Search
Latest topics
» N & C Midwest: October 2024by OhioGardener Yesterday at 4:46 pm
» What Have You Picked From Your Garden Today
by donnainzone5 10/2/2024, 6:09 pm
» What are you eating from your garden today?
by OhioGardener 10/1/2024, 12:58 pm
» N & C Midwest: September 2024
by OhioGardener 9/30/2024, 4:13 pm
» The SFG Journey-Biowash
by OhioGardener 9/29/2024, 8:33 am
» Fall is For Garlic Planting
by Scorpio Rising 9/28/2024, 12:19 am
» Ohio Gardener's Greenhouse
by OhioGardener 9/22/2024, 11:24 am
» source for chemical-free lanscape fabric
by Woodsong 9/19/2024, 10:51 am
» Hurricane
by sanderson 9/14/2024, 5:42 pm
» Spinning Compost Bin-need some ideas
by sanderson 9/12/2024, 2:09 am
» Old Mulch and Closing Beds for Winter
by Scorpio Rising 9/11/2024, 8:23 pm
» Happy Birthday!!
by Scorpio Rising 9/11/2024, 8:20 pm
» Pest Damage
by WBIowa 9/8/2024, 2:48 pm
» cabbage moth?
by jemm 9/8/2024, 9:15 am
» adding compost yearly
by sanderson 9/5/2024, 2:16 am
» N & C Midwest: August 2024
by OhioGardener 8/31/2024, 8:13 pm
» Article - Create a Seed Library to Share the Extras
by OhioGardener 8/26/2024, 4:09 pm
» Best Tasting Parthenocarpic Cucumber?
by SMEDLEY BUTLER 8/21/2024, 7:07 pm
» Winter Squash Arch
by SMEDLEY BUTLER 8/21/2024, 8:02 am
» Master Gardeners: Growing Your Own Blueberries
by OhioGardener 8/19/2024, 10:09 am
» Looking for a local source for transplants.... Sarasota, FL
by sanderson 8/19/2024, 3:26 am
» Hi, y'all. I'm new to everything in Sarasota, FL
by sanderson 8/19/2024, 3:21 am
» Starbucks for coffee grounds!
by OhioGardener 8/14/2024, 5:47 pm
» Hi from N. Georgia
by AtlantaMarie 8/13/2024, 8:57 am
» Hello from Atlanta, Georgia
by sanderson 8/13/2024, 3:09 am
» growing tomatoes from seed outside
by sanderson 8/13/2024, 3:05 am
» 15-Minute Garlic Sautéed Eggplant
by Scorpio Rising 8/12/2024, 7:25 pm
» Downsizing Gardens for the Autumn of our lives
by Hollysmac 8/6/2024, 10:37 pm
» Golden Beets
by Scorpio Rising 8/6/2024, 7:03 pm
» Hi all!
by sanderson 8/6/2024, 12:56 am
Google
Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
3 posters
Page 1 of 1
Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
I just started 3 4x4 square foot gardens at the end of June. I am having trouble with the green beans, the bush style. They are coming up and growing and now flowering with pale green leaves. The plants looks a bit spindly and weak. Some of the older leaves have brown spots and holes on them. I followed all the directions for preparing the mix of vermiculite, peat moss and compost. Composts I used: horse manure, cow manure, mushroom, leaf, and then one that is a combo of cow, poultry manure and lobster and crab shells. This last one said it had some peat moss in it. The tomatoes and zucchini look to be doing pretty well as do the marigolds and the herbs. The corn and pumpkins leaves are not quite as green as I think they should be, also, but they look much better than the beans. Baby carrots are nice and green and growing slowly, at least the leaves are--don't know what's going on below the surface.
Any ideas? I bought a pH meter and it reads about 6.75. I read somewhere in my travels on the internet that beans like a pH of 6.5 or a little lower--I'm wondering if the beans cannot get any iron because the soil needs to be a little more acidic? Or maybe the composts I used were not very good and are not supplying something needed? I don't know; I just want to fix it. I'm so disappointed; I really love green beans and most of the time the beans at the grocery store are so woody and tough. I was looking forward to having tender young green beans, but at this point I don't think that's going to happen.
Any ideas? I bought a pH meter and it reads about 6.75. I read somewhere in my travels on the internet that beans like a pH of 6.5 or a little lower--I'm wondering if the beans cannot get any iron because the soil needs to be a little more acidic? Or maybe the composts I used were not very good and are not supplying something needed? I don't know; I just want to fix it. I'm so disappointed; I really love green beans and most of the time the beans at the grocery store are so woody and tough. I was looking forward to having tender young green beans, but at this point I don't think that's going to happen.
erin.isaachsen- Posts : 5
Join date : 2012-06-24
Age : 62
Location : Aldie, VA
Re: Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
My bush bean foliage is a bit lighter in color than a lot of the other plants in the garden, so what you are describing could be normal. Would you be able to post a photo of the issues?
