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Rust on green beans #672054
Asked August 02, 2020, 9:26 PM EDT
County Minnesota
Expert Response
Thanks for the question.
As you probably know, bean rust is a serious fungal disease. The involved organism is something called Uromyces appendiculatus. The disease potentially could take over your entire bean patch. For sure, any affected pods and leaves should be removed ASAP, placed in a plastic bag, and discarded in the trash. Application of fungicide should be started immediately. Recognize that fungicide will not kill the fungus that is currently growing. It will prevent existing fungal spores from germinating, thus slowly spreading
One of the issues you will need to face is that no eating should be done of beans showing rust. If the rust has sufficiently progressed, other deleterious organisms could have entered the beans. The problem is that beans may be infected by the rust but does not yet show visible signs of the infection. These beans also should not be eaten. Moreover, if you do apply fungicide to your beans, you will need to read the application label to see if the fungicide can be used on edible food. In short, the possibility exists that you may need to remove your entire bean patch. If you decide to do this, you will need to bag and discard in the trash all plant material. Especially clean up any foliage that may be lying on the ground. Also, you should in 2021 plant beans in a location well removed from your current one. During the winter, fungal spores exist in the soil and dead plant material. In the following spring, spores can be carried by the wind to nearby beans.
Considering these consequences, it will be very important for you to be sure that your plants have bean rust. In the following publication, scroll down to where bean rust is discussed. Please look at the pictures and compare to what you are seeing in your beans to be sure that you are dealing with bean rust:
http://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/vegetable/snapbean/podspots.html
If you do plant beans in 2021, be sure to use seeds that are indicated to be resistant to bean rust.
The following should provide you with additional information on these and related points:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/beans/rust-fungus-on-beans.htm
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/rid-rust-beans-28584.html
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/bean-rust
http://ipm.uconn.edu/documents/raw2/Bean%20Rust/Bean%20Rust.php?aid=114
Good Luck!!