Worst Ever Fall Bean Crop

[greenthumbomaha]

My story is similar but I didn't take any samples in to be evaluated. My bean crop was a complete failure much to my dismay as I love green beans as a side dish. I requested easy to grow beans in last years swap and Gary sent a generous assortment. I didn't get a single bean except for one pole bean late in the season. Everything was slow to come up and none of the bushes or vines looked healthy and green. I had just started planting in a new raised bed with sandy native soil topped in bagged organic cow manure. I attributed the poor performance to the bed being too hot, but the leaves looked like the second photo with the grey mold. Out of maybe 20 varieties, the only producer was a store bought package of Fordhook Lima Beans and it was very late to produce.

The tomatoes in the next raised bed did fine in the same soil mix. I'll be rotating tomatoes into this bed next season. I put lots of leaf mulch on top and some grass too just before the weather tanked. I would like to avoid any chemicals. I hope the bed will improve over the winter.

- Lisa