Blue Lake pole beans not flowering...

I have two separate plantings of pole beans. Each consists of about 72 plants. Group A was planted (germinated) about two weeks before Group B. They're both planted in the same direction - north/south. Group A has been producing a slew of beans for the past couple of weeks and the plants still have lots of flowers on them. Group B, however, has (at the most) 10 plants which are flowering even though the majority of the plants are well over 6 feet tall.

Does anyone know why the plants aren't flowering?

On a side note, I sterilized the soil (last summer) where Group B is planted because I had tomatoes planted there and they contracted Spotted Wilt Virus. (I didn't want to wait 4+ years to be able to plant tomatoes in the same place.) However, afterwards I tilled in the following: cottonseed meal, Texas green sand, MicroLife, home-composted compost, and compost from Nature's Way Resources. Could the fact that I sterilized the soil have anything to do with the plants not flowering? (I would think that they wouldn't grow at all, but...)

Any ideas as to how I can get these plants to flower? I REALLY want to be able to can some French-style green beans again this year! Had I known that Group B wasn't going to produce (much), I wouldn't have been giving away beans to family, friends, and neighbors. :/ (Next time I'll do the canning first and then the "giving"!)

Thanks for any help!

That could have something to do with it. Were the seeds from the same batch?

Yes.... and no. I had to re-plant the seeds for both batches because they weren't germinating*. So some of them are from the same supplier, and others are from a different supplier (and older than a year). But there were more from the first supplier that germinated and I didn't have to re-plant. It sounds confusing, I know. :(


*I even contacted the supplier to complain about the low germination rate. They couldn't understand why I was getting about a 37% failure rate when their own tests showed only about a 6% failure rate. Maybe it had something to do with the weather, since we had such a strange Spring with 70° and 80° days and then dropping down to the 30's or 40's at night.

BTW - I just harvested over 200 1015Y onions out of the same section I sterilized and the majority of them were quite large... some even bigger than I've seen at HEB. I used a 20-0-0 fertilizer for the onions. Could it be that there's too much nitrogen in the soil? (For the beans, I mean.)

Too much nitrogen is a strong possibility, but plants like people can be very different from each other.
I hope they flower for you any way.

Onions like nitrogen, though. High nitrogen isn't so good for most other plants.

I'm confused about the onions some people say more N some say more phospherous, both had great results.

But I would place money on way too much nitrogen. Legumes produce nitrogen and very rarely need it added, at least that has been my experience. An indicator of too much N is beautiful foliage and little to no flowers. I don't think it has anything to do with the soil sterilizing but too much Nitrogen. I think pole beans will keep producing all season as long as you keep them picked. I don't give anything away until I have canned or pickled everything I want. Never done beans before, I think me and a pressure cooker would be dangerous. Lol

Regarding the germination issues. That's was almost definately due to low soil temps. beans germinate best when the temps are about 77*. If you were getting into the 30 and 40s the soil was too cold. Even more so when you consider evaporative cooling. The temps here have been much cooler fhen normal, until this week, and my seeds have taken forever to germinate. I even soaked the beans for a few days longer then recommended and they took over a week to germinate.

This has been a strange spring.

Beans fix nitrogen in the soil, has to be there for them to soak it in. However, try adding a liquad iron, or the sulpur that does the same job. It may help balance the nutrients some, and water a bit more there. Can test treat a chunk of the plants that way if you have any doubts.

Thanks for your responses, and apologies for not getting back here sooner.

I went out and bought a soil test kit and have only had time to do one test. It actually said that the pH is 7.5 (or higher). Which means it's too alkaline. So what can I do for a quick remedy? Is there an acid foliar spray that will quickly correct the problem?

I'll try to do another test in the next few days just to make sure I get the same results.

My soil is at least that alkaline but I've never considered it a problem. I grow everything in very alkaline soil. I still think it's a N issue.

Ph isnt nutrients, wont affect bloom. Adjust nutrition. onions depend on different additives depending on what nutrtion you start with.

Ph can effect how nutrients are absorbed but it seems as tho both beds would have the same PH but onion fertilizer would make one bed's N and P levels very different . From what I can find 7.5 is still considered neutral.

Could be heat. More sun? Wants it cooler? They do stall blooms at diff temps...

Then why would the beans in the other area be doing ok?