Can't picture it from your description. Would have to see it.

They have to have something 6-8' tall to wrap all around and climb. The vines coil round and round in a tight spiral whatever they are climbing. Can they do that with your set-up?

Dave

You don't need poles, but you could add string. Some long "neck" eye hooks or nails at the top with string to the ground or to your rabbit fence will do you nicely.

Okay, thanks everyone.

They won't be able to spiral around my set up, so....

Thinking that my set up might jot work, I had bought some of those green bamboo poles (6 ft, about the circumference if a dime) from Menards this weekend. Will those work? Can I just stick a pole in the ground... several inches deep? Will that be strong enough?

I think you really should have a pole :-)

When I grew pole beans I used plastic trellis netting. Worked fine.

The poles will work, IF they are secure enough in the ground not to fall over when heavily covered with vines and a strong wind comes by. This is why a "teepee" arrangement is so good: Everything leans into the center and is unlikely to fall over. Like natal, I once grew pole beans on a "fence". I used a sturdy stake, driven well into the ground, every 6 to 8 feet down the row and then attached fence wire to them. I planted the seeds at the base of the wire every four inches or so. This worked very well.

You want the highest support you can find (and that you can reach to pick). Every pole bean I have ever grown went to the top and then cascaded down from there several feet.

These days I use a metal teepee set up that is easy to move from one raised bed to another. (Circles really give you a lot of row without taking up much space.)

The link below may be of interest. (Sorry the pic is missing from the first post.)

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Show Me Your Trellis

Here is a trellis netting source.

Trellis Netting

Hmm that's a good question. I planted blue lake pole beans for the first time this year in containers and put poles in the containers, then set the containers on the deck right up by the fence and they actually ignored the poles in the containers and grabbed straight onto the fence themselves. So I take it they like the fence better haha..

I posted about net making just yesterday.
Very very easy - will definitely be making for my beans and Squash.
You could just hang some strings too and loosely loop around the base of the vine.
They will grip them and grow up.

We have a large clump of bamboo growing in the backyard. Yes - they are versatile plants - BUT - they litter. This one is 2 stories high, produces abundant "browns" and succulent bamboo shoots, can be used to make garden ornaments (crafty), and bamboo poles for string beans and snap peas.

I cut them - about dime-sized, as far as I can reach - about 6-7 feet, force them into the ground next to the vining beans/peas, about every 4 in. or so apart. Then, I weave a piece of straw-bale cord back and forth through the poles to keep them evenly spaced. I also plant a bracer on the outside of the box to attach the first inner one to, to give the entire length of poles a bit of stability.

So - OK, it's not particularly handsome, but it works. I usually leave them standing, cuz, as soon as the beans are done, it's usually time to plant the snap peas, and they need help too.

Bejay

NO, It is your garden, plant what you like & grow it the way you want to. Learn from your mistakes & victories.
I have used fence,string,wire mesh, Bamboo poles,old water pipe, bicycle wheel to make a bean pole tee pee.
When you find something that works for you, start a thread & show us photos of how you do it.

Literally, they need more than just a "pole" to grow on, and you don't have to be Polish either, it doesn't matter Pole or not.

If you have bamboo poles and can secure them, you could try to connect them with twine and make a crude trellis. The beans don't care what it looks like, just along as they can grab onto it and climb.

I put a untreated bamboo pole in the ground 18-24 inches, packed 2inches around the pole. I then planted 4-6 beans around the pole, some of the bean vines will wonder & have to be trained, other will find the pole & climb without your help.
I grew butter beans & flat snap beans like scarlet runners this way.
I have use other method also, do what is best for you. You could let them grow up fruit trees, also.

Last year I planted an 8' row of pole beans and when they got up a little, I tied an 8' piece of wire livestock panel to some steel posts, lifting the panel about a foot off the ground. The beans did well on it, but would have grown several feet higher than the panel so hung over.

This year I am thinking of using a full length panel and putting the ends on/in the ground with the middle arched upwards, and I will plant the beans where the end of the panel hits the ground. This will kind of form an arch the beans can grow on and over.

Hopefully this will make the picking a little easier, but if not it will add an interesting feature to the garden. I'll probably put the beets under the arch as the shade the beans give later in the summer helps protect the beets from the heat so they keep growing all summer instead of stalling out.

I made the mistake of letting beans grow up a young plum tree.
It spent the entire summer sulking under a jubilant mass of runner beans.
Note to self: a juvenile tree is not a pole...

Okay, You can let a few beans grow up A large fruit tree, but you need a way to pick them. A fence or Livestock panel is better, but any thing will work.
Do not let then run on the ground, you will have sand everywhere. THAT way I put my cucumbers on a tomato cage.

Beans have finally sprouted enough to take a photo. Here they are with my current set up. Will my 'trellis' along the fence work??? The net trellis goes up the height of the fence - 6 feet.

{{gwi:59857}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Green Thumb in Zone 5

If the beans don't pull that down, it'll surprise me. :)

They're much more apt to attach themselves to the wooden fence. the vines get really, REALLY HEAVY.

Good luck.

If it does not work, you can get a heaver gauge cord/rope & loop each cord around the top of the wooden fence, then let it hang down to twist the bean vine around.
Hope your trellis works.
Please show us photos when the beans start to run.

I sneaked a peek at your website. Looks like yer doin' great! LOVE that Bleeding Heart.