Last year one of the few crops I actually got on my allotment (despite
successive floods) was broad beans. The crop was appalling; I didn't,
unfortunately, think to count how many beans developed, but it must have
been around 20-25%, with numerous large pods not having a single bean. This
was undoubtedly due to poor pollination, the only visible pollinators being
a few bumblebees. This was one of a number of factors which persuaded me to
take up beekeeping.
Regards,
Robert Brenchley
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