43 years a gardener and going strong with SFG.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t3574-the-end-of-july-7-weeks-until-frost
There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance. ~ Henry David Thoreau
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t1306-other-gardening-books
Pictures of my beans plus pumpkin and zucchini
Thanks for the quick reply. Here are some pictures:
Green beans with pale green leaves, bush variety. They just don't look very healthy... I just started getting flowers on my oldest bean planting. I guess we'll see if we get any green beans...
Individual green bean leaf.
Pumpkin leaves -- the older leaves are less green...
Individual older pumpkin leaf
Zucchini leaves -- are the white veins normal?
Thanks for any advice!
Green beans with pale green leaves, bush variety. They just don't look very healthy... I just started getting flowers on my oldest bean planting. I guess we'll see if we get any green beans...
Individual green bean leaf.
Pumpkin leaves -- the older leaves are less green...
Individual older pumpkin leaf
Zucchini leaves -- are the white veins normal?
Thanks for any advice!
erin.isaachsen- Posts : 5
Join date : 2012-06-24
Age : 62
Location : Aldie, VA
Pictures of my beans plus pumpkin and zucchini
I had taken the pictures on Sunday. The beans actually look worse now than they were then, i.e., more pale.
erin.isaachsen- Posts : 5
Join date : 2012-06-24
Age : 62
Location : Aldie, VA
Re: Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
That all looks good and normal, maybe a bit pale but healthy... If you have some homemade compost you could topdress the beds with it. Apply a layer about an inch deep to the entire surface of the bed and when you water this will release it's nutritional value into the soil underneath and feed the plants. Do not be surprised when the lower older leaves of the beans begin to turn yellow then wither, that is normal.
43 years a gardener and going strong with SFG.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t3574-the-end-of-july-7-weeks-until-frost
There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance. ~ Henry David Thoreau
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t1306-other-gardening-books
Re: Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
Thanks for your advice. I do not have any homemade compost other than horse manure compost, but I'm sure you mean a compost that has lots of different ingredients. I can make a mixture of what I have left of the cow manure/horse manure/leaf/mushroom composts and top dress that. I really need to start a compost pile of household kitchen waste. I've been noticing how much I throw away that could go to good use...
erin.isaachsen- Posts : 5
Join date : 2012-06-24
Age : 62
Location : Aldie, VA
Re: Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
If you have well rotted horse manure, that will do. May want to put on a thinner layer and see how that does first.erin.isaachsen wrote:Thanks for your advice. I do not have any homemade compost other than horse manure compost, but I'm sure you mean a compost that has lots of different ingredients. I can make a mixture of what I have left of the cow manure/horse manure/leaf/mushroom composts and top dress that. I really need to start a compost pile of household kitchen waste. I've been noticing how much I throw away that could go to good use...
43 years a gardener and going strong with SFG.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t3574-the-end-of-july-7-weeks-until-frost
There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance. ~ Henry David Thoreau
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t1306-other-gardening-books
Re: Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
Or make a compost tea out of some of that rotted horse manure and feed the plants that way. I like using compost tea until the plants perk up and then top dress for long term. My compost pile is not ready either so I bought additional composts and made a 5 blend which I stored in rubbermaid bins. Whenever I think some long growing plant needs a boost, I do the above. But don't overdo as you will get all plant and no beans.
Kay
Kay
A WEED IS A FLOWER GROWING IN THE WRONG PLACE
Elizabeth City, NC
Click for weather forecast
walshevak
Certified SFG Instructor- Posts : 4370
Join date : 2010-10-17
Age : 81
Location : wilmington, nc zone 8
Re: Please help me help my green beans--pale green leaves...
Thought I'd include the cowpea experiment to show what good MM vs poor MM and poor topsoil will give you.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t12230-field-peas-and-mm
Note the extreme difference in color of the topsoil planter. That was a mix of bagged topsoil and black hen, vermiculite and peat. The MM lite used just black kow and black hen composts and it looks almost as good as the full MM pot. I've always maintained that those 2 composts were my workhorses. Wish I could report on pea production.
Kay
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t12230-field-peas-and-mm
Note the extreme difference in color of the topsoil planter. That was a mix of bagged topsoil and black hen, vermiculite and peat. The MM lite used just black kow and black hen composts and it looks almost as good as the full MM pot. I've always maintained that those 2 composts were my workhorses. Wish I could report on pea production.
Kay
A WEED IS A FLOWER GROWING IN THE WRONG PLACE
Elizabeth City, NC
Click for weather forecast
walshevak
Certified SFG Instructor- Posts : 4370
Join date : 2010-10-17
Age : 81
Location : wilmington, nc zone 8
Similar topics
» My Summer Crops are still not growing. HELP!
» pale green/yellow squash leaves
» Plants starting to get pale green leaves
» Why are my pole bean leaves pale green to yellowish?
» Why are my green beans turning brown and dying
» pale green/yellow squash leaves
» Plants starting to get pale green leaves
» Why are my pole bean leaves pale green to yellowish?
» Why are my green beans turning brown and dying
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
|
|