Bean leaves look bad..

My beans have not done well this year. Poor germination. Only the second planting germinated, [first and third 2 weeks apart-nothing!] We got some good beans from them, but not many. This is a new raised bed; I think next year i will put the tomatoes on the north side and the beans on the south for more sun. Anyway while the beans are still producing a few beans, since the weather has gotten cool and rainy the leaves are looking bad. I have picked the worst ones off, because that advice worked well for the tomatoes. Tomatoes are still ripening but it will be a race to get them off the plants before cold weather. It's been such strange weather that past 2 years that you can't hardly go by the old "dates"; just watch the weather day to day and do your best. Here is what some of the leaves that I picked off this morning looked like:

From the looks of them, I am guessing this is rust from the rain. Beans are very sensitive to rain and should not be handled when wet as they will produce this discoloration of the leaves.

They also do not need a lot of fertilizer as they capture nitrogen in the nodules in their roots. I usually plant my beans about as deep as the seed is big. I did 3 plantings this year and the first with all the moisture of a cool early summer cause a similar leaf appearance for me/

I find all beans and peas are susceptible to different diseases like rust, mold and insect damage like black-fly, greenfly and other flying bugs but this is normally seen while the plants are still small and no pods are growing which gives the different options as to how to treat these problems. Black-fly on beans are always on the tender tips way at the top so you just nip the top off and burn the tips, so from an early time you need to keep a close eye on these plants for signs.

As you probably know too the weather plays a large part in the diseases that attack and it's normally humid weather that causes this, there are several sprays that will help if you get it before the pods begin and if after that, try to nip off the damaged leaves as you see them, wish I could help more so good luck. WeeNel.

If I saw that damage on the leaves here I would think Spider Mites (have you seen webbing are the leaves crisp?) or thrips. They like, but are not limited to, hot dry conditions.

thanks for the advice all. I haven't been on the forum much lately. busy and I forgot to put the email into my contact list so all my newletters have gone to spam! rats! Anyway have gotten that straightened out, and now the newsletter reminds me to check the forum.

As far as the beans - i think rust was right on - more rain this year than last, and more frquently. Maybe getting them more sun next year will help? Taking the worst of the leaves did help. Each year we learn more. Thanks again.

Check out this link. It has pics of different mineral deficiencies:
http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/beans.htm

Thanks - this was so helpful. I am just starting to get ready for this years planting. Based on those pictures I think that maybe they might have been phosphorus deficient. I had planted them in a new raised bed, and while we put a lot of compost into the bed - it did drain rapidly. Hopefully this year will be better,[more compost and leaves this fall]. Also I wondered if putting them on the north side of the tomato plants was too shady. What do others think? This year I thought I would put the tomatoes on the northside of the bed [ which is in the fullest sun] and the beans on the southside.

marty, the pics you posted above are definitely not a mineral deficiency of any kind.

I agree with bean rust or one of the two cercospora leaf spot fungi. And yes, I'd plant your beans in as much sun as possible with as much spacing between them as you can for good air circulation.

Shoe

You definitely don't want tall-growing tomato plants shading your beans.

Your beans might have had a whole combination of things going on, including the Common Bean Mosaic Virus (CBMV), which they pick up from insects. Photos of different diseases, deficiencies, and infestations are only helpful up to a certain point. Often the photos aren't very good, but besides that, when a plant gets sick, it's usually from a combination of factors.

Both insects and microorganisms will tend to attack weaker specimens or varieties, and leave the healthier plants alone until they've polished off the weaker ones. Think of a wolf eyeing a herd of deer; smaller "predators" operate pretty much the same way, though there are exceptions (see below.)

You can sometimes use this phenomenon to your advantage. As one example: when I put Detroit Dark Red beets and Tall Top Early Wonder in the same bed, the spinach leaf miners always go after the Detroit Dark Red first. That suits me fine because Tall Top Early Wonder is still my favorite beet. I just squish the little spinach leaf miners between my fingers right at the point where they're living-- far end of the tunnel, which you can clearly see on the surface of the leaf. This type of pest control is also known as "trap cropping."

Yellow summer squash will draw insects away from melons and other cucumber family members, but that doesn't help me much 'cuz I just love, love, love yellow squash.

Black Beauty eggplant will draw insects away from tomatoes and peppers if they're planted close together-- especially aphids, and may also then attract lady bug larvae who will gobble up the aphids-- leaving you with healthier tomato and pepper plants, and you'll probably still get some Black Beauty eggplant.

The most notable exception to the "survival of the fittest" rule is bacterial wilt on melons, squash, the whole cucumber family. This is spread by cucumber beetles-- who show up in droves starting in late spring in the Rio Grande valley-- and who can kill a perfectly healthy melon plant in one day. The wilt doesn't seem to care one bit how healthy the plant was. You can have visions of blue-ribbon watermelons one day, and a totally dead plant the next.

It's possible to control the cucumber beetles, but I haven't found a good inexpensive solution that works well. It's not possible to control the bacterial wilt, though, not that I know of. Best thing to do with a cucurbit plant dead or dying from bacterial wilt is to uproot the whole plant and send it off to the landfill-- NOT the compost pile. I would recommend the same thing for a bean plant dead from CBMV, but I'm not at all sure that's what your beans had.

Thanks for the input all. I think that improving the soil, and more sun will help. Overall the beans weren't prolific but they did OK, so I think whatever they had was more superficial and weather related. Also I didn't get a good start, due to several factors that won't be an issue this year - I hope! The weather- who can say anymore?

I will get them in as early as the soil temps will allow. That was a good tip last year for the tomatoes - they did better because I got them started earlier. They also had some bad looking leaves - but the fruit was OK. It was so rainy in late summer last year. I hope for better this year. LOL.