Crazy Beans!

On March 27, 2013, I planted two rows of “French Filet” beans and two rows of pinto beans separated by a row of tomatoes. I had never planted pintos before, and the package stated that they were “Indeterminate large bush type pinto.” The green bean seed packet prominently states “Bush, A Favorite of Chefs.”

We had the luxury this year of a cool, rainy spring—not a normal phenomenon in the Texas hill country. All of the beans quickly sprouted and produced beautiful, full plants. The problem is that they have not stopped growing. The four-foot by eight-foot raised bed in which these beans are planted has no fence or trellis for them to run so we placed several tall tomato cages in the bed. They covered the cages is just a week.  Next, we tied string from a neighboring lima bean bed that has a trellis and let the beans grow from one bed to another. The problem is that their prolific growth is blocking the lima beans’ sunlight. Next, we clipped the ends of the runners in hopes that they would stop their vining behavior. They are still growing. In fact, many of the runners are more than twenty-five feet long.

I contacted both seed companies and their respective customer service representatives were gracious and polite and immediately offered to replace the seeds. Neither offered an explanation of why these seeds produced vining plants.

We don’t use chemical fertilizers--our soil is amended with compost. In addition, we spread a mulch of used chicken litter under the plants. We have sprayed the plants with liquid seaweed and both of the bean varieties are producing. The green beans’ production has slowed somewhat with our hot, dry climate, but it has been rainy lately

and there are plenty of blossoms on both the pintos and the green beans. The pintos are producing clusters of large pods.

If any of you have experienced a similar problem with your beans, please let us know. We are completely befuddled.