Old Homestead heirloom variety pole beans. Originally developed in Texas and supposed be a heat tolerant strain but I'm not believing it.
Twelve, 3-week old starts were planted May 6 and seeds for 12 more plants were put in the ground May 7. We started picking a lot of beans later in May but it started getting very hot. By June 7 we had picked over 20 pounds, mostly from the pre-starts which are the near end of the 25' row in the picture. The seed planted beans never started producing much. The hotter the summer heat, the worse the production. A pound once in a while now. The plants are still flowering well and are worked by the bees every day but only tiny beans and very few at this point. Vegetative growth is now slowing.
Question is, should I cut these plants way back and remove the masses of vegetation so they can regrow new foliage and vines for a fresh fall crop or just leave them be until cooler weather when they hopefully recover?
Thank you for advice,
DW
Twelve, 3-week old starts were planted May 6 and seeds for 12 more plants were put in the ground May 7. We started picking a lot of beans later in May but it started getting very hot. By June 7 we had picked over 20 pounds, mostly from the pre-starts which are the near end of the 25' row in the picture. The seed planted beans never started producing much. The hotter the summer heat, the worse the production. A pound once in a while now. The plants are still flowering well and are worked by the bees every day but only tiny beans and very few at this point. Vegetative growth is now slowing.
Question is, should I cut these plants way back and remove the masses of vegetation so they can regrow new foliage and vines for a fresh fall crop or just leave them be until cooler weather when they hopefully recover?
Thank you for advice,
DW