Deer and groundhogs are the most common bean eaters.

Also rabbis !

Can you detect any foot prints ?

Some of my pole beans were stripped of leaves leaving a single bare stem with a viable tip. They have recovered nicely.

I think I see deer tracks when I magnify the pic. It looks like deer damage. They love to eat the tops out.

Deer....or rabbits... I have had both get into mine before. I walked out this morning and scared a rabbit out of my pole beans. He had eaten the leaves off the vines about 2 feet high. Deer would have eaten them 4 to 5 feet high.

The plants will recover, but depending on how extensive the damage is, you may or may not have time to get a crop before frost.

In my experience, rabbits like bean plants better than just about anything else. Of course, that doesn't mean it wasn't one of the other critters. But I think you would know if you had deer around your property.

Jim

Seems like it was rabbits. I kind of thought my place was a little urban for deer (a long way from the nearest stand of trees one could hide in) and after installing some chicken wire the beans have recovered (as have the lower leaves on the pepper plants I didn't even know were missing).

Hopefully the beans will recover enough for me to get a harvest if the damage didn't delay their already late start too much.

Thanks for all the help.

Totally a deer! This has been happening to me all summer long, but they'll still produce beans. Despite the deer I still have so many bush and pole beans that I'm starting to get sick of them. haha

Agree with wertach,
I can see deer foot prints too.
Also, rabbits are unlikely to be able to eat all the way to very top
but leaving the lowest leaves intact.

Mine too look like this BUT we live in a townhouse and they are on my balcony. It is my cat eating them MORRIS !!! lol

same thing just happened to me today. will they grow back or should i just replant new ones?

If only the leaves were eaten & the stems are mostly intact, the beans should recover. Unless you are in an area with very short summers, there is probably enough time left in the season yet to get a crop of snap beans from those plants. I don't usually recommend fertilizing beans, but in this situation a light application of a water-soluble fertilizer will help the plants to bounce back.

Of course, you will need to fence off the beans to prevent a recurrence of the same problem. ;-) Which will involve identifying the animal which caused the damage, so you know what measures need to be taken. If a ground hog, trapping will be necessary.