The breakdown is sometimes obscured by the unaffected, dry outer scale until a late stage, when shrinkage and the amber brown color become visible through the outer scale. The problem is associated with high temperatures near harvest time. Some waxy breakdown has been reported locally in 1998, presumably related to our elevated temperatures. Typically, we do not see much of this here. For home gardeners, after digging bulbs, drying bulbs in the shade rather than drying them in the sun will help avoid waxy breakdown.
Beans are highly susceptible to root rots associated with wet soils.
All beans are susceptible. We have seen a number of garbonzo bean fields in which plants developed upper plant wilt or died after the hot weather occurred. Most such plants had very poor and limited root systems, presumably associated with earlier activity of root rotting fungi during our very wet spring weather. Earlier in the season, vitality of nodules also may an indicator of soils that might be too wet. Several different fungi can attack under such conditions, and several may act together - rhizoctonia, fusarium and pythium all can be activive.