[Sir Growalot]

Nice looking plants

flowers formed but are dropping off ...no beans

[gobs]

The scary looking black things are the dying petals, perfectly normal, the bean pods can be detected a wee bit later as tiny little green pods, so I think you well might be OK.

[Sir Growalot]

Thanks Gobs but i fear the ants have been harvesting the nectar as on closer inspection this morning there were quite a few ants on the stems. how can I get rid of the ants ?

[gobs]

There are quite a few ant threads going , sir, in short, not easily.