What causes beans to go yellow and weedy ?

[Marb67]

I always get a good crop of runner beans but a very very poor crop of French which are very hard to get any produce whatever best situation I give them. This year the same, but runner beans are producing healthy large pods. Always around this time they start to get more misshapen and some as sickly, yellow with stunted growth. I water regular and feed so what could be causing this ?

[rustylady]

Maybe you're not picking the beans young enough. The plant thinks it's done it's job of setting seed if you leave them to get too big.

[Marb67]

I pick them as often as we need them. The trouble is when you pick them they soon get limp. They need to be cooked fresh.

[arpoet]

Im having a bumper year for runners, but just average on climbing frenchies. They all need lots of watering though and like the others say, pick em young. If a bough gets too heavy with beans it can snap at the stem and they will turn limp and yellow.

[Hazel at the Hill]

I pick them as often as we need them. The trouble is when you pick them they soon get limp. They need to be cooked fresh.

Pick them as they are ready - they are not use to you being left on the plant to go big and 'orrible. You can either eat more beans, or freeze/chutney/give them away.

[Potstubsdustbins]

At the moment I am having to pick every day whether we need them or not.

As Hazel said freeze, relish, chutney the list is endless.

Potty

[Marb67]

I am also snipping off the top of the shoots to give a more bushy plant and less leggy.

[rustylady]

I am also snipping off the top of the shoots to give a more bushy plant and less leggy.

Well you won't get many beans if you keep cutting the shoots off, will you?

[Marb67]

Yes, the very tips of the shoots above the flowers=more growth below and more flowers.

[Marb67]

Well, just looked at the plant which is healthy but all the new beans forming look like they will be sickly. As for the French beans, I can NEVER grow any to crop. Just one bean so far. Why are French beans so hard when runner beans are so easy to crop?

[chris]

If you grow them in the same conditions as your runners you'll get a good crop. They are greedy and need feeding, so prepare the ground well, or if you're growing in containers then you're looking at a weekly feed at least. Nip the tips out when they reach the top of the canes to encourage more bushy plants and you should do fine

Blue lake are a good cropping French bean, and quite common. I tend to grow them for their beans to use dried (need boiling for ten mins before you even use them though!)


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[Marb67]

The French beans are in the same container as the runners.

[rustylady]

Dwarf french beans or climbers?

[veggiechicken]

What size is the container? It needs to be a very large one to grow both runners and French beans in!
Sounds like overcrowding and the strongest plants (runners) are winning out over the weaker ones.

[Marb67]

It's a large black plastic tub around 2 and a half foot wide. They are drawf beans I think.