Worst Ever Fall Bean Crop

[Zone9b]

I have grown Rattlesnake Pole, Fortex Cross Pole and Jade II Bush beans for a while now with what I thought was quite a bit of success. I garden in Central FL and grow a Spring Crop and Fall Crop. My Fall Crop this year is awful. I will include a picture of Rattlesnakes followed by Fortex Cross and last Jade II bush. I am harvesting about 1/4 of the beans that I did last Fall. I am not doing anything different and am at a bit of a loss for the huge change for the worse. I grow the Rattlesnakes in native sandy soil and the Fortex Cross and Jade II beans in Raised Beds filled with compost. The one thing that all have in common is the season was preceded by a long period of above average rainfall. We had the rainiest Spring right into early August that I can remember. I'm wondering if this could have washed something out of the soil and caused the problem. However, other vegetables Broccoli, Tomatoes, Kale and Peppers are preforming as usual. I would like very much to hear some suggestions. Thanks Larry

[kurt]

Saw the reply in the Florida thread about beans.I gave up here in south Fl trying bean production.I tried Favas,Gigandes and a assortment of the Chinese Long beans.After reading up through countless sites the culprit was pollen clumping for high humidity periods.Then when I changed germination/growth to a later dryer time,then when I finally got some pods the higher humidity invited a fungus/ mold and I basically gave up at that point.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by kurt

Saw the reply in the Florida thread about beans.I gave up here in south Fl trying bean production.I tried Favas,Gigandes and a assortment of the Chinese Long beans.After reading up through countless sites the culprit was pollen clumping for high humidity periods.Then when I changed germination/growth to a later dryer time,then when I finally got some pods the higher humidity invited a fungus/ mold and I basically gave up at that point.

The easiest snap bean I have grown is Rattlesnake Pole beans, which generally do fairly well in the heat. However, in July and August about the only beans that work here in Central Florida are Limas and Cowpeas. I grew Zipper Creme cowpeas this summer successfully in native soil. Next summer I hope to give Limas a try.
Larry

[joseph]

I wonder if the varieties of beans planted in the fall should be different varieties than those planted in the spring?

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by joseph

I wonder if the varieties of beans planted in the fall should be different varieties than those planted in the spring?

I had to think about that a bit, but I think the answer is no. Most short to medium maturing vegetables that do well here in the spring also do well in fall. The seasons are though somewhat different. Spring season starts cool and ends hot with most of the rain coming late in the season. While the Fall season is opposite, starting hot and ending cool with most of the rain coming early in the season. For the past few seasons I have had very good success growing Rattlesnake Pole beans in native soil. The native soil here is primarily sand, said to be 70% sand and 30% silt. A mineral soil with very little organic matter. Other varieties such as Blue Lake do very poorly in it but normally Rattlesnake thrives.
In my raised beds containing compost I have tried several varieties of bush beans but Jade II, which I have now grown for several seasons, does better than others, such as Contender, Provider and Blue Lake.
But this year after rains more typical of the tropics than Central Florida everything seems to have changed for the worse.
After a bit of research a came across an article stating: "Nutrient leaching.
The soils of Florida are generally sandy with low cation exchange capacity (CEC)
values. This means that the soil does not have the ability to hold on to many of the
nutrients, allowing them to be easily leached out. ... six inches of water can leach 80 % of applied nitrogen, 100 % of applied potassium, 100 % of sulfate-sulfur and 79 % of applied boron. Calcium (48% loss), magnesium (32%) and manganese (40 %)"
I plan to get complete soil tests in both native soil and raised beds and hope that provides some guidance on how to proceed.
I take interest in reading your posts related to growing varieties in short seasons and a cold environment. I especially am interested the work you and Fusion_power are doing related to frost tolerant tomatoes. With a greater degree of frost tolerance I could potentially grow more successfully Fall tomatoes into December and January.
Keep up the good work and Thanks for your interest. Larry

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by joseph

I wonder if the varieties of beans planted in the fall should be different varieties than those planted in the spring?

