 We've had several inches of rain the past few days
and leaves continue to turn yellow and fall from the plants. This
area of the field is probably in the best condition compared to
other areas of the field.
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 Here's an area on the west
side of the field that has lost nearly all leaves and most pods are
near their mature color (R8 stage). So, you can see that different
parts of the field may be better or worse than other parts. Why do
you suppose the plants in this area are more mature? That's a good
question. Well, the plants appear to be shorter, so my guess is the
soil in this area of the field may have a shallower top soil and it
may be more prone to drought stress; and it may have fewer nutrients
that plants require for optimal growth (a poorer soil). Do you have
any other ideas?
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 The difference from last
Friday is amazing! More pods are turning brown than last week. I'm
starting to notice that some stems are starting to turn brown and,
of course, there aren't as many leaves left on the plants.
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 Our first plant is almost completely defoliated
(lost all its leaves). The leaves that are still attached are
yellow. I don't think it will have any leaves when we look at it
next week. The pods are turning brown too.
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 Our
second plant is really maturing now. In fact, this plant has reached
the R8 stage, which means that 95% of the pods have reached their
mature color. Let's look closer at some of its pods.
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 This is a side view of our second plant. You can see
most of the pods have reached their mature color. There are some
pods that still have a greenish color and the stem is still green.
If this plant isn't at R8, it will be by the weekend. When I bite
the beans they are still a little spongy and chewy.
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