Do birds eat bean blossoms?

ander217 6/27/2010, 2:47 pm

My pole beans are a total failure so far. They are growing nicely up the trellis, and every day I see new flower buds about to open. Then every evening I go out and those buds are gone.

I have Scarlet Runner beans as well as Blue Lakes, and I have yet to see a single blossom open. The Scarlet Runner buds look so pretty, and I once saw a red flower half open, but it was gone a few hours later leaving an empty space on the vine.

Do birds eat flowers? I thought at first the birds might think the red flowers were cherries or something, but the white flowers from the Blue Lakes are disappearing just as fast as the red ones.

I see a mockingbird around the garden pretty often. I figure if it's a bird doing it, he/she is the culprit.

Anyone else having this problem?

Chopper 6/27/2010, 2:54 pm

Why don't you try throwing some bird netting over the group and see if it stops the problem?

Megan 6/27/2010, 2:59 pm

So sorry to hear that! Mine have been left alone so far, even though the local birds seem to love the trellises as a perch, given the droppings on the plants' leaves below. My Cherokee pole beans have pink-purple flowers, the Christmas pole limas are cream-colored. The flowers are not very big.

ander217 6/27/2010, 4:01 pm

Chopper wrote:Why don't you try throwing some bird netting over the group and see if it stops the problem?

We threw a bird net over our cherry tree when it was fruiting, and I went out to pick them one day and saw a little wren dangling from the netting. It got its head stuck in the net and died.

Every time I think about using the bird netting again, in my mind I see that little bird that came to our feeder all winter hanging limply and I just can't do it.

Megan 6/27/2010, 9:02 pm

Oh dear. I recall finding a little bird drowned in my parents' goldfish pond I helped my dad build. I felt terrible about it. But in the end, you can't control all the ramifications of your actions... you can only do the best you can. (Not wanting or trying to start a philosophical debate, just expressing sympathy.)

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