[allotment-bill]

hi was wondering how your runner bean plants are going up and down the country
as our site which has some 250 plots on is not fairing very well beans are very slow to climb and not there usually dark green big leaves

[mumofstig]

Mine are the same. You could try giving them a feed as the rain has probably washed all the nutrients away 

[JayG]

Struggling (like everything else that likes warmth and sunshine!) 

They were planted out in paper pots about 3 weeks ago and are only just starting to recover from their "big yellow sulk" and climb reluctantly up the wires - the best of them is probably about 3 feet tall now.

[Salmo]

All the runners here are the same. Some of them are flowering early.

I suspect that the problem is nitrogen being temporarily unavailable rather than washed out.

The temptation is to give them a bit of nitrogen. Although this may initially green them up it might also lead to excess growth later. Foliar feed may be the best bet.

[Willow_Warren]

Mine have been in the ground about a month now, some died completly, some looked very sad and yellow, some broke down so I snipped them of to the growing point...

However in the last week they have made some limited progress!  They are at lease growing, "limited" is the key work though... This is my first year of runners so I've nothing to compare it to!

In all honesty I should have prepared the ground better....

Fingers are still crossed though, otherwise I will try again next year!

H

[Nobbie]

Mine are doing ok, but that's probably because they are near a fence and have been sheltered from the wind. No sign of flowers yet though.

[AlaninCarlisle]

Mine are about 2 feet high but look quite weak compared with previous years. They need some warm sun on them

Looking far worse are the French beans, planted at the same time but none of them have started climbing yet

[shokkyy]

My French beans are getting to the top of their 8 foot canes now, and the runner beans have finally started climbing as well, the tallest just about at 5 feet. But they all look pale and a bit sickly. Strangely enough, my mange tout are growing like weeds but my Alderman peas are pathetic scrawny little things, and they're right next to each other. I've tried a seaweed foliar feed but it doesn't seem to have made any difference to anything.

[mumofstig]

strange isn't it, my Alderman peas are growing and podding up really well, but the runners further along the same frame are very unhappy

[spuriousmonkey]

My alderman and champion of england peas are about 150cm tall at the moment and started flowering.

All runner bean varieties are lagging a bit behind. Tallest one is about 100cm high.

[plum crumble]

mine are very good and streets ahead of anyone else on the site. But this is because I have gone so overboard with looking after them in the greenhouse first, doing a humungous trench full of goodies for them, etc. I also took a risk and put them out earlier than everyone else, but escaped the frost.
But deffo the general consensus around the site is poor slow growth

[Aunt Sally]

Mine are very unhappy

[angelavdavis]

I harvested my first handful of borlotti and french beans last weekend, runners are about 5 foot high and flowering.  Shiraz mange tout are now producing their little purple pods and flowering well. 

The runners were a bit yellow (and still aren't great).  I gave them a spray of seaweed feed a couple of weeds ago and the recent couple of sunny days have helped no end.

[sarajane]

Same over here.  Very yellow, spindly and very very pittiful looking 

[Auntiemogs]

Ditto!