[Zak the Rabbit]

im after a bit of advice - my broad beans have shot up, and there are buds appearing on them. Now, my book says to pinch off the top 3 inch when pods start forming, but the packet says to pinch off the top when there are 4 clusters of buds. Trouble is, im not sure what 4 clusters looks like (theres loads of buds but seem to be in one big cluster) and does it mean take off the growth above the buds, or take those buds off as well?

any broad bean experts?

[muntjac]

yeh leave the * alone just pick the beans when they form nice sized button jobbies , never could understand why folks do that on commercial farms they let em grow to 5 ft tall .me i like a lot from my crop so why stop em  :roll:

[Celtic Eagle]

Zak

I'm not taking the tops off mine it don't seem to make any difference. Iknow they say atke tops off to stop blackfly I must be lucky and don't get any (well not until now after that comment     ) It depends wether you think the extra work is wort it BTW leave all the bubs on or no beans

Cheers

[Zak the Rabbit]

BTW leave all the bubs on or no beans

ha! i realised that after i had written it!

thanks people, i will leave em alone. Ive never taken any off before and never had a problem. I think it was suggested that it would make them bush out but im not bothered, if they grow real tall i'll just stick a cane next to em to hold em up.

theyre under a bigger homemade poly tunnel now, about 3ft tall, so that should keep em safe from frost for a while now

[milkman]

my advice - only pinch the tops out once all the flowers are fully opened and only if there are signs of black fly attack, otherwise there's nothing to be gained from doing so...

[supersprout]

I pinch off tender shooting tops once beans have grown to their full height, a harvest of lovely broadie-tasting leaves for steaming or stir fry. First taste of spring, wouldn't miss that taste for anything. Nowt to do with blackfly though!