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tweedbunny

Pole Beans healthy but no beans

tweedbunny
16 years ago

Healthy bean foliage.

Lots of white blossoms.

Tons of bees and butterflies in my yard.

NO BEANS!

What gives?!

Comments (18)

  • Violet_Z6
    16 years ago

    What have your day/night temperatures been like the past few weeks?

    What varieties of beans?

  • ruthieg__tx
    16 years ago

    Yes yes yes...pole beans take forever before they decide to start producing...Every beginner has been ready to rip them out and start over because they were not making beans but if you are patient just a little longer...I'll bet you have more bean than you can shake a stick at.

  • jimster
    16 years ago

    "Lots of white blossoms."

    Blossoms are followed by beans. Soon you will be inundated. Be prepared to pick beans. Lot of them.

    Jim

  • gamebird
    16 years ago

    Just wait. Mine took a week between first flowers and first beans.

    How long have you seen flowers?

  • tweedbunny
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    They've had flowers since the middle of June! (we get an early start here ;)

    The flowers pop open, tempt the bees, and then... i guess disappear.

    Here's a picture of the beans. They look fine... just... no beans!

  • tweedbunny
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    {{gwi:91646}}

    {{gwi:91647}}

  • kdawg
    16 years ago

    I'm having the same problem with Scarlet Runner Beans. Healthy plants, beautiful flowers since June. Not a single bean. Whether has been quite moderate with a fair amount of rain. Got a late start, planting out a week or two after last frost.
    Not sure what gives...

  • franktank232
    16 years ago

    Same here. Mine are probably 14 feet tall, up on the roof of the garage. I haven't even noticed flowers?

  • tweedbunny
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Would heat be an issue? It's been 110+ here since the end of June (with the exception of this week its been in the 90's). It does get afternoon shade provided by a tree and the leaves don't look sunburned (maybe a few do on the tips) BUT there are still flowers! And bees! The bees are pollinating my other veggies like CRAZY! Not a single cucumber or tomato blossom doesnt fruit.

  • gamebird
    16 years ago

    Heat could be an issue. A lot of plants won't fruit-set over a certain temperature. Those do look like perfectly healthy plants.

  • vegemancer
    16 years ago

    I read that if the soil has too much nitrogen you will get very healthy-looking / bushy bean plants but no or few beans.

    Did you fertilize or amend the soil somehow aorund your beans?

  • chaman
    16 years ago

    One of the reason I can think of is there may not be enough nectar in the flowers due to hot weather to attract pollinators.Or the flowers are not able to produce enough pollen due to hot weather.

  • jimster
    16 years ago

    Common beans are self pollinated. They require no insects for pollination. Also, they are heat lovers, so I would not suspect that as a problem, although 110+ may be too extreme.

    With all those blossoms, I would just wait a few days and watch for a tiny bean to develop on each one.

    Jim

  • tosser
    16 years ago

    Tweedy, the first time I planted pole beans it turned out to be a horribly hot, humid summer - we had something like 3 straight weeks with temps over 95°F every day. I was using 2 of those fancy-dancy bean towers from Gardening Supply Co. (love those things) and they were both covered in monster vines with hundreds of bean blossoms - but no beans.

    Since I didn't know what to expect I just left them alone and, sure enough, they eventually exploded with beans. There were several days that I had to pick those crazy beans in the morning and then again in late afternoon - I couldn't keep up with'em. Good luck!

  • tweedbunny
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks very much! This is my brand new garden's first year (born in February) and it was built with a load of compost mixed with the native heavy clayish soil and 10 bags of manure. So, yes, it might have a lot of new nitrogen. I've heard the garden soil produces better vegetables its second year, so I'm exicted for next year. :)

    I never knew that high temperatures might prevent beans from setting, either! If thats the case, I'd bet that might be a factor in my beans remaining bean-less too.

    Again thanks all!

    Tweed

  • annie-lee
    16 years ago

    You know what? I haven't hear any comment on this, but looking at your picture, I think your beans got too many leaves. I would never leave my beans with this much vegetation. I would cut off some leaves (lots of them) so the plants have more air and the sun would shine thru the thick and twankling branches. I have no scientific studies to quote, but I do that all the time for beans with good results.

  • mrsjacque_comcast_net
    12 years ago

    Soooooo thankful for the internet!!!
    This is mygarden is 2 years old. I'm learning more and more. I planted pole beans, started inside then transferred outside ~april ormay. Its now July and I have no beans or these white flowers you all are talking about. I would talk to them :) evry other day. None of my garden friends had planted pole beans before so they couldn't help me. I wasn't going to pull them up, I can see they are growing like crazy, just wanted to know when I would get some beans. Thanks for your warnings and encouragement!

  • Necky
    12 years ago

    I see this is an old thread, but it is a familiar problem for us here in the mid-South where we have extremely hot summers. I was watching the local news recently and a rice farmer was being interviewed and he mentioned that very warm night temps. inhibit fruiting and encourage growth. He said that it isn't so much the daytime high heat days that cause plants to not fruit, but night temps. of 70 F. and above, which is exactly what we have been experiencing here from early June until just a week and a half ago. Finally our pole beans our starting to show pod formation as our night temps have been in the 60's. We have half-runner and Scarlet runner and both have flowers, and have been flowering but not pods.
    We aren't from this area originally, and no one plants pole beans. No wonder. They plant bush types and plant them early which is the correct way to plant bush type beans - early, whereas pole beans like to be planted later. We like pole beans better as they don't rot like bush types and they taste better (Blue Lake). I am seriously thinking of relocating just because of this problem. We've been here over ten years and were able to pick pole beans three growing seasons. The very hot years we had to wait until very late summer or early fall before our beans, peppers and tomatoes started producing. Not fun gardening. On the other hand, the okra is very happy as well as the yellow squash.