[barley]

Flippin 'eck, if it's not enough bee's, then it's the wrong bloomin' ones!!   

LOL !!!

[hubballi]

That's not honey bees, it's something else eating your flowers A Sally. All bees do the same job if with different plants. Why would a honey bee do that?

[Growing4mykids]

Not sure about that hubballi, i watched one earlier, doing exactly that, going in through the top, i would have thought the same about bee's  Darn you honey bee's  (even though i love your honey!)

[Growing4mykids]

Yay, i have beans forming, take that honey bee's 

[hubballi]

I have grown the healthiest B beans yet as far as the plants go. Loads of flowers BUT they seem to fall off and hardly produce a pod (Bunyards) The Suttons are better with more flowers but I fear they will go the same way. They are getting pollinated but seem to fall away. I am keeping them watered (and no, not over watered)

Anyone else having the same problem ?

[Aunt Sally]

What type of bees have you seen pollinating them ?

[hubballi]

Bumble

[Aunt Sally]

They should do the job 

[hubballi]

Ah well you see it's me, remember I'm not allowed to grow successful B Beans ever. So far it's been poor every year. Very hard to get right.

[Aunt Sally]

It's been a wet, cold, dark year,  Hubballi.

I'm struggling down in sunny Kent.  I'm surprised anything's growing north of Watford.

[Beetroot queen]

Ah well you see it's me, remember I'm not allowed to grow successful B Beans ever. So far it's been poor every year. Very hard to get right.

Now now hubballi chin up and think of what can grow in the space. I havent harvested a BB yet and by the look of it if i did the peas would be bigger. Black fly have arrived in force.

Gardening is all a trial and error ( more error on my part) but at least we try. 

[hubballi]

But there is no reason why the flowers fall off. The plants are healthy with loads of flowers it doesn't make sense. Just went and had another look and it's really disappointing because there is no reason for this.

[DD.]

There HAS to be a reason. You just don't know what it is.

[Growing4mykids]

I'm growing bunyards hubballi, mine seemed like it was going great guns with flowers all over each plant, then i noticed those little holes at the top of each flower from the honey bee's, since noticing them, i've watched(quite obssesively if i'm honest  ) to see what was going on, anyhoo, a LOT of mine have dropped off with no pod behind them, probably had more drop off than there are pods left on 

[mumofstig]

I seem to remember something about bees making holes in the back of flowers rather than getting in at the front, and so not pollinating the flowers.

Found it....

the bee will make a hole in the flower near to the source of the nectar. This makes it possible for bees with short tongues to reach nectar in long flowers which would normally be too deep to reach. The bee will then use the hole to extract the sugary reward without going near the stigmas and stamens. This behaviour is described as nectar robbery. ....................................  Charles Darwin observed robbery of broad bean flowers and mentions robbery of azalea and honeysuckle flowers. Examples of species of nectar robber include the bumble bees Bombus terrestris (L.) and B. jonellus (Kirby) both found in Europe. Looking for evidence of robbery is quite simple. If flowers have been robbed, they will usually have a neat circular or semi-circular hole near their base, close to where the nectar is produced. Once holes have been made by the robbers, other insects may also use them. For example, honeybees and ants have been seen using holes made by bumble bees.

http://www.benhs.org.uk/site/?q=node/32