Feeble French beans

Has anyone else been disappointed in French beans this year? My crop is very poor - the plants do not look healthy; they are untidy and stringy, and the beans have grown curly! There are very few on each plant, even now. They are not the same type as I put in last year, which were more upright and did very well. Some of the leaves are quite dry despite the rain. I gave them a handful of Growmore (each) on planting - mistake?? Is it possible to overdose on Growmore? Does anyone recommend anything else., please? Now, my runner beans are a different story - prolific and healthy!

(Sorry - guess this should have been in 'Edible Gardening'!)

 

My beans have grown curly too! Not all of them, but some!

Have they had enough water? I'm finding that my beans (french and runner in a pot together) are requiring watering everyday, even though its raining. (I feel a prat, out with the watering can in a heavy shower!)

The other thing can be is that the flowers haven't been fertilised due to the weather, but I'm just a novice at growing veg, so I've not got many ideas, but mine get a healthy tomato plant feed once a week.

Hope this Helps!

 

Hi lindyco. I'm growing 'frenchies' for the first time this year, and so far I'm quite impressed with them. A good size crop with a good flavour. My wife even suggested that we only grow these as opposed to regular 'runners'. Thing is, we just had our first picking of 'runners', and she now takes it all back As for growmore (overdose), I reckon you MAY have overdone it. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will be able to answer this ?
Cheers...freddy.

 

My French beans aren't good this year. Curly too. I put it down to the seeds being from last year, even though they are still 'in date'. Loving the runners, which I've not grown before. It reminds me of my grandad when I was little, as he'd pick them fresh for tea.

 

Ive bought some dwarf french bean seeds ready for next year. How much space/height do they take up, are they similar to runner beans? Do i need many plants to normally get a lot of beans off them? A friend planted 6 runner beans plants and he is over run with them.Last year i planted 20 tom plants and found i had just a few to many to eat, cut it down a bit for this year.When is the best time to get the seeds started in peat pots in a heated greenhouse? Are they best planted on into large pots or the ground? Quite a few questions to get through.

 

You can feed French beans with tomato fertiliser. I wouldn't worry about curly beans as they taste just the same as straight ones!
Sow in long peat pots or loo rolls in late April. They do best in the ground as they like to put out deep root systems.
A good alternative to dwarf french is climbing french beans as they don't take up as much space. Grow then like runner beans.

 

For the second year, I planted my French beans in late May and have had excellent results. I use Purple Queen and it's a reliable, heavy cropper although not as tasty as a runner bean.

I planted 16 plants about 200mm apart and they're provided a colander full of beans each day. We're begining to look like French beans....!

 

Legumes... such as beans, are nitrogen fixers, they make and store their own nitrogen, so feeding with a high nitrogen fertilizer like growmore is pointless, and could be counter productive!

 

Point of order Sir!

Is Growmore high nitrogen? I though it was equal:equal:equal NPK ratio stuff??