Pole Beans?

[bigredfeather]

This will be my first year growing pole beans. I have chosen a kind called Rattlesnake. Anyone plant these and how do you like them?
My main reason for planting is so it's easier to pick them. I am going to use a pipe with 6 strings anchored to the ground for them to climb. What is a good height for my "pole"?
Thanks.

 

[patandchickens]

As high as you can conveniently reach to pick Seriously. If and when the bean plants start growing past that, you can either let the ends wave free and flop over (if they don't go too far, this works fine IME) or lop the ends off if they get SO long they threaten to tangle with the lower parts or make the whole thing too unstable in the wind.

I like to have a gap in my bean pole teepee -- basically one missing string or pole -- so that it is easier to see the beans hanging on the inside. You can still *reach* them if all the poles there, but I end up missing too many and then the plants stop producing as much. Myabe it's just me

Totally agree with you on the easier picking, though! I like pole beans. They make the garden look prettier and more interesting, too

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Try planting a few sweet pea seeds around your pole, along with your beans. When they flower they will attract the bees to that area & you will get a better rate of pollination. My grandfather always did this on his allotment; he would always bring my Granny a bunch of scented blooms along with the vegetables. It also looks very beautiful.... smells good too!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[freshfood]

I've never tried that kind, but I grow only pole beans. They produce so much more, in so much less space, that even with my huge garden, there's no point in planting bush beans. Just hope you have lots of freezer space!

My "poles" are six-foot long 1" x 1" garden stakes that I buy at my local Agway. They come with one end sharpened. I use three for each support, pounding them into the ground at an angle so the "legs" are 3-4 feet apart and the tops meet - I make a teepee out of them. I tie the tops together. I plant 3 -4 seeds between each leg and run string around the base of the teepee, from leg to leg, for the plants to climb on. One string maybe eight inches off the ground, then another one a foot or so above that, and so on. When the plants get to the top of the teepee, I just let the ends hang down, they grow right back down toward the ground.

If I planted more than 3 or 4 seeds between each "leg", it would be very hard to see through the tangle of vines, to get the beans inside the teepee, but as it is, there are plenty of spaces to see and reach through. Works for me!

Also, the teepee shape, and pounding them in a foot deep, makes for an extremely stable support, both for the weight of the plants and in case of wind. One summer we had a storm with 40 mph wind and none of the bean poles budged an inch.

When the Japanese beetles come out to eat the bean leaves, I go out at about seven am, when they are on top of the leaves to catch the sun, but still to chilly to be moving very fast. I have a quart container (from Chinese take-out soup!) and the lid. I use the lid to knock the little stinkers into the container. I go from teepee to teepee, collect all I can find, and go feed them to the chickens. Zowie, they love it! Two years ago, the Japanese beetles were so bad that I had a row of bean leaf-shaped gauze. The darned things ate all the leaf part and left the veins. Pretty, actually, but didn't do my harvest any good. Last year, the beetles went to the hens, and for ten minutes' effort each morning, my beans kept most of their leaves. Better than pesticides!

Good luck, I love my pole beans.

 

[bid]

I make my supports about a foot taller than I am. It's easy enough to pick the bugs and the beans that way.

 

[digitS']

For the last 5 or 6 years, I've planted a pole bean. The seed was given to me by another gardener but it is probably Oregon Giant. Cascade Giant seems to have replaced Oregon Giant and is offered by some seed companies.

I use 8' teepees. Those vines can sure reach that height. When I first grew pole beans as a kid (Kentucky Wonder), I had a nice, study four-foot fence that I put up. The vines went up-&-down, up-&-down. I don't remember having any trouble picking them - probably didn't have very many plants filling in that short fence.

I have to buy a few new stakes every year or 2. The little neighbor girl was out watching me plant stakes one year. She wanted to know, "Why are you growing sticks in your garden?"

I said, "Sticks grow in my garden every year. They grow shorter and shorter and shorter."

Steve

 

[wifezilla]

This will be my first year with pole beans. I am giving Chinese Red Noodle Beans a try. I have a large wire thing that looks like a cattle panel that they can climb on. I also have a trellis that used to have a virginia creeper on it. When the creeper found a way through the wall and popped out in the den, hubby tore it out! LOL

We will see which one does better.

I can't wait

 

[jamespm_98]

This will be my first year growing pole beans. I have chosen a kind called Rattlesnake. Anyone plant these and how do you like them?
My main reason for planting is so it's easier to pick them. I am going to use a pipe with 6 strings anchored to the ground for them to climb. What is a good height for my "pole"?
Thanks.

I planted Rattlesnake last year and they grew great, much better than the kentucky wonders I had tried before. They produced beans all season. The do get some strings as they get bigger, but the flavor is worth pulling a few strings. Also the beans are very nice looking with purple streaks throughout the bean. I have already ordered seed this year and plan to make this my permanent choice of pole bean. As a side note I planted them with sweet corn and used the corn to support the beans. The vines grew taller than my corn.

 

[wifezilla]

Try planting a few sweet pea seeds around your pole, along with your beans. When they flower they will attract the bees to that area & you will get a better rate of pollination. My grandfather always did this on his allotment; he would always bring my Granny a bunch of scented blooms along with the vegetables. It also looks very beautiful.... smells good too!

What about regular peas? I know they don't flower as much, but I have some bush peas that could fit at the base and wouldn't compete for climbing space with the beans.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Try planting a few sweet pea seeds around your pole, along with your beans. When they flower they will attract the bees to that area & you will get a better rate of pollination. My grandfather always did this on his allotment; he would always bring my Granny a bunch of scented blooms along with the vegetables. It also looks very beautiful.... smells good too!

What about regular peas? I know they don't flower as much, but I have some bush peas that could fit at the base and wouldn't compete for climbing space with the beans.

Wifezilla,

Sure you COULD use peas but the sweet peas, with their multi colours & sweet smell are more attractive to the bees. Let alone they look wonderful growing amongst the beans.


:rose Hattie :rose