Are you one of those who love gardening and have sown green beans in your garden?
Many of us are trying our best to inculcate the habit of growing vegetables in our gardens (some in greenhouses). Fortunately, people all around the world are now becoming increasingly aware of the importance of homegrown, organic vegetables. However, just the interest and love for gardening isn’t going to be sufficient enough, as there is a lot of knowledge to be gathered along with it. One such thing is to know what causes the green and flourishing plants to turn yellow. This is a common problem when you grow green beans in your garden.
The most important factors which are probably turning your green bean plants yellow are improper amounts of sunlight, water, and nutrients.
Top 5 Things to Know if Your Green Beans are Turning Yellow
If you own a garden where you grow vegetables and flower plants, green bean plants are worth a try. Given their immense popularity among the mass and their nutritional value, you are probably growing them anyway. But are you noticing that your green bean plants are turning yellow? Let’s have a quick look at the reasons.
1. Your Plants Might not be Getting the Proper Amount of Water
You may think that plants may turn yellow if they do not receive enough water. But you shall be equally surprised to know that if you give more water than required, then also your beans can be discolored. This is because while less water disables the plants from absorbing nutrients properly, even overwatering can suffocate the beans plants and can eventually discolor them.
Hence, it is recommended to check the quality of the soil and account for the weather in your region. Also, be aware of the amount of rainfall that your plants are receiving anyway, and adjust the amount of water accordingly.
2. The Amount of Sunlight is Tampering with the Natural Growth of Your Green Beans
All of us know that water and sunlight are two of the most crucial ingredients that help plants in photosynthesis. Many times, the amount of sunlight becomes an important factor in the overall growth of your plants.
It is essential to remember that the amount of sunlight should be adequate and well-balanced. Too much direct sunlight may burn your plants, while lack of sunlight can also kill your plants.
In general, green beans grow well in warm seasons, requiring about 7 hours of direct sunlight. Hence, if your garden does not receive sunlight for that duration, green beans may not be the right choice. On the other hand, if your green beans are receiving too much direct sunlight, you need to cover them to get the desired results.
3. Your Green Bean Plants are not Getting Proper Nutrition
Lack of proper nutrition can be a major factor that quickly turns your beans yellow. One of the easiest ways to ascertain if that is the case is to notice the condition of the leaves. If your plants’ veins (leaves) remain green while the rest of the leaves turn yellow, your green beans are lacking in nutrition. In this case, you need to ensure a more balanced diet for your green bean plants.
Your bean plants need fertilizers to stay alive and grow well, and in this case, you will need to add fertilizers to the soil. Remember that the quantity of fertilizer that needs to be added depends on the soil quality in which you have planted your beans. The soil used to plant the beans needs to be rich in nitrogen to support the healthy growth of beans. Also, adding too much fertilizer can harm your plants and gradually burn them, discoloring them and turning them yellow.
4. The Roots of Your Green Bean Plants Have Been Damaged
Many factors can affect the roots of your green beans. For instance, if you have planted them in a small container, and your green bean plants have outgrown the size of the container, the roots do not have sufficient space, and the damaged roots can cause your beans to turn yellow. This happens as the roots cannot fulfill the growing demand for water and nutrients from the soil.
There is a solution to this problem. Just replant your beans in some bigger pot with good amount of potting soil, where the roots can grow and function properly. If possible, you can also plant them directly into the soil. In this case, remember that good aeration is essential for the healthy growth of the leaves. Besides, your plants may also suffer from some diseases like root rot, which harms their roots. You need to administer certain chemicals to deal with this kind of situation.
Also Read: Potting Soil vs. Garden Soil: What’s the Difference?
5. Your Green Beans Have Been Affected by a Bacterial or Viral Infection
Just like humans, bacteria and viruses can affect plants as well. So, apart from dry and yellow leaves, if you find wet lesions in your green bean plants, be sure that they have been affected by some bacterial infection, which mostly spreads through moisture. In bacterial infection, even the new leaves and pods will wither.
In such cases, you need to destroy the affected plants as soon as possible. On the other hand, if your green bean plants have been affected by some viral disease, they can also turn yellow. This is because green beans are particularly susceptible to mosaic viruses, which are carried by aphids and are thus transmitted from one plant to another. This is a serious problem, and your green beans can soon die.
There is no treatment, and you should try to uproot and kill the plant to stop the virus from spreading further. The silver lining is these days. There are disease-resistant variations of green beans, which you can plant.
Possible Ways Of Dealing With The Yellowing Of Green Bean Leaves
Since we are now aware of the probable reasons for making your beans yellow, let us also look at the solutions to fix these problems. While some solutions are easy and can be followed to get instant results, others are rather time-consuming and may take time to show results.
Maintain an Apt Watering Schedule
Although you can’t do much about the sunlight, you can work on the watering schedule of your green bean plants. In general, green beans need around two inches of water every week to thrive well.
If your soil retains moisture, you need to water less than usual. You may even abstain from watering your green bean plants for a few days. While on the other hand, if your soil is comparatively dry, you need to water more. Depending on the nature of your soil, fix your watering schedule, and your green beans will remain green.
Add Nitrogen-Rich Fertilizers to the Soil
Green beans grow well in soil that is rich in nitrogen. If your soil has poor nitrogen content, it is bound to affect the growth of green bean plants. Hence, you need to add nitrogen-rich fertilizers to the soil. While doing so, please ensure that the fertilizer is put evenly over the field and around the drip line.
After spreading the fertilizer, water it well and ensure that it percolates well into the soil.
Please remember that adding fertilizers cannot restore the color of the yellowed beans and the leaves, but it will ensure that new leaves and the beans follow soon, and they turn out to be green, as beans ought to be.
Chemical Treatment, Uprooting and Destroying the Affected Plants
Green bean plants can both be affected by bacteria and viruses. If you can identify the same, you can also deal with the situation. If your plants are suffering from some bacterial infections, you can apply some chemical treatment, but if some viral disease has infected your green beans, you do not have any steady remedy.
The best solution is to uproot the infected plants and destroy them.
Please remember that in both these cases, segregating the infected plants should be your priority. Irrespective of the availability of any medicinal or chemical solutions, you should try to contain the spread of these diseases from one plant to another.
Replanting Your Green Beans in a Larger Area
As mentioned, if you have planted your green beans in a small space, it is probably damaging the roots of the plants. In this case, you need to replant them in larger pots or, if possible, in the ground itself. This will give more space to the roots as they will be able to spread themselves and supply the required amount of water and nutrients from the soil, which will aid your plants in photosynthesis, and the beans will remain green.
Sometimes, pruning of the roots can have some added advantages. Before replanting, you can prune the roots of your damaged green bean plants, but you will have to identify the damaged roots first. It is not a difficult task, as rotten roots are darker and are often accompanied by a foul smell, while the healthy roots are pale and whitish in appearance.
Concluding Remarks
Growing your green bean plants can be fun, but like any other plants, they are also susceptible to factors that can eventually damage them and make the beans grow yellow. The probable reasons include:
- Poor soil quality.
- Inadequate amount of water and sunlight.
- Some bacterial or viral diseases.
But depending on the reason, you can choose the solution which will deal with these problems and enable you to have green beans.
