The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

Apparently, it's a problem with alkaline soil and beans. They can't get
Mn out of such a soil and a foliar spray of Mn is the only way. Anyone
know of a source of Mn for a spray? Or should I acidify the plot?

I would have thought that an impossibility. There is no acidic counterpart
to lime as far as I know.

When I was a anklebiter my father grew magnificent beans. He prepared
two trenches and filled them with good things: compost, hoof and horn,
bonemeal, dried blood etc, and grew beans on the same sites for many
years.

The ground there was quite alkaline, but I wouldn't think the trench
fillings were!

Since runner beans have few diseases or pests which attack them
seriously, you can grow them in the same spot until you need to enrich
the soil again.

I can't remember which one, but at least one fertiliser usable as a
foliar feed contains manganese. I used it on raspberries which were
similarly suffering.

I believe Baby Bio does - there may be a grown-up version.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm