Beans, what is the matter with them?

My Pole Beans look like they're contracting the veggie equivalent of peripheral vascular disease, i.e the veins are hardening/browning and the leaves are evening taking on a scaly appearance before falling off. I know this will definitely kill the plant, just trying to see prevention/treatment for next time. 

Background- they get watered for 25 minutes every morning via micro drip irrigation to the roots, and are planted in a raised bed with MM. And oh yeah, i live in scorching hot Florida with no shade cloth (though the issue was first discovered on leaves that were shaded, not sun facing).

Hmmm....looks like scorch, Beetles?  Sanderson?  Turan?  Camp?

I think maybe bugs, some kind that sucks rather than chewing, such as leafhoppers, aphids, garden fleahoppers, maybe spidermites -- check the underside of several leaves. Look for tiny bugs, shed skins, stickiness, and webbing. A mister or spray bottle can help webbing become more visible. Check apparently unaffected leaves, too, since they like to move to fresh ones, and see if there's more evidence of what's going on.

Unfortunately, sometimes bugs visit, infect your plants with a virus, and move on -- so the larger symptoms you are seeing could be a virus rather than directly from bug damage. Do you have a local cooperative extension that can diagnose plant diseases? Stopping the bugs with netting isn't a practical option for pole beans, but looking for a variety that is resistant to the disease(s) your local bugs carry might help.

what variety of beans have you got there?

In my opinion, what I am seeing in the first photo is nutrient deficiency (either due to improper watering or lack of elements in the growing medium) such as puckering leaves, discoloration and finally, cell death.

I'm not sure about the second photo because some varieties of beans have that silvery coloration as a normal feature.

What have you got them planted in? What did you use to make up the growing medium? How often do you water and is the mulch down on the bed?

Can we get a broader view of the bean plants?

I had that last year on my KY wonder pole beans. The scale even appeared on the fruit about a month after the beans first began appearing. I didn't eat the scaly ones and I never did find out what it was. The crop never recovered.

I'll be following this thread.

CapeCoddess wrote:I had that last year on my KY wonder pole beans.  The scale even appeared on the fruit about a month after the beans first began appearing.  I didn't eat the scaly ones and I never did find out what it was.  The crop never recovered.

I'll be following this thread.

Hi CC, do you mean to say the plants had scale (an insect) or do you mean something else? Did you get photos of those plants last year?

OK, reviewing...the 2 pictures look different to me...first one the "issue" is affecting the soft leaf tissue between the vascular bed.  The second pic the vascular bed is affected but not the soft tissue...

So could it be nutrient?  Is it progressive?  Like does it start this way and end up that?  Can we get a little broader shot?  

Or 2 different things?

My mix is straight MM- 1/3- 5 or 6 kinds of compost, 1/3 peat, 1/3 coarse vermiculite

I think Camprn may be on to something. I looked under the "good" leaves and sure enough there seemed to be some aphids or other critters there. I attached 2 pictures but they might be a little difficult to see as the phone doesn't focus the best. I had been focusing on the cucumbers to their right and the squash to their left, and forgot that beans aren't necessarily bulletproof  I also feel like I'm starting to notice the "soft tissue" on my cucumbers being affected as well, could def be the critters. 

As for the veining, it might very well be a distinctive of the variety, as I too am using Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans.
SOO, I went out there an Neemed the crap out of them tonight.

Of course not 30-45 minutes after I did that it started thundering and raining! Weather guy keeps getting it wrong these past couple weeks for us! Im not complaining though, I'll take it!

Pictures for your enjoyment, (Sorry i can't get them to rotate correctly):

1. Further out view as requested. My poor butternut squash on the left has an even worse situation and has almost completely dried up, but thats for another post. You can see all the dieback the beans have been getting and the dropped leaves on empty stems. 

2. Slightly closer

3. Little green bug. No clue what it is



4. Little white bugs, I'm thinking aphids. Previous ones i had were black, but these are white. 

On pole beans, the early lower leave eventually die and fall off the vine. That is normal. The puckering is not and could be a virus from the aphids.
Your squash looks like it needs to be fed, (the yellowing leaves). Fertilize.

What kind of composts did you use?

check out potato leafhoppers (which also like beans) and see if they match what you are seeing (looks like they could be from the photos to me... but it's very hard to take good pics of tiny bugs without special equipment):
http://extension.umd.edu/growit/insects/potato-leafhopper

camprn wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:I had that last year on my KY wonder pole beans.  The scale even appeared on the fruit about a month after the beans first began appearing.  I didn't eat the scaly ones and I never did find out what it was.  The crop never recovered.

I'll be following this thread.

Hi CC, do you mean to say the plants had scale (an insect) or do you mean something else? Did you get photos of those plants last year?

Nope, not scale like bugs.  It was kind of a waxy scale on the beans & stems, and the leaves were messed up and dying.   The photos are here, 5 posts down:
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t19931-new-england-september-2015

My mistake - it was actually 2 yrs ago.  Last years beans didn't grow at all even tho there weren't planted in the same box.

My first thought was spider mites. I don't see any typical webbing, though.

sanderson wrote:My first thought was spider mites.  I don't see any typical webbing, though.

That is what I thought also.  Picture number 2 the bottom right hand leaves look like spider mite damage.

Dr. Bronner's or Neem if the soap doesn't work. I think I have tried non-fat milk, also.

Definitely had a potato leaf hopper, and like I said probably aphids for the little white ones. I shall neem again when no longer raining. 

My composts:
Black cow
Black hen
Mushroom compost
Miracle grow compost (tractor supply)
Compost from BS Farms in lakeland 


What kind of fertilizer would be helpful?

AlwaysHotinFL wrote:

My composts:
Black cow
Black hen
Mushroom compost
Miracle grow compost (tractor supply)
Compost from BS Farms in lakeland 

What kind of fertilizer would be helpful?

You shouldn't need fertilizer with SFG.  Was the Miracle Grow Compost the Nature's Care Really Good Compost? Normally we just top dress with more blended compost during the season.