Beans wilting and dying suddenly?

[Islandboy]

Well I seem to have this problem with both my bush beans, and my pole beans. Basically I started the seedlings in biodegrable pots because they wouldn't germinate straight from the garden. So its been about 3 weeks and everything was looking fine- the pole beans were climbing nicely up the fence, and the bush beans were starting slow but starting to catch. I did have some problems with small caterpillars curling the edges of the leaves on both sets of plants, but I mostly picked those off by hand. I also sprayed some diluted soapy water on the leaves twice, about 7 days in between treatments, since I didn't want to use anything like Sevin dust on them.

So about 7 days ago I realized the leaves on one of my pole bean plants was wilting, and the other beans in the row were fine. So I gave it some water and left it for the day, after inspecting the stem, leaves, and base for insects or damage. Then I come back the next day and its looking worse, and I eventually pull it out of the ground a day later. I thought maybe it was verticillium wilt, but it seems you only get that in cooler soils so it doesnt really make sense, and there wasn't any other signs on the plant like brown splotches. I did look at the base of the plant after I pulled it out of the ground, and it seemed like the stem was cracked open and hollow inside, with brown interior walls, but no signs of an insect that would've bored in there.

Then about 3 days ago one of my bush bean plants started to do the same thing. This time I thought maybe there was too much growth for the plant to handle, so I pinched 2 pieces of new growth to try and save it, but it didn't do any good. When I pulled this one out of the ground today there was no stem breakage, but the outer skin on the base of the plant was sort of rubbing right off. Basically I could rub all the green off the stem very easily, but only where the stem was at ground level.

SO I'm pretty much lost. I was pretty mad to lose the 2 plants, from 2 seperate sections of the garden for the same unknown reason so I applied some Sevin dust reluctantly and snail killer for the seedlings I just put in. I put toothpicks at the base of the plant to hinder a snail/slug/cutworm attack but they've gotten around them a few times.

I'm just pretty mad because there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut reason why they're dying, and I spend a lot of time each day trying to keep the garden in top-shape. If anyone has any advice I'm all ears.


Oh yea, and sorry for the long post. I can take some pics if it'll help.

[Lesley Jay]

IslandBoy, brown streaking inside the stem is a sympton of Fusarium Wilt which is more prevalent in warm climates. What colour were the roots of the plant you pulled up?

[Islandboy]

Originally Posted by Lesley Jay

IslandBoy, brown streaking inside the stem is a sympton of Fusarium Wilt which is more prevalent in warm climates. What colour were the roots of the plant you pulled up?

Tell you the truth I didn't really look at the roots that closely. I mostly looked at them to see if there was any insects caught up inside them or if there was any signs of insect damage.

Unfortunately however, I think I'm about to lose another bush bean plant. I took some pictures today so you guys can take a look. Thanks for the advice on Fusarium wilt, I had never heard of that in any of the books I was reading. I was looking in "The Southern Living Garden Book" at some of the typical diseases, and was thinking maybe it was Southern Blight but I'm not sure. After looking up some info on the internet it seems like that might be the problem- especially the symptoms they listed:

Usually the first symptom noticed is the yellowing and wilting of lower leaves. Leaves will also die back from the tips down and very succulent stems will fall over.

I don't really have a lot of browning of the leaves, but the succulent stems are very limp. I should also note that I gave the plants some slow release fertilizer about 10 days ago. It was some Scotts brand vegetable and flower garden slow release granule.

The thing that really annoys me is that the beans are just flowering so its like the worst time for them to die suddenly. Also, the last bush bean that died was the 4th one in the row, the one that's dying now is the 1st one in the row, so its pretty wierd.

Anyways, here's some of the pictures of the bush bean that I'm pretty sure is on the way out:

Plant on the chopping block:


Close-up:


Close up of stem/base (notice brown coloring)


Stem of Healthy plant right next to it:

[Lesley Jay]

Southern blight starts with yellowing of the leaves and there should be a white fungus growth on the lower stem. So I don't think it is Southern blight. The brown discolouration on the lower stem looks like some sort of rot - could it be foot rot?

[Islandboy]

Originally Posted by Lesley Jay

Southern blight starts with yellowing of the leaves and there should be a white fungus growth on the lower stem. So I don't think it is Southern blight. The brown discolouration on the lower stem looks like some sort of rot - could it be foot rot?

Thanks for the help but I can't figure it out Lesley. The soil I have is mostly sandy, the thing is, it dries up quickly, but the water doesn't drain into the soil that quickly when I'm watering. So I try to give it a good watering because I know how quickly it dries up, but the water pools in some areas and takes about 25 seconds to drain, unlike what you would expect in a sandy soil.

