possible reasons for low bean count:

not enough compost
not long enough of a growing season
plants became stunted during temps of 96 or above
not enough water
too much water
not enough drainage
not enough sun

Too much nitrogen (soil too rich) will produce lots of foliage and little "fruit" on most veggies. What variety were they and how did you fertilize them? How much sun do they get? Butter beans do tend to be a late crop so the timing isn't too far off but the amount produced should have been better.

Last year was a poor year for my butterbeans, and my eggplant as well. Those of us in the North and Northeast had heavy rains in late May & early June which delayed planting, and there seemed to be some other factor at work... perhaps more cloudy days in early summer. There were many threads on GW last year regarding difficulty with eggplant... and since both eggplant & limas prefer similar conditions, perhaps the problems were at least partially climate-related.

I don't know if Atlanta experienced those rains last year, but they could have been a factor... if they delayed planting. Did the butterbeans flower earlier, but not set pods? If so, excessive heat may have caused blossom drop. I also agree with Sandy, when someone talks of "beautiful plants" but no pods, the first thing I suspect is too much nitrogen present in the soil. Any combination of these (and other factors) may have caused the poor yield.

Of course, this was also a new variety... perhaps it simply was not adapted to your conditions, or was weak by nature (like one large lima that I tried last year).

Have I got you thoroughly confused yet? ;-) Hopefully something here will ring a bell.

Thank you for all your advice.........perhaps they were planted too early......mid may....most of the soil was treated with some compost and alittle 10-10-10. It was a very dry summer here but the plants were irrigated with a drip hose once a week. I really never saw any blooms.... I thought maybe they were planted too thick but the plants got to the size they were supposed to.

Did you plant more this year welsch? how are they doing?

The large limas are much more difficult( even the pole ones like King of the Garden) than the small limas. They need a well limed soil ( neutral pH) and high phosphate. Mid may would not be early for Atlanta. Some cultivars quit setting in hot weather, so that could be a problem as well as too high a ratio of nitrogen to phosphate or slightly acidic soil.