A bad year for beans. Rampant Mexican bean beetles. I left 2 full beds of my plot for beans this year, but am pulling faster than I plant. Time to give up. I pulled the last of my snap beans today. The photo is my shell beans. I’m tired of spraying and squishing the beetles, so these will probably be pulled soon. 🙁
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Kathy, I feel your pain! I've had a horrible year for beans too, which is a shame since it's been so warm and sunny. I'm sure my edamame would have done great too if it had not been for the chipmunks and field mice. Next year, they will be grown under bird netting (if that even helps).
What worked for us in Maryland is planting a later crop. The earlier one was destroyed completely. Once it was a lost cause, we let it go got rid of all the leaves and debris, waited a few weeks and planted again, so far so good. Next year I'm buying predatory insects and nematodes.
This is from UMass: http://www.umassvegetable.org/soil_crop_pest_mgt/insect_mgt/bean_mexican_beetle.html.
Anna in MD
Me too! My Royal Burgundy beans were enjoyed by the grasshoppers! They totally defoliated them so that all you could see where stems and branches.
I ripped them out the other day…