Runner Bean Nightmare

Having just planted out some runner beans yesterday afternoon, ones which I had bought from B&Q, I have just checked them to see if they made it through their first night, to my horror I found that two of them were no long tied to their canes as they have had their tops eaten by snails or birds?

Are these plants now useless, or are they still capable of growing into tall plants on canes?

Do I need to put netting on the canes to protect them from birds? Surely the plants aren't high enough cover them all and the beans will end up growing outside the net.

By tonight there will be rings of slug pellets around the pots and plants themselves!!!





Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Nic

 

Hi Jazzythumper

To judge from your second picture, I'd say it was snail damage. It's amazing how snails can reduce a large plant to a few pathetic tatters overnight. Unfortunately they love runner bean shoots, which seem to be a sort of gourmet salad for molluscs. I have a lot of problems with slugs and snails, so unfortunately I have given up on growing beans. I don't want to use slug pellets and nothing else works - believe me, I've tried every remedy in the book!

Looking at your first picture, I'd say you have chosen quite a lush spot with lots of ivy and low-growing shrubs nearby. These are perfect hiding places for snails. Take a peak in the ivy and you'll probably find hundreds of them, tucked away in blissful sleep after their large nocturnal meal so that they are rested and primed to have another really good go at your crop tonight. So, if you can, I would move your planters to somewhere a little more open and away from obvious snail hidey-holes.

If you use pellets, it is best to put them under something - make a little 'cave' using some stones, perhaps, so that birds and other wildlife don't get harmed from eating poisoned slugs and snails. You should also get rid of any corpses as quickly as possible. Yuck! Horrible job! That's why I've given up!

 

PS Your plants should still grow OK after their setback, assuming you can find a way of dealing with the snails ...

 

So will the stem develop a new head with shoots?

 

Obviously the leading shoot has gone, having been chomped by snails, but sideshoots should develop from leaf axils (where the stem and leaf join) lower down.

 

Should I therefore cut the stem back down to that level?

 

Yes, you could cut the bare bit of stem at the top (which will die back anyway) down to just above the top pair of leaves, from where the new leaf buds should hopefully appear. Sometimes gardeners deliberately make use of a plant's ability to do this, in order to produce a bushier habit or perhaps more flower buds. It's called 'pinching out' or 'stopping'.

 

ClaraLou, thanks for your advice, I am moving the beans to a balcony where those snails will have to climb a whole house to reach them! hopefully that should be far enough, but will still protect them with slug pellets!!!!

 

:rotfl:

 

I was told by an old gardner that slugs and snails absolutly hate copper so i'm giving that a try once my runners break the surface.

 

Well, some people put copper strips under the rims of plant pots to discourage them. Copper is supposed to carry a small electric charge which slugs and snails don't like. I tried the bands but discarded the idea on the grounds that (a) they were expensive and (b) they didn't work. As I've mentioned before, I have Medway molluscs and they're well 'ard.

 

I have now moved the runner beans to a safer place (I hope!) and surround them with a lot of slug pellets, I suppose the next line of attack will be from birds!!!

 

Having watered the plants today, this evening they now look like the beans are wilting, how much water should these beans be getting, currently giving them about 1/2 pint each a day, is this enough?

Another concern is that when the bean plants were first planted out, they came from a small polystyrene box from B&Q and the roots were all tangled together, I had to pull them apart and fear that I may have damaged to roots too much in this process. Could this be the reason why they are wilting?

Help!!!!!

 

I live in Cincinnati, Ohio and have two pet Box Turtles in my garden. Their favorite food is snails and slugs. They take care of the problem in my yard. Best wishes, Rick.

 

My daughter has just moved into her first home (a small house in the 'Mudways'): she's begun to clear it's tiny yet heavily overgrown, garden but the Medway molluscs are there en masse. When copper strips, slug pellets, sand, egg shells etc., all failed she tried 'beer traps' and in one night caught 28 of the little blighters. Her verdict? "Typical - chavvy slugs!"