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My bean seedling have started getting puckery, wilting leaves. #833027
Asked May 31, 2023, 5:36 PM EDT
These seedlings are Jade bush beans. They sprouted 9 days ago, and everything seemed fine but, I noticed yesterday that one of them had weird crinkles in one of its leaves. Today, that leave is wilted and about half of the plants have puckered leaves. They're growing in a planter in full sun and I water them every day. I have a planter right next to them with Roma II bush beans, planted at the same time, that don't seem to be affected -- yet.
Is this something that will be fatal to the plants, or will it go away?
Is there any way to remedy it?
Will it spread to the other plants? Should I remove the affected plants to keep from contaminating the others?
I hate to lose any plants because I had very little space to plant them this year, so I don't have many, but I wanted to compare these two varieties to see which I want to grow in the future.
Thank you.
Josephine County Oregon
Expert Response
Thank you for your reply. These are not transplants. They were started from seed in this planter. I spaced them according to the recommendations for square foot gardening,, 4 inches apart in each direction, so there shouldn't be a problem with the container size.\
I did examine the plants thoroughly, and found no bugs, webs, or larva, but something does seem to be eating the leaves at night. I had toilet paper roll collars around them until yesterday, but the bugs were getting to them anyway. I don't think it's slugs because the planters are fairly tall and I'm not sure how slugs could get up there, but it could be earwigs. Will diatomaceous earth kill earwigs? I started sprinkling that over the soil and the plants yesterday, in the hopes that it might help.
Would the bugs be causing the leaves to pucker and wilt? I'm concerned that they might have a disease that could spread to my other beans. Should I remove the affected plants, or will they likely recover if I can get rid of the insects?
Thank you!
Thank you.