They still might make a comeback and do well in the fall. Usually, as long as they survive the summer, they do produce in fall. Much probably depends on how bad the spider mite infestation becomes. It is too hot. Unofficially 104 here for the third day in a row, so that means probably 101-102 at our Mesonet nation. I haven't checked the Mesonet maps the last few hours, but we usually are at least 2 or 3 degrees hotter than our station. Our highest heat index, the last time I checked, was 108. It is too hot to do anything. If you take them out, what would you grow in their place? Something you'd like better?

There are melons and okra in the south side of the bed. The pole beans are on the north edge. Somehow that spot always seems hotter than the rest of the garden. I think the bunny likes that bed, so probably not a good idea to put seeds or tender plants there. I will leave them for now. I wish I could do something to give them a boost.

Amy, last year I planted KW pole beans and they drowned in May. Then I planted some others that nearly drowned in June. Then they all started growing--even some of the ones from May--I think. Then it got hot and they didn't make beans, but once it cooled off in September they started producing. So...maybe yours have a chance.

I just planted some Kentucky Wonder pole beans so they'll be ready when the weather cools off. They're sprouting nicely. Maybe grab some seeds and plant fresh?

Amy, To give them a boost, feed them a gentle, organic liquid fertilizer that you can spray right on the leaves. I'd use something like liquid fish, liquid seaweed or alfalfa tea (you make it the same way you make compost tea, but just use alfalfa instead). I use plain alfalfa animal feed (with nothing added), placed inside a knee-high stocking tied closed at the top, as a 'tea bag'. Soak the alfalfa (or you use use compost for compost tea) in a bucket of water for a few hours. You can apply as a foliar spray or a soil drench or both. One of my favorite organic plant foods is Neptune's Harvest because it contains both liquid seaweed and liquid fish and plants respond really well to it. None of the organic fertilizers are going to be so high in nitrogen that they'll push too much foliar growth and the expense of future beans.

I usually grow beans for fall from new plantings in July or August, but since our beans and southern peas produced so well this spring and summer (they got off to an early start since our last freeze was very early), I'm not growing any for this fall. The freezer has all the beans and southern peas it can hold, though I hope to cram in a few more quart bags this afternoon from the last of the harvest, and I've picked and processed all I care to process, other than the ones I'm going to finish up today. Most fall beans produce heavily in October. Hence, their old nickname amongst older gardeners, of "fall beans" (regardless of variety).

Today I hope to go out and remove the last of the lima bean plants from the trellis. It is too hot to stand and there and pick every last bean off each part of the plant as I cut and pull the vines off the trellis, so I'm going to bring the plants inside and pile them up on the breakfast room table and sit there and strip off the beans in the air-conditioned house. The downside is that I'll probably bring in a few pests on the plants, but I imagine the fly swatter, the scissors and I will manage to kill those pests that come indoors on the plant foliage.

I have childhood (and adulthood) memories of wheelbarrows full of bean plants being pushed up to the house so everyone could sit on the porch or backyard deck and harvest the beans and shell them. Why we sat out in the heat and did that is beyond me when it is so much cooler indoors!

I think you'll get a great bean harvest this fall. Any plant food you feed them, by the way, whether it is organic or synthetic in nature, will help the plants get through this heat wave. Normally, all you have to do to keep bean plants happy in high heat is water them and feed them a little. You do want to avoid anything too high in nitrogen as excess nitrogen tends to make plants more attractive to pests. Our spider mites here seem like they peaked on beans (bush beans) at the end of June and haven't hit the pole beans 1/10th as hard as they hit the bush beans. I do not know why.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn, I have a seaweed spray, fish emulsion and alfalfa cubes, so I will do something with those beans.

You're welcome!