What to Do About Broad Bean Flower and Pod Drop? Cause Analysis and Control Measures

Broad bean, also called nandou or fodou, is a crop that serves as a vegetable, a food grain, and a green manure feed, and it is widely planted in many regions. However, during cultivation, a large amount of flower and pod drop occurs, which affects the yield of broad beans and also has a certain impact on farmers' income. To achieve a high yield of broad beans, flower and pod drop must be solved. Let's take a look at the detailed introduction below from Qinnong.com.

1. Causes of flower and pod drop

Climatic factors: During the flowering and pod-setting period of broad beans, if cloudy and rainy weather occurs, it will lead to poor pollen development or directly affect pollination, resulting in flower and pod drop.

Insufficient nutrition: During the growth of broad beans, insufficient nutrition, such as a lack of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and boron and other elements, or applying excessive nitrogen fertilizer during fertilization, can all lead to flower and pod drop.

Waterlogged soil: During planting, too much water accumulation in the soil or relatively high humidity will lead to poor soil permeability, blocked root growth, and a lack of oxygen, so nutrients and water cannot be transported normally. Over time, flower and pod drop will occur, and even normal plants may die.

Excessive vegetative growth: When plants show excessive vegetative growth, with tall stems and dense leaves, ventilation and light penetration become extremely poor, causing flower and pod drop.

Diseases and insect pests: Many diseases and insect pests of broad beans can cause flower and pod drop. For example, diseases include rust, red blight, and wilt, while insect pests include aphids.

2. Control measures

In response to the above causes of flower and pod drop in broad beans, we need to "prescribe the right medicine" and adopt the best control measures.

Rational fertilization: Broad beans need different nutrients at each growth stage. Before growth, nitrogen fertilizer is the main type; in the middle growth stage, apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizer as a top dressing to improve disease resistance; at the budding and flowering stage, according to the plant's growth condition, appropriately spray foliar fertilizer; and at the pod-setting stage, supplement boron fertilizer to increase yield.

Drainage and waterlogging prevention: During planting, drainage and waterlogging prevention measures should be well implemented, especially in rainy seasons. Ditches should be dug in time to drain water, lower the groundwater level and soil humidity, and ensure normal root growth of the plants.

Pruning and topping: When plants show excessive vegetative growth, prune and top them in time. Especially during the flowering and pod-setting stages, cut off some empty branches with no flowers or pods, frost-damaged branches, diseased branches, and some weak small branches to improve ventilation and light penetration of the plants. In addition, topping means cutting off the tender young stems and leaves at the top of the plant, which can control plant height and reduce nutrient consumption.

Disease and insect pest control: The main diseases causing broad bean disease are rust, red blight, and wilt. They can be controlled by spraying 60% thiophanate wettable powder 600-fold solution, 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder 800-fold solution, and 40% hekuling wettable powder 1000-fold solution respectively. Insect pests can also be controlled with insecticides.

The above are the causes of flower and pod drop in broad beans and the control measures brought to you by Qinnong.com. We hope it can help you. To learn more about broad bean cultivation knowledge, please keep following Qinnong.com.