Kitchen Garden Forum

Just read on Steve Partridge's wonderful blog how he's about to pinch out the tips of his broad beans to fool the blackfly. How tall should the plants be to do that? Mine are about 3' tall or so, and they have loads of flowers on them. Is it the right time to pinch them out now? There's no blackfly on them - yet.

Hi Maz

Now's the time - especially before the blackfly arrive.
Wishing you success.

Alan

Hi Maz,
The tops that you pinch out make quite passable eating. I generally steam mine and use them as greens with anything. I find of all things they go quite nicely with fried bacon with a smattering of bacon fat over the greens.
I appreciate the fat is not so good for the cholesterol but then it's only once or twice a year.
JB.

broad beans flower up to a certain point. the tips eventually seem to go back to just producing green spindly leaf growth. you will see this in early sown crops. So pinching out tops does not effect overall yields.

For sown crops (late march say) its common for tops to still be growing out flowers when it gets attacked by black fly. So if one takes off tops then overall yield will be reduced.

In my experience, one can leave tops on plants right up to time of black fly atttack. just make sure you remove tops at this point. and crush any colonys feeding just below tops on stem.Burn the infested tops.

In my experience once you remove the tops, the black fly is not interested in re-infesting the rest of the plant after.

remember to remove the tops off the little secoundary stems that often develope. its important to remove all the tops!!