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06 Oct 15 Barry Coster (Australia - temperate climate)

My broad beans have leaf curl. I don't know what causes it or how to treat it ?

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12 Oct 15 Prometheus (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Hi Barry, I have had exactly the same problem this year (I am from Central Highlands of Victoria). It's hard to find any information about leaf curl on broad beans via the internet. I have noticed however that it's tended to affect my plants which were overseeded in smaller 25cm containers (most of my plants in larger containers don't have the curl). I suspect that the recent Spring heatwave (we had temps in the mid 30s) has something to do with it - broad beans do not tolerate temperatures above 23 degrees and will start to wilt and die off in the 30s. My diagnosis is probably the combination of unseasonal hot, dry weather and overcrowding is killing them off. This may be the same cause for you if you live in an area that experienced the heatwave. I think you can either leave them and see if they recover on their own, or (which is the course of action I will follow), cutting down the most badly affected plants and leaving some of the others to hopefully regenerate. All the best, P.

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