Pole Bean Question

[skeeter9]

So, we have 12 feet of trellis for our pole beans. We planted the whole 12 feet at one time. Now I am wondering if we can plant another round in between our current vines, which are about 6 inches apart. If we do it this way, there is no way to pull the older vines out of the way when they are done bearing. Does it matter that the older vines will be dying out while the newer ones grow intertwined with them?

 

[digitS']

My concern would be disease and pests, Skeeter.

My pole beans can usually get thru the season without disease being much of a factor.

Spider mites . . . on the other hand. They seem to especially like beans and the heat and dryness of late summer.

Mites are fairly easy to deal with if I give them a one/two punch -- jet of water, allow the plants to dry, then soap spray at sundown, and followed up by a rinse at sunrise . . .

Steve

 

[so lucky]

I don't know what kind of pole beans you planted, but some of them continue bearing for a long time--till frost killed them, here. The need for pulling the old vines out might not be much of an issue.

 

[hoodat]

Not quite OT but I love the purple pod pole beans. They are so much easier to see at harvest and they turn green when cooked.
I don't plant all of my beans at one time. I start at one end of the trellis and plant a half dozen, then every week I plant another half dozen farther on till I have the trellis full. That way I have fresh vines coming on all Summer

 

[skeeter9]

Good point, Hoodat. I've only grown bush beans in the past and it's been difficult to spot the darn things. Our trellis is a hoop trellis, so we are hoping that will help with harvest. If not, purple beans sounds like a good next step!

I wondered about disease, too, Steve. Maybe we should just see what happens with the way things are. If our harvest is too short we can always do it differently next year.

Lucky, I know we have Blue Lakes, but I don't remember the others. Hmmm???? I could get up and go look at the packages, but I just plopped my butt under the fan on the couch. Been pruning roses and doing other maintenance outside and I'm too hot to move right now. Hopefully we will have a long harvest.

 

[so lucky]

I planted what the package said were Royalty Purple Pod Bush Beans, for the very reason Hoodat said. I wanted something easy to spot, since I have difficulty stooping over---may as well not waste my "stoop over" time searching. Well, the beans are not purple; they are green, and hidden very well within the leaves, much more so than the bush beans I am accustomed to. I just don't seem to have good luck buying factory-packaged seeds. Too many errors in packing! Guess that's a good reason to start saving seeds, huh?

 

[skeeter9]

Well, shoot, Lucky! That's kinda one of those Murphy's Law things. Hope your next package really is purple beans!

 

[digitS']

Commercial varieties, and I might just as well be talking about all bush types, can be harvested all at the same time.

In other words, the plant can be pulled. Stand up and pick them off .

I don't like leaving the beans very long because of that threat of spider mites trying to take over the second crop. If the sowing is late, like following up the peas that will be pulled here in a couple of weeks, the plants will not have time for a 2nd crop before frost, anyway.

I think of bush beans as about a 2 month crop. The plants compost very well at that stage and there are likely to be more coming on in short order.

Pole beans are different. And, the spider mites are at considerable more risk of ME knocking them into next Tuesday because they are trying to suck the life out of the vines.

Steve

 

[skeeter9]

Well, harvesting the bush beans would have been much easier that way, Steve! As opposed to crawling around among the plants every few days. We definitely have enough time in our growing season to plant more beans, but we aren't set up for a separate area this year.

 

[bj taylor]

I would like to see some pics of trellises. I have never grown pole beans before. they're going every which way. I need to be better prepared next year. my "trellises" are a collection of tiki torches no longer serving as torches.