Different varieties may have some merit. After our short winter nematode population is said to be in decline and therefore varieties of beans with no resistance to nematodes are less risky in the spring but after the heat of summer the nematodes are said to be numerous in the fall and therefore a nematode resistant variety may be a better bet in the fall.
Larry

[Ricky Shaw]

Eye-opening the difficulties in regions I'd thought to be climate perfect for growing things. Perfect weather and then you get things like nematodes and pollen clumping, or like fruit flies so bad in Hawaii you can hardly grow full size tomatoes.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Eye-opening the difficulties in regions I'd thought to be climate perfect for growing things. Perfect weather and then you get things like nematodes and pollen clumping, or like fruit flies so bad in Hawaii you can hardly grow full size tomatoes.

Plus, add to that soil which is primarily sand and the heat, growing vegetables in Central Florida can be a bit challenging. Most give up on the soil and grow is some sort of container. Many do quite well with soil-less growing media in self watering containers.
Larry

[dustdevil]

My response to your original question: your beans are diseased.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by dustdevil

My response to your original question: your beans are diseased.

Right.

My opinion is it is the wet weather and beans have their own demons to deal with.
Mine were doing it and then the rain stopped.
I cut out the bad leaves and the darn things came out of it.
Worth

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by dustdevil

My response to your original question: your beans are diseased.

Originally Posted by Worth1

Right.
My opinion is it is the wet weather and beans have their own demons to deal with.
Mine were doing it and then the rain stopped.
I cut out the bad leaves and the darn things came out of it.
Worth

Diseased Beans I don't really have much experience with plant diseases. Fungal disease such as early blight are common here in Central Florida. I have some Agri-Fos systemic fungicide. Do you suppose spraying that would be a good place to start? I have 1/2 a bed of Jade II beans just now starting to form there first tiny beans and they are probably worth trying to save.
Thanks, Larry

[dustdevil]

Hello again. I suggest you send a copy of these photos to your county ag agent with your questions. The agent will be best qualified to give you advice for your area. There is no charge unless testing is done.

[Worth1]

This site is better than the Florida site.
Worth
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...h-6_4_afDa4e4Q

I'm going for the Antheacnose at the bottom of the page maybe.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Worth1

This site is better than the Florida site.
Worth
I'm going for the Antheacnose at the bottom of the page maybe.

Thanks for the link and the suggestion. I read all these bacterial and fungus diseases and nothing really seems to match up.
Many talk about water soaked spots on the bean that collapse. I don't see that on my beans. The rattlesnake and jade ii beans look more or less as normal, probably a bit smaller and vastly fewer of them.
Only the Provider has a strange mark on the pod. On both sides of the pods, but not around the seem on top or bottom, there is a long solid almost purple area. But it doesn't look sunken or water soaked.
And for the plants them selves, the bush beans, jade ii and provider germinated fine, grew fine and looked great, blossomed fine but that is when the problem begins. They produce far fewer beans. The jade manages to produce beans for 2 pickings first picking bad but second awful. Buy the time of the second picking the jade vines look like they normally would on the seventh picking. Old, turning brown and dying.
the Providers pretty much the same except they appear to be dying the time of the first picking and the beans pods have the large purplish/brown patch on both sides of the pod.
Rattlesnake pole beans are a bit different story. They start off on the weak side and never grown exactly as normal. I've picked them twice and the number of beans is hugely sub par. Many of the vines are now dead, dying or just weak. At this time they should be doing great and have 3 or 4 more pickings left. Also the few beans that I get look pretty much as normal.
The picture of the Jade II bush beans didn't look bad when I took it, but 2 or 3 days when I was ready to pick for the second time the plants looked awful, some yellowing and lot of brown leave or large brown spots. What they would normally look like early December.
Based on above what do you think?
I will probably do as Dustdevil says and try to get a response from the county extension service.
Thanks a bunch, Larry

[PhilaGardener]

This may be a controversial statement, but I never would treat edibles with systemic chemicals.

The way those work is by reaching all parts of the plant, including the ones you intend to eat.