Runner versus pole?

[journey11]

Maybe if you plant less beans on the corn, it will hold up better? Usually the field corns/dent corns tend to be the taller, stronger types. I had done 3 sisters with Kandy Korn hybrid and it bent them over in half, but that was 3-6 bean plants per hill of corn.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Well, I'm not exactly sure how to do 3 sisters, but I was going to try with watermelon because none of us like melons... Lol

So.... I was just going to plant 1 bean per corn... are you supposed to have more?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you saying that you let the bean pods turn yellow and then brown while they are on the vine - then open the pods and use the beans as dry beans for cooking throughout the winter and for planting next spring?

Yep.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I could go into a long spiel on how the original three sisters method used field corn harvested at the end of the season, pole beans harvested as dried beans at the end of the season, and winter squash harvested at the end of the season. You might notice a trend here. You can still do what you are talking about but it may not work out quite as well as you expect. That does not mean dont do it. Many of us do or have done various versions of it.

One possible problem with using sweet corn instead of field corn is that the plant will finish, dry up, and die before the beans are finished. Its possible, not absolutely sure to happen each and every time, but possible, the corn might not support the weight of the beans. There are a lot of things that can influence that, variety of corn, how much wind you get, how loose your soil is (the roots of the corn may not be able to get a good grip), who knows what else. There is one way to find out in your specific situation, try it. Either it works and you are ecstatic or it did not work and darn, you need to try something different.

When you pick green beans, you will be walking where the watermelons are growing. You need to be careful where you step. That vine will be all over the place. If you step on it and crush it, you might kill that part of the vine. In a raised bed that might not be too hard to avoid. Its a problem in my sprawling garden but Ive sort of done it. I still plant winter squash with my early sweet corn. I have to be careful where I step when harvesting that sweet corn, but I manage.

Dont get too frustrated before you start. I dont know what will work for you. Many of us have had those darn it moments where something just did not work out like we hoped so next time we tried something different. And a lot of times I see something on here and say to myself. Darn it, that did not work out that way for me.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Oooh! I know! I could use the corn stalks for my beans we want to dry! Two birds with one stone. What do you guys think?

I am torn between red beans (kidney type) and white beans (navy type). Maybe since we have 2 spots for corn, I could do both.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Ridgerunner..... out of my head!

 

[journey11]

These are the instructions I followed. And here is a pic and some of my experience with it. I will say the squash do make wonderful living mulch. I had almost no weeds in the patch after they started to spread. I would do it again, just with stronger corn.

 

[digitS']

I have had a bit of trouble with the 3 Sisters getting along.

Mostly, it was Little Brother (me) showing up and causing trouble. It worked best when I stayed out of there and left them alone! One way to do that is to grow plants with all the same harvest date. (Oops, I took too long to type this and Ridgerunner has said about the same thing! Oh well, I will just go ahead and click submit .) That meant dry bean & dry corn harvest with the winter squash. Don't want to do that? Well, here are some ideas.

Give the corn plants a couple weeks head start. The beans can catch up and since they are vining, search out light even amongst the taller corn plants.

Set bean poles in the corn patch. The vining beans certainly won't "promise" to stay off the corn and on the poles and if they do, don't believe them! Still, the rigid poles will help hold everything up if the corn plants end up in a bean tangle. I know, it kind of defeats one of the reasons to grow a Sisters Garden but, at least, the space advantages are still there.

Oh, and the squash? They don't seem to want to climb on the corn and just stay low and well-behaved. Of course, these are the plants that Little Brother steps on trying to get to the other things . . . I suppose that dwarf squash varieties would be a better choice when you have greenbeans and sweet corn to get to but I don't have any experience with them. Summer squash might work but they are kind of bushy.

Steve

 

[nachoqtpie]

Hmmmmm.... maybe I should make it more of 2 sisters instead of 3. :lol Planting any type of melon or squash would really be a waste since none of us really care for melon or squash. Most of the neighbors we are friendly with already have gardens so there's noone to share it with.

Does that sound like something that could be done? Maybe plant 1 or 2 plants per stalk for drying beans. Would it be difficult to harvest sweet corn with beans climbing the stalks?

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Steve - that's the same problem I had when I did the 3 sisters thing. When I tried to harvest the beans I stomped all over the tender squash vines on the ground. And as the season progressed I stomped all over the mature squash vines to get to the corn. It wasn't a pretty sight. I have not tried it again since that time.