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bacterial blight on scarlet runner beans

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Melissa

Guest
Fellow gardeners,

I have a pot a square foot in size, with a pyramid trellis for the vines to climb. I use a wicking watering sytem that keeps the soil slightly moist. The temperatures here are regularly between 80 and 90 during the day, and will get as low as 60 at night. The eveining tempatures are going to start to come up some as we move into summer, and I could get as high as 115 during the day off and on. I am in Sacremento, CA. The vines get sun for a good part of the day. They are on a deck.

What I am having happen is as the leaves age they are drying up and falling. The young leaves on, the ends of the vines are green, and I am getting flowers, although I have gotten no beans. The bottom of the vines have no leaves on them now, and quite a lot of some of the vines are mostly brown, dry leaves. I do see that some of the leaves have spots of brown.
I have determined this to be a bacterial blight. If anyone has any other idea, I would love to hear it. This type of blight means I will be pulling them all out of the pot. I will need to find something else for this pot I am guessing.


Melissa
http://smallspacegardening.info/?p=601
 
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Slowngreen

Guest
I read via a google search that a guy had blight on his green beans and had luck clearing it up with copper fungicide, which you should beable to get a spray bottle of for under $10 at your local homedepot/lowes/gardening center.
 
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Melissa

Guest
That is very worth looking into. Although I tend to not want to put anything 'ON' the plants if it will harm the bees and humming birds. I will look into this option. Thank you.
 
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Slowngreen

Guest
I agree. I always "try" to stay as natural with plants and crops as possible but unfortunately that also allows everything to grow, which can really damper what your wanting to be the most abundant.

Wonder if Viniger would do anything? It works as a weed killer some times.
 
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Melissa

Guest
I made some calls today to the local nurseries. The recommendation I was given was to pull them all. It seems that the blight has gotten so bad that really nothing will fix it. The seeds are the culprit. It seems the ones I purchased had the bacteria in them. I am not likely to get rid of this bacteria until I clear all the dead leaves, and replace the soil. So I have pulled the vines, and have started clearing the pot. I do have another vine in that pot, so I am deciding if I will move it, or keep it in the pot and just get some clean soil.
 
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the1honeycomb

Guest
Good luck with the vine I would inform the seller of those beans maybe get your money back and let us know who you got them from so we aren't buying sick beans! You may want to get some DE and mix it with your soil it may help rid the remaining soil of the bacteria and it isn't harmful to animals
 
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Melissa

Guest
I have been in contact with Renee's Garden, where I got the seeds for the scarlet runner beans. They are going to send me some seeds to make up for the issue. I rather seeds then a refund, which was offered.

The biggest concern was that the supplier may have had blight. They are going to research the inspections on the seeds from their grower. It is of a low probability that the blight came from the grower.

We have been looking into other options for how this got to my container. It is possible that it came as and air born issue, carried on the wind from a neighbor. It is not particularly likely though, as I am one of the few gardens of any kind in the area. No one really plants on the decks, and the few neighborhoods with 'homes' are pretty far away.

Another option is I got contaminated soil. I spent some time thinking about this. I think this is the likely culprit. One of the bags of soil we used on this deck was a no name brand, that I recall had some spots of a light gray dry dust, that could have been a mold. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Now I believe I should have.

I am very happy with Renee's Garden's response. I even received one of the e-mails today on a holiday!!!! They have been very upfront about the suppliers and inspection process of seeds. I am feeling pretty confidant that they are not one of the possible reasons for this blight.

I think if I have beans again it will be in a new pot, new soil, and not even out on the deck. I have a front door that has room next it for a lovely pot with plants. I think that will be the next project.:)
 
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