Broad beans

I am picking my broad beans grown in a Harrods Horticulture net cage.   The pods are full size but 90% of them are empty with some undeveloped seeds inside.   I have never had this problem before.  Is it the weather,  poor pollination or growing them in a net cage which I have never used before this year.   Can you help?

I am picking my broad beans grown in a Harrods Horticulture net cage.   The pods are full size but 90% of them are empty with some undeveloped seeds inside.   I have never had this problem before.  Is it the weather,  poor pollination or growing them in a net cage which I have never used before this year.   Can you help?

Hi Hazel, welcome ! 
Sounds like poor pollination to me. What size is the net?

Probably is poor pollination.
Being one of the first crops in the year to pollinate, its always one of the first I see in the veg plots that are covered in bees.

Did you notice any bees?

It is often said that too wet soil, more that it has poor drainage at the foot of the plant is another cause. Suppose they mean do not have the beans sitting in a pool of water, suspect as its not getting any nutrients from the soil.

Sounds a shame for you, as it has been a great year of Broad beans (not that they ever fail me) and still got a few more weeks of pickings.

What would be the reason growing them in a cage?
Suspect bees or other insects may find it hard to enter it.
I have sweet peas, flowers and large flowering bushes around my plot that attract bees to the plot, encouraging them to move on to the veg plots, so might be worth ensuring that too.