how it all works out! I think the Brittany climate is like Cornwall or Devon .