Rusty broadbeans
 

On Sep 2, 7:46 pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,"Cat( h)" writes:

|
| I harvested the last of my broadbeans yesterday, and the plants -
| which I lifted - are covered in rust. Someone posted about this
| recently, and was advised to burn or bury.

Totally unnecessary.

| Just a question: will the rust communicate to other things? Would it
| survive composting?

No, and perhaps, but that isn't the right question. That rust is
ubiquitous in the UK, and my guess is that it overwinters on some
of the native vetches. Also, I believe that it is transmitted via
wind-blown spores and not the soil. So you don't have a hope in
hell of keeping it out of your garden, and composting the material
won't make any significant difference.

The good news is that it normally affects beans only late in their
life, doesn't affect the crop, and is only serious in freak years.
So just ignore it. And that applies to composting rusted beans;
I ahev done it for decades.

Interestingly enough, this also applies to potato/tomato blight,
though it IS worth ensuring that you don't let any wilding potatoes
grow.


Thanks for that. I love it when I get just the advice I want to
hear ;-)... Especially seen as my pile of plucked up spent broadbean
plants is piled high in a corner, and that I won't have a hope of
doing anything with them until 2 week ends from now. I'll let it wilt
till it fits in my compost bin (and till my compost bin filling level
settles down).


Cat(h)