Can we talk about beans?

[Collector]

We have ordered blue lake pole beans, andBurpee tender pod bush beans. We were going to try saving seeds for next season. I was reading a gardening book and it says that if you are going to save seeds it is best to not have more than one kind of bean in bloom at any time, or there is a good chance of cross pollination. We were thinking about planting the bush beans as early as possible then wait 2-3 weeks then plant the pole beans. The idea is that the bush beans will mature in 50? days and crop once then get pulled out, hopefully before the pole beans start to bloom. Not sure if that is even possible or just a pipe dream. Also what is the proper way to plant rows,ie; north and south or east and west or does it matter. One more question, what growing method works best for you for pole beans, tepee, trellis, or verticle poles?

 

[hoodat]

Bean flowers are pretty much self pollinating. I never see bees working mine so I don't think cross pollination is a problem. I prefer to plant green beans as a pole variety and wax beans in bush. The wax beans stay nice and firm when canned and are pretty when pickled for a bean salad.
I think how you support green beans is pretty much up to you. In the past I just stuck poles in the ground but I'm building a rabbitry and plan to make the sunny side into a trellis to shade them in the Summer so I'll probably use that for my beans. I can take the spent vines down in Fall so the rabbits will get Winter sun.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have seen bees working mine, so there is a chance of cross-pollination, but usually not a lot. I think the benefit of the bees is more that they shake the blossom than actually transfer pollen.

Bean flowers are like tomato flowers in that they are "perfect" flowers. That means the flower has both the male and female parts so they can self-pollinate. It does not take insects. The wind can shake them and pollinate them. Beans are not like squash where you have separate male and female flowers and require something to pollinate them.

Someone I respect quite a bit on this topic said to not worry about them being cross-pollinated. Like open-pollinated tomatoes, they will seldom be cross-pollinated. If you can separate them by space or especially time, you certainly improve your odds.

I have planted them east-west and north-south the same year and noticed no difference.

I've supported them many different ways and they all work. Use whatever is easiest for you. I grow pole beans on my garden fence, on the East and North sides so I don't shade it too much. It worked well but getting the vines out of those small openings in the chickenwire type fence was more difficult than I expected, even after they had totally dried up and become brittle.

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

We're growing the blue lake beans again this year too, and I agree with the previous posts, beans don't cross pollinate that readily.

I wrote a little bit on seed saving here: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/01/29/heirloom-vegetables-better-for-the-backyard-garden-2/

If you read down through the post, it suggests beans as an easy vegetable to start saving because they are self-pollinating - also if you can separate them by at least 10 feet you should be pretty safe. :tools

 

[jojo54]

I was just at a seed-saving workshop yesterday and the instructor said beans are not too worrisome. If you are worried to plant them a row or two apart.

 

[digitS']

That all looks like good advice to me, Collector.

I had pole beans in my 1st garden when I was 16 or 17 years-old. I found some 4' posts, I believe they were and sank them in the ground about a foot. Then I nailed 1 rail across the top of them, tied string lower to the ground and planted my beans.

The vines ran up that short fence , then across the rail, then down the fence, then up and down and up and down . . !!! They were bulked out trying to snatch anything that walked past ! Those bean vines got down on the ground and tried to escape the garden . . .

. . .but, I put them back on what was once a fence but one couldn't see it for the mass of vines and leaves!

Oh yeah, they bloomed and were covered with beans for picking .

It never seemed to be a good idea to put up such a short thing for pole beans since . . . I usually use 8', 1" by 2"'s these days. I take 4 of those boards, about 3 1/2 feet apart and drive them about a foot into the ground. The tops are pulled together and wired so that the vines have a teepee.

The bean seed can be planted in groups of about 6 seeds, later thinned to 3 or 4 just inside the teepee, near each board. As they grow upward, the board will be easily reached and the gardener shouldn't have to tie the vines to the boards.

Pole beans will easily grow to the top of something 7' tall and they will start back down. However, something like that gives them plenty of room and a person of average height won't have trouble reaching the beans .

Steve

 

[Collector]

WOWlots of good info! The book I was reading Said To be careful of cross pollination,I just assumed they meant cross pollination from bees so this is good to know. Sadly I just cut about 25' off of our cherry tree and the straight limbs I cut between 5-6' long to use for poles hope these will end up working OK or that will have been a wasted effort. Thanks to all for clearing this up for me and all the tips.

 

[obsessed]

I really wanted to try the asian long beans th is year. Maybe next year. The thing I don't like about green beans is the such short season. I only have a bit of time before the heat sets in and the beans stop blooming all together. And I have tried years in a row for a second fall crop but never get more than a few pods. I went to a master gardener session and they said to do bush beans int the fall. So that is my plan this year.

 

[silkiechicken]

Pole beans will easily grow to the top of something 7' tall and they will start back down. However, something like that gives them plenty of room and a person of average height won't have trouble reaching the beans .

Steve

Yep... pole beans will go up a 6 foot fence here, crawl across the top of the fence for a yard, then reach out to a sunflower or tree, and continue to climb....

I've done pole beans on a 3 foot fence. Just a few and I just run them horizontally across the entire fence in one direction... till I miss a week and end up with a mass of bean plant that bends the fence. LOL

 

[journey11]

I'll usually grow 2 varieties and just separate them. I put some around front and some around back in the big garden. Can't think off the top of my head, but I think it's 200 feet apart they recommend? ETA: YOu can't really space them out by timing (like you would for corn) because they just keep blooming.