Pole beans: Great Vines, No Beans
jeff_in_nc
13 years ago
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fusion_power
13 years agoMacmex
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Pole beans, bush beans, all things beans
Comments (2)Hope you don't mind if I start at the bottom and work up? :) Growing kidney beans worth it? No, not IMO. Takes too much space for any worthwhile production. Plus they need to dry on the vine so all that space is locked up well into fall. Canning info? That is the Harvest Forum here for all the canning info you need. How-tos are readily available there. Seeds or plants? Seeds. They do much better than trying to transplant. Bush beans don't usually need any support. They are bushes and support themselves. But I guess you could use tomato cages if you needed to for some reason. I wouldn't. Pole beans don't require heavy duty support unless wind is a real problem. If so you can use clothesline or even wire but the string has the advantage of being disposable at season end. If you are concerned just double the string. But many other more effective types of support are available too. Check out the Beans and Peas forum here for more ideas and even some support pics. Hope this helps. Dave...See MoreSeveral pole bean plants -or- few plants == more beans??
Comments (1)"If I put one pole bean plant every 24 inches will that plant branch out and produce more than 5 plants in the same 24 inches planted 6 inches apart." Probably not... but that would depend, in large part, upon the variety. Note the single plant of "Pole 191" below: This plant alone produced nearly a pound of dry seed! Less rampant varieties (such as "Fortex", "Emerite", "Trionfo Violetto") would probably benefit from the close spacing. I tested that theory with "Emerite" this year, which has been noted as a relatively low-yielding variety. When thinned to hills of 2@12" (same as one per 6"), it produced a spectacular yield - and is still bearing. Most half-runner varieties would likely give their best performance at this spacing as well. However, the more rampant varieties (such as "Goose", "Pole 191", "Kentucky Wonder", and "Garafal Oro") might be more than a little crowded. Their optimal spacing seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 12" between plants. For beans with the tendency to branch heavily, they will indeed spread out if given space... but 24" between plants would probably be excessive for most pole beans. To me, when planting in rows along a trellis, the optimal spacing for a variety is the widest that still produces an unbroken canopy of foliage at maturity. As a rule, while the yield per plant will be lower when plants are more closely spaced, the yield for a given area will be higher. This concept works well for farmers, since they need the maximum attainable yield per acre. They are not concerned with size, or quality... only bulk. Smaller ears of corn, for example, don't matter, as long as there are more of them. For gardeners, though, aesthetics matter. We want the largest, the most attractive, the most flavorful. For snap beans, crowded plants might produce more, but smaller, pods. I personally prefer the results of wider spacing, since it allows each variety to exhibit its true potential, and because I believe it produces larger & stronger seed... but if space is limited, that may not be an option. Yield aside, there are other considerations for pole bean spacing: - Beans are more prone to disease when the foliage becomes dense enough to block airflow; so in moist climates, or where disease is prevalent, wider spacing may be advisable. - Since close spacing may stunt the vines, it may be a desirable tactic if growing pole beans on a relatively short support, such as a 4-5' fence. - While the yield for a single picking of snap beans may be greater with close spacing, it may be less sustained. Years back, when I planted my beans closer together, I noticed that the vines "tired" soon after the first picking, regardless of variety. They would often bounce back later in the season, after a period of little to no yield... but with wider spacing, I usually have nearly continuous yield. The overall yield of snap beans for a given area - for the entire season - may be higher for plants given wider spacing; but I have, at present, no data to support this. It would be a really great experiment, but every picking throughout the season (for each spacing) would need to be harvested, weighed, and recorded - a truly arduous task, which is why I have never done it....See MorePole Beans Planted & Thriving - But No Beans
Comments (2)I have the same problem! I also have a problem of my pole beans just running rampant, and not being able to get them over to the trellis. I even put an extra length of netting to help get the runners that were farther away from the trellis. I did 4 squares down one side with a trellis on that border. I have lots of leaves, and some climbers, but no beans yet. I was thinking that maybe I was getting overly excited by the bush beans coming in (which take less time). I am also open to suggestions on controlling these buggers :) Oh, I got Japanese Beetles in there also (and a ton of aphids)....See MorePole bean for dry shelling bean?
Comments (14)For pole dry beans: Brita's Foot Long (white seeded, similar to Great Northern in size) Dolloff (a New England native) some of the pole Cranberry beans I have also grown several heirlooms with high dry seed yields. Striped Cornfield is a cranberry type, with nearly round seeds packed tightly in short pods. Sargas has seeds that start out golden yellow, and darken to orange-brown. Bosnian Pole has a high yield whether used as Romano-type snaps, or as dry beans. Under good conditions, any of the above should produce about 2 pounds from an eight foot row. Some pole snap beans can also produce large amounts of seed if let go (such as the KY Wonder) but the taste & texture can vary from good, to bland, to unpleasant. KY Wonder White (a.k.a. Pole 191) is a snap whose seeds are plentiful & nearly indistinguishable from Brita's Foot Long, but inferior in flavor....See Morejeff_in_nc
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