Curse of the Phantom Broad Bean Muncher

[Colin_M]

I started my broad beans in the greenhouse, then planted them out when they were about 4 inches high. I have two rows - one that's been out since January and a more recent setplanted out 2 weeks ago (under a fleece tunnel to get them started). During the last week, it was pretty windy in Bristol for a couple of days (but not as bad as some people had).

I checked last night and found my fleece tunnel in shreds (with some of the wire hoops completely out of the ground). However what puzzled me was that several of the young bean plants had either been completely uprooted or cut off at the stem with the tops lying on the ground.

At this stage of development, they still have the "pod" attached and a few of these were still lying on the ground.

Interestingly, the older beans look completely untouched. Also, not all the newer beans were affected - just some part way down the tunnel.

Any suggestions as to the cause? And any remedies!

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've found exactly the same thing in the greenhouse on our allotment this morning. The larger plants were left alone but the smaller ones had just been eaten off. I suspect mice, and have raised the trays off the ground. I've not come across this on ones planted outside though so it is a bit puzzling. I thought they may have eaten off the shoots to get at the bean.

[Monika]

I too think it's mice. They go for the bean seed and thereby bite through the plant stem. I wonder if it would help to wait till the bean seed is 'redundant' and take it off before planting out the seedlings? Just a thought. My broad beans aren't nearly at that stage for this year, but I have certainly had this problem in past years.

[Colin_M]

That's certainly an idea.

Some of the ones planted earlier have no pod attached. However some of the new ones that didn't get attacked did have pods still attached.

In addition, there were quite a few pods left on the ground detached from the seedlings, but with no obvious signs of munching.

Guess if it was mice they either got disturbed or got so stuffed they couldn't eat any more

[Johnboy]

Hi Colin,
I too think that it is Mice. They can smell the food contained in the cotyledon and for this reason I plant in 7cm square pots and grow on until that food source is virtually expended which means the plants are best part 6" tall when planted out.
I dread to think how many Field Mice we have hereabouts as it is impossible to sow anything direct. In 7cm pots the plants seem to get a little pot bound but apparently this does not appear to affect the end results. When planted out they grow away very fast and I generally get a super abundance of beans.
JB.

[Colin_M]

I plant in 7cm square pots and grow on until that food source is virtually expended which means the plants are best part 6" tall when planted out.

Thanks again JB. Now here's a dillema:

I'm planting some of Mandy's Telegraph Peas out this afternoon. They have been raised in Roottrainers and the tops are over 8" tall (I'm reluctant to leave them any longer, as they're starting to intertwine). However each plant still has it cotyledon attached at the base.

From what you've said, there's a risk these will get snaffled too. Sounds like I should try to remove the pod, as they have a pretty good root system by now. Is that the recommended approach, or should you always wait until the pod drops off?

No sign of it happening yet with these ones!

[King Carrot]

This exact same thing happened to me last weekend with peas, my fleece blew off and most of the peas were severed and laying around - in some cases they were a foot away in the broad beans which were also under the same fleece though they are all above ground by about 1"-2" and totally untouched. As a section of the fleece around 8ft long had stayed on towards one end and the peas furthest along the enclosed fleece were untouched in any way I think it was birds thinking they had found a worm fest - I think mice would have gone all the way along - I'm talking about 300 peas pulled up from 500. I dug down to a few of the peas and they are still there with a root system so I'm hoping the majority will resprout.

Next time I'm thinking of using chicken wire under the fleece to protect against this.

KC

[Colin_M]

Just as a follow-up, I had a go at removing the seed pod from my Telegraph peas. It was a pretty intricate operation (the pod doesn't just pull away and had to be cut). I managed to achieve what the mice would otherwise have done on several of them

I'm still waiting for advice on whether any of the rest of you bother doing this. In the meantime, I left an initial set outside to see if they wilted or seemed to have suffered. After a few days they seemed the same as the others, so we've repeated the operation on the rest and they're all in the ground.

In case you're wondering why we bothered, we haven't had to do this on other varieties (eg. Feltham). The pods fell off these whilst I was starting them in the greenhouse. It's just that the Telegraph ones had got a lot taller without losing theirs and there was a risk they'd have become a tangled mess if left for nature to take its course.

Any other advice would be welcome!

[Primrose]

I wonder if putting your pea or bean seed trays inside very large clear polythene bags and folding the top of the bag underneath the seed trays would prevent the mice getting at them. I know mice might nibble though the polythene but it might make access more difficult. (The little perishers even got inside my car bonnet in the garage once and built a nest of shredded polythene inside my car ventilation system. I only realised when shredded polythene & nibbled peanuts came flying out of the warm air duct. It cost me a fortune to have the dashboard removed and the wiring sorted).

[Primrose]

I wonder if putting your pea or bean seed trays inside very large clear polythene bags and folding the top of the bag underneath the seed trays would prevent the mice getting at them. I know mice might nibble though the polythene but it might make access more difficult. (The little perishers even got inside my car bonnet in the garage once and built a nest of shredded polythene inside my car ventilation system. I only realised when shredded polythene & nibbled peanuts came flying out of the warm air duct. It cost me a fortune to have the dashboard removed and the wiring sorted).

[lez]

Hello all
I had this with peas last year on my plot and it took a while to idetify the cause but indeed turned out to mice nesting in a nearby compost bin. An old boy who gardened near me on a previous plot used to knock the bean of the plant when he transplanted and had no problems with mice digging them up.
cheers now

[Colin_M]

I wonder if putting your pea or bean seed trays inside very large clear polythene bags and folding the top of the bag underneath the seed trays would prevent the mice getting at them.

Don't know if this was a reply to my original message but my beans & peas were fine whilst in the greenhouse. It was only when they were planted out that they sucumbed.

The Telegraph peas that I de-podded have all survived, in case anyone else needs to try that.

[Primrose]

Colin - enjoyed the photos on your website, particularly the mangel worzels. I don't think I've ever actually seen one or eaten one. I always thought they belonged to the swede family and were fed mainly to cattle, but perhaps a lot of people eat them too. What do they taste like? Like swedes?

[Sarah]

Just wondered if it could be pigeons? I have to cover evrything with wire mesh when newly planted out, as the pigeons peck anything and everything to death otherwise. Once the plants are bigger they don't bother. Just a thought.

[Colin_M]

Just wondered if it could be pigeons? I have to cover evrything

If this is a suggestion for my ones, they were under fleece tunnels when the got lopped off, so the mice are probably the culprits!