What's killing my beans??

[Vanessa Collier]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can help me identify this pest and help me treat my beans. Every time I grow beans they seem to take off and then once they start flowering the leaves start to wilt and drop off and tumourous growths appear around where the leaves join the stems and sometimes at the base of the plant. I thought it was something I was doing wrong the first two times but this time I decided not to blame myself as I planted them in good soil in a position they love. Managed to get them growing really well but then the same thing happened. I picked off a couple of leaves that were wilting and found tiny bugs/larvae inside. They have a brownish/creamy casing and a very tiny - about 1-2mm long. I'm presuming this is the problem but can't seem to find any info about it or how to treat the beans online.

Any pearls of wisdom??

[Elaine de Saxe]

Jospeph, I doubt it matters. We dug ours up to use the space for something else and some of the roots are languishing in a styrene box. Just keep the water up to them, keep any new plants shaded for a few days until it starts growing again. Comfrey although it prefers some shade and lots of water, is as tough as old boots and in this weather it will be shooting very quickly.

[Joseph]

OK thanks Elaine. I'll give it a go.

[Joseph]

Hi Elaine, thank you very kindly for the comfrey and a tour of your gardens!

I made this newer improved version of the comfrey juicer when I got home.

The old one couldn't hold so many leaves.

I also refreshed my knowledge on comfrey liquid. Its high potassium content means it's very good for non-acid plants such as tomatoes and beans (not strawberries). The nitrogen content in the liquid occurs as ammonium, which can inhibit the uptake of potassium and calcium in acid loving plants.

What I did in the past (when I had comfrey leaves to use) was to mix liquid comfrey (1:20) with chook poo soaked overnight in water. I used this on the snake beans. The plants grew huge leaves but also produced large crops. Now I don't know for sure if this is the direct result of the comfrey-chook poo but they were growing in pretty lousy clay soil at the time.