[nuts-in-may]

This is my first year's growing and my French beans are extremely ugly, the leaves are covered in brown patches and badly curled. It seems to still deliver beans but about a third of those are patchy, brown and curly too.  It's more badly affected at the tops of the vines than the bottom.  

I asked someone more experienced and he seemed pretty sure it was wind burn.  Certainly most of the plants were planted during the June gales, but the others weren't as they went in over 3 sessions and they're all affected to some degree.

So, I can't find anything that really explains what wind burn is online nor in my books.  Do plants only get it when they're young and planted out in windy weather or can fully grown vines get it too?  Does it spread to unaffected plants?  Is it a disease?  Is it a fungus?  Should I burn the plants after they've finished cropping?

Thanks

[Cleo]

A bitter dry wind can sometimes cause leaf dessication ( wind burn ).

It is cosmetic.
It is an environmental factor and not a disease
You do not need to burn the plants after harvest.

If a plant is severely affected the yield will be less due to stress.

Next year try and plant in a more sheltered spot or encourage a natural wind break.

[nuts-in-may]

Thanks Cleo

[Cleo]

No problem :-)

[Trillium]

Windburn is mostly as Cleo described it - a strong wind that whips around the plants and dries out parts of it. But sunscald can give a similar result and it's possible to get both on your plants. Normally beans aren't prone to windburn unless you're on a site that gets hard frequent winds. Summer motorcyclists who don't wear protective clothing get windburn; it feels cool on their skins as they drive but soon as they stop their skin feels on fire.

This can be solved easily for veg; put up some sort of windscreen to the suspectible plants. Doesn't (and shouldn't) have to be a solid fence, but a 'fence' with netting with fine holes. This will slow down the wind and minimize possible damage. I used to have to put up cedar slats in front of my lettuce at one garden I had because the wind would shred the seedlings.

[Eatyourgreens]

A bitter dry wind can sometimes cause leaf dessication ( wind burn ).

It is cosmetic.

Unless you live up here, where wind burn does indeed cause leaf dessication and in fact keeps trees to a maximum height of 15ft when sheltered like in my walled and hedged garden, and it is far more than cosmetic, but like I said, that is all unless you live up here  :?

[gobs]

You don't say where you are Eaty, but yes, it can be small scale or large scale, climbers are always at more risk.

On my lottie site I was told that a few decades back nobody ever grew runner beans as they considered the place was just too windy for them.

[Eatyourgreens]

Small island North of the Orkney mainland so about 50 miles North of the Scottish mainland.

Gets windy up here is does.




Bob

[nuts-in-may]

Could it just be a freak incident?  I was reading this is the windiest summer for 40 years - only I'm in balmy Surrey not a difficult climate like the Orknies.  And since I inherited the plot from someone who'd used it for scores of years  I followed their plan and planted the beans in an obvious bean bed with metal supports so it must have worked there for them in previous years :?:  This is definitely a serious case, more than cosmetic, because a lot of the beans are affected too.

I don't see this problem on the plots around me.  But mine is very windswept so maybe it's a micro-climate or a wind channel.   Various crops have either fallen over or started leaning throughout the summer all in the same direction.  

There are no perennials at all so I'm wondering what I could plant as a windbreak, but really don't want to block the sun because that has been to my advantage this summer with so little sunlight. Compared to people I know with sheltered gardens I've had much quicker and more successful crops when I can keep them standing :?

[Trillium]

Perennials take too long to grow to suitable size, and they also shade things. The 'fence' I spoke of was just some posts with clear netting well tied to the posts. It's enough to slow the wind down as it passes through but no shade whatsoever. The finer the netting, the slower the wind is to the plant side.