Broad bean trouble

[Peggy Sue]

My broad bean leaves are curling up and the plants seem to be suffering. I can't see any creatures like blackfly, what is it likely to be? and what can I do?

[Brod]

Sounds like frost damage to me. Did your have any late frosts recently ?

[Peggy Sue]

We did have some low temps, not very low (Cambridgeshire is almost tropical!) but I hadn't thought of that, they are not 'scorched' like the tomoatoes.

I guess I will have to wait and see if they recover

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Broad beans are completely frost hardy, so it can't be the that...is there any sign of discolouration? If not, the plants may simply be a bit dry.

[Peggy Sue]

No discolouration at all- last night another allotment holder said it was probably the dry weather. Unfortunately there seems to be an airlock in the water system down there so they may have to wait for rain

At this point I would like to add my OH has been putting off doing the water saving from the shed for too many months

[CaundleMama]

curious,some of ours got hit like this,odd ones n the patch,no pattern to it at all,we assumed it was frost damage as they are up the field,not the more sheltered kitchen garden,there was plenty of rain tho? but we noticed it after a few bargly cold nights hence thinking ti was frsot?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Some wisdom I found in a very elderly gardening book suggests that broadbeans can make their own drought.

The particularly large and strong tap roots can push stones below the seed out of the way and create a void that of course is dry. Superficial watering (not rain in other words) only penerates a little way and the root in the void cannot benefit from it.

The suggested remedy is to gently firm around the base of the plant and then to earth up a couple of inches to encourage roots to form nearer the surface.

Hope this helps.

[Peggy Sue]

Thanks will give that a go (perhaps I can even forgive the OH!)

I really love the old gardening books, new ones seem to point out the obviuos in not much detail, a few pretty pictures but never real gems of info like that.

[Peggy Sue]

I did notice that when pressing them down a few sank quite a bit....however a crowd gathered and looked at the curled leaves and said they think it's a bug under the skin.

My little book says Derris dust fro that sort of stuff, but is there a less 'chemical' answer, or is Derris fairly innocuous?

I have never used any spray before (but then again never grown broad beans!) I used to let any blackfly just get on with it in the garden, but now I'm completely under the spotlight on the first plot at the entrance of the allotment and I can see the looks - are you spreading nasty things to our beans! get yourself a spray now before it takes hold!

One lady did say better to spray now before they flower then you are not actually spraying your food.

Any more advice?