Anyways, I pulled out the last plant and took some more pictures. This plant doesn't show any damage at all except for the brown stem so I'm at a loss. I planted some beans in one of the container gardens we have so I'll see how that works, and I have a good supply of young plants growing now, so I'm hoping for the best.

The only other thing other things worth noting are that:

There's some ants in my garden, you can see them walking on the cucumbers (which are growing beautifully) and at the base of some of the plants, but there were no large numbers in the soil when I pulled out the last plant.

The beans that are dying are the blue lake bush beans. And in the last 4 days we've had some heavy rains. Rain that was smashing the ground and causing the soil particles to go flying all over the leaves and stems of the plants. I gently wiped off the dirt from the stems of the other plants just incase that might be causing a problem. (noticed in one article about preventing blight that they said not to throw soil around the plants)

Looking worse (Over watered this plant when I saw the wilting as you can see):



Close-up on roots:


Close-up on stem:


Stem I tore open near the roots:

[Islandboy]

Lost another bush bean today. Lol, I just don't get it, never seen anything like this before. This one was in-between 2 pole bean plants that are growing perfectly.

Maybe its too hot for them?

Maybe the ants are doing something?

Maybe there's something else doing something to them, this plant today had the same brown stem. Almost like something is eating the outer skin of the stem/base, it was kind of scraped off and shredded with the same brown stem showing underneath.

When I split the stem on this one open, the whole inside was white and fuzzy. I don't know if thats what its supposed to look like but it did.

Anyways, I started some in a container garden and might look to plant a different variety. This one was also flowering so it sucks.

[Islandboy]

Looking up some more on the internet, I'm wondering if anyone thinks it may be White Mold (Sclerotinia Rot). They say it appears mostly when the plant is flowering and can damage the base of the stems like I've seen.

The only thing I didn't notice was the black nodules that are affiliated with Sclerotinia Rot. Maybe I'm just pulling out the plants before the mold really builds and before the black sclerotia develop.

[Lesley Jay]

It could very well be Sclerotinia but there are other rots that affect bean plants that have the same appearance as the stems in your photo's. (Hours on net searching yesterday!)

Different sites give slightly different symptons for Sclerotina. The white mould at the base of the stem, which is where the name white mould comes from, is caused by wet weather or hot humid weather. As the disease progresses the stem has a shredded appearance which is your description of the stems. Another site says it is a soft, wet rot. Another that the sclerotia start off white and turn black as the disease developes which could be why you couldn't see them. But your plants don't have mould at the base of the stems.

Rather than pulling the plants out so quickly I would leave some in the ground so that what ever disease it is can develope properly because I think that is the only way to diagnose this correctly.

[jamesmiddz]

A similiar thing happened to me a year or two ago. I put it down to Sclerotinia. If you get any form of infection of any vegetable, the best advice is to remove the plant and burn or dispose of it. Don't put it on the compost heap. Next year, make sure that you don't plant the same kind of plant in the same spot as this may encourage the infection to start again.

I sure you know all of this, but I thought I'd mention it to help others that might not know so much about vegetable growing.

[Lesley Jay]

I totally agree with you James. Removing and burning diseased vegetable plants is something I have always done. If it is Sclerotinia that is affecting IslandBoy's beans then the recommended time not to grow beans in that spot again is 8 years. That is a long time! So diagnosing Sclerotinia is important and the reason why I suggested leaving the plants in the ground longer to see if the Sclerotia develope. If that makes sense!

[Islandboy]

Cool thanks guys. Yea, I guess I just figured if it was a fungus or soil borne disease, that the longer I left the plants in there, the more it would spread. I put some sevin dust on the stems of the other good plants the other day and so far the other beans have been ok. I don't like using sevin dust or any of that stuff, but the cutworms have been cutting down plants like lumberjacks, and the catterpillars were curling up 30% of the leaves, and well I figured it was better than losing a few more bean plants.

I read that you can plant grasses, grain, or corn in those spots because they're immune to sclerotonia so maybe I'll give that a try next time around, or maybe in the summer.

By the way, what do you guys use to keep the weeds out of your garden in the off-season? I've been using a weed barrier cloth and some tarps, but sometimes the weeds still grow through, or under that, and its always blowing around. I was thinking a canvas material would work but would probably be pretty expensive.

[RhondaRae]

I am having the SAME problem. I have bush beans in three different locations in my yard and they are all being affected. It happened very suddenly, just as you described, and my plants look just like the photos you posted. I have grown beans many times before, but have never had this problem.