I have to agree with newyorkrita; I'd rather stand and pick than bend down; getting creaky. Weeding is much easier, too. I usually use 3 8ft poles (about 1"x1"). Sometimes I cut down saplings and use those (i.e., but only if they were due to be cut down anyway). Either way, I pound a 2-3ft long piece of junk wood into the ground with a sledge at the base of each pole at an angle, set up the long poles, and then drive a screw between them. In this way, the support poles don't need to be strong because you aren't wacking them with a hammer. I also find pole beans to be more tender than bush, and less hairy; might be the variety I tend to choose, though. My family gets so sick of beans by the time the pole beans are done that I don't care that they don't produce as long. Also, japanese beetles tend to attack the tops of the pole beans; I'd guess they do less overall damage than compared to when I grew bush beans.

My own preferences are much the same as Hemnancy's; I prefer pole beans for their size, flavor, and yield... and for the enormous variation available in heirloom varieties. They require more space, but that is not an issue for me. Bush beans, however, have their advantages too... so sometimes (preferences aside) it's a question of which type is most suitable for the location & the intended purpose. It's also worth noting that beans should be considered for more than just snaps. Bush beans Advantages: - Easy to plant, require no support. - They mature more quickly. This makes them better suited for short-season areas, for late planting, and when they will be grown early or late as part of a succession planting. - Generally bear all-at-once, so good if grown for canning in large batches, especially with limited space. - Low profile, so better suited for high-wind areas. - Most popular dry beans are bush varieties. - More wax bean varieties available commercially as bush than as pole. Disadvantages: - Less suitable for kitchen gardens, where a prolonged harvest is preferable. Succession planting every few weeks can overcome this, if space is available to do so. - More vulnerable to damage by slugs and rodents. - Lower yield.* - Generally smaller pod size. - Fewer cultivars available for use as shellies. - Harvest can be uncomfortable, due to constant bending. Pole beans Advantages: - Higher yield*, sometimes enormous. - Generally larger pods as snaps, so less cutting involved for canning. - More varieties available for shellies, including most of the larger-seeded. - Prolonged harvest, good for fresh eating over a long period. Some varieties, though, will have large flushes in a relatively short period of time. - Pods are higher, making them easy to see & pick, with minimal bending. - Less damage from rodents, snails, & crawling insects. Disadvantages: - Require erecting a pole/trellis. Not too tough for a 20-foot row, but 500 feet of trellis can be a chore. - Take longer to bear, making them less suitable for short season areas. (There are, however, fast-maturing varieties like "Goldmarie" and "Early Riser"). - Except for very long-season areas, they occupy the ground for the entire season, so not suitable for succession planting. - Not good for high-wind areas, where poles & vines may be snapped. - While the over-all yield is very high, the yield-per-plant for a given period may be relatively low, so smaller daily pickings. This is only an issue where space is limited. - Few varieties commercially available for dry beans (but many heirlooms). I have also observed that many bean diseases are either caused or aggravated by soil being splashed on the leaves; bush beans seem to be more vulnerable to this. I used the (*) for yield, because with different planting strategies, either bush or pole can be high-yielding: - Pole varieties have a higher yield per plant, and often the highest yield per row foot... but much of this advantage is lost with multiple rows, because of the greater row spacing required due to shading. They are at their best if planted in a single row, at the North side of the garden. My largest yield per row by far was from a row of "Pole 191" snap beans. - Bush varieties, while yielding less per plant, can be spaced more closely... and since shade is not an issue, the rows can be closer together as well. Succession planting can also help overcome the yield gap, since it allows bush beans to time-share a given space with another crop. I think that the best bean strategy is a single row of pole beans on the North side - with a row or two of bush beans directly adjacent on the South side - so as to form one wide row. This gives the best of both worlds, in a relatively small space. Those pole beans, by the way, can include limas or yardlong beans. As for strings, I think there is little difference; there are both pole beans & bush beans, with- and without strings. However, since most breeding going on now is for bush beans, there will eventually be more stringless varieties available as bush. I don't necessarily see "stringlessness" as an advantage, since many varieties that develop strings are stringless when picked young, and have outstanding flavor. "Kentucky Wonder" is a great example of this. Most of the new bush varieties, while stringless, are of the petite style now popular in Europe... takes a lot of picking to get a basket full. No thank you. Give me the 11" pods of "Fortex", or the long pods of "Goldmarie" or "Garafal Oro", any day.

With my peas I sometimes have problems with mice eating the seed from below. Sometimes I wonder about what kind of seed we're getting. Last year, I received the wrong cucumber seed from Park seed, which was unfortunate, because I can only grow county fair cucs. Any other cuc brings so many cucumber beetles that inject wilt into all my vining crops and they all die. So I was fairly irritated. Oh well. I hope this was just a fluke. I've replanted some Blue Lake bush beans I had there instead of filet. Hopefully they'll sprout. I'll do a rain dance for you!

"I haven't come across a pole bean that is as tender as a bush bean." (ROFL) :-)) Sorry, no offense. As a collector of pole beans, that statement just struck me as hilarious. I think I'm back in control now... But seriously, which pole varieties have you tried? I find that the size, yield, and flavor of pole snap beans are hard to beat. There is an incredible amount of diversity available. You will probably get a lot of recommendations, here are some of mine: Emerite - filet type, round very straight pods, very firm, outstanding canner & freezer Fortex - filet type, round 11" pods (!!!) excellent raw, good freezer Goldmarie - flat Romano-type wax, 10" pods, delicious raw Pole Romano - flat pods, sweet, meaty flavor Rattlesnake - round pods, good flavor These are all stringless or nearly so. There is also a great Romano-type heirloom available from many on this forum (Bosnian Pole) that is completely stringless in all stages. Garafal Oro is another Romano-type with high yield & great flavor.