Worst Ever Fall Bean Crop

[kurt]

Saw the reply in the Florida thread about beans.I gave up here in south Fl trying bean production.I tried Favas,Gigandes and a assortment of the Chinese Long beans.After reading up through countless sites the culprit was pollen clumping for high humidity periods.Then when I changed germination/growth to a later dryer time,then when I finally got some pods the higher humidity invited a fungus/ mold and I basically gave up at that point.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by kurt

Saw the reply in the Florida thread about beans.I gave up here in south Fl trying bean production.I tried Favas,Gigandes and a assortment of the Chinese Long beans.After reading up through countless sites the culprit was pollen clumping for high humidity periods.Then when I changed germination/growth to a later dryer time,then when I finally got some pods the higher humidity invited a fungus/ mold and I basically gave up at that point.

The easiest snap bean I have grown is Rattlesnake Pole beans, which generally do fairly well in the heat. However, in July and August about the only beans that work here in Central Florida are Limas and Cowpeas. I grew Zipper Creme cowpeas this summer successfully in native soil. Next summer I hope to give Limas a try.
Larry

[joseph]

I wonder if the varieties of beans planted in the fall should be different varieties than those planted in the spring?

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by joseph

I wonder if the varieties of beans planted in the fall should be different varieties than those planted in the spring?

I had to think about that a bit, but I think the answer is no. Most short to medium maturing vegetables that do well here in the spring also do well in fall. The seasons are though somewhat different. Spring season starts cool and ends hot with most of the rain coming late in the season. While the Fall season is opposite, starting hot and ending cool with most of the rain coming early in the season. For the past few seasons I have had very good success growing Rattlesnake Pole beans in native soil. The native soil here is primarily sand, said to be 70% sand and 30% silt. A mineral soil with very little organic matter. Other varieties such as Blue Lake do very poorly in it but normally Rattlesnake thrives.
In my raised beds containing compost I have tried several varieties of bush beans but Jade II, which I have now grown for several seasons, does better than others, such as Contender, Provider and Blue Lake.
But this year after rains more typical of the tropics than Central Florida everything seems to have changed for the worse.
After a bit of research a came across an article stating: "Nutrient leaching.
The soils of Florida are generally sandy with low cation exchange capacity (CEC)
values. This means that the soil does not have the ability to hold on to many of the
nutrients, allowing them to be easily leached out. ... six inches of water can leach 80 % of applied nitrogen, 100 % of applied potassium, 100 % of sulfate-sulfur and 79 % of applied boron. Calcium (48% loss), magnesium (32%) and manganese (40 %)"
I plan to get complete soil tests in both native soil and raised beds and hope that provides some guidance on how to proceed.
I take interest in reading your posts related to growing varieties in short seasons and a cold environment. I especially am interested the work you and Fusion_power are doing related to frost tolerant tomatoes. With a greater degree of frost tolerance I could potentially grow more successfully Fall tomatoes into December and January.
Keep up the good work and Thanks for your interest. Larry

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by joseph

I wonder if the varieties of beans planted in the fall should be different varieties than those planted in the spring?

Different varieties may have some merit. After our short winter nematode population is said to be in decline and therefore varieties of beans with no resistance to nematodes are less risky in the spring but after the heat of summer the nematodes are said to be numerous in the fall and therefore a nematode resistant variety may be a better bet in the fall.
Larry