Pole Bean And Pea Tower question

11 years ago

This looks like a good idea but does it work and how long will it hold up?

This is supposed to be for 12 pole bean vines in 5' of space. Have you tried it?

Something like this would be great for me to be able to grow more kinds of beans.

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Comments (5)

aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
11 years ago
Ruth, I have one, had it for years found it cumbersome so don't use it, IMO not worth the money they want for them. I have been experimenting the last couple of years with lengths of conduit. My hubby is a wood turner so he makes me assorted tops to either plunk into the top of the conduit or collars to fit around the top, leaving the top open so I can stick an umbrella in the hole if I want to protect my beans from the weather. I even use the conduit as single poles, these I wrap a piece of jute around the pole for the vines to cling to. So easy to store when not in use.
Not having access to a woodturner shouldn't be a problem, even a cork with nails to hang strings from or, even pieces of 1" board, squares or circles, with a piece of dowel to fit in the top of the conduit would work as well. It's amazing what you can come up with when you start thinking outside the box.

Annette
ruthz
Original Author
11 years ago
Annette I would love to see a picture if you have one.
How do you attach the jute to the pole?
I have one long piece of conduit that I could experiment with.
Do you stick the end in the ground like a pole?
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George, That's basically what I needed, a rough idea about weight, productiveness, and longevity. Looking at the math is making me wish I was able to return to my old job. I already knew that selling the pole beans even for twice what one would sell tomatos was going to be labor intensive. I've got time to think this over, but like I said, I knew this wasn't going to be a very lucrative money making operation. I've eaten pole beans before and agree with what you say about quality. There's something else that most folks don't know about green beans, specifically the canned ones. We know that large food growing companies must grow bush beans so the harvesting machines can swoop them up. There was a woman who went to a church I used to go to that had worked in a canning factory in California. She told me that when the harvesting machines cut and picked up the bean bushes, they also picked up anything that happened to be attached. From there in the canning plant, beans would be sorted and "picked over". After that, the beans were placed in a solution to dissolve anything that adhered to them, some of which was described as being bits and pieces of some pretty disgusting stuff. Then the beans were apparently rinsed and canned. I don't know for sure if all this is true, but to this day, the way she described the process, I haven't been able to bring myself to eat another can of green beans. Since then I've sampled green beans in the produce section of stores and found they taste like cardboard. And "freshness"? Forget it! Well, whether I sell the pole beans or not, I've planted a LOT of them, and will hopefully have enough for fresh eating and want to can enough to last through this next winter and the following one since I don't know what my health is going to do. Thanks for the info George. This was very helpful. One way or another, we'll have food for the table and some good healthy and TASTY fresh food ahead of us this summer, plus some to put by "Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise". Barbara
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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
11 years ago
Ruth... I grew Bird Egg#3 on a single pole this way. I had a 10' piece of conduit with 2 feet pushed into the ground. Just above the ground we drilled a couple of holes and then again at the top of the pole just large enough to thread the jute through. Threaded a piece jute through the holes at the bottom winding it up the pole to the top, through the holes at the top and then back down the pole crisscross fashion and tied it off. Much easier to do before the pole is in the ground but I wasn't about to pull it out at this point. The best I can do as far as pics go is a closeup where you can see where the jute crisscrosses and a pic of how it looked later, as you can see it didn't take up much space. I could post a couple of pictures of the caps DH made for me if that would be of any help, I'm sure you could fashion something that would work in a similar way.

Annette
ruthz
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you.
The pictures and details help.
I was thinking you'd have to glue the jute on.
I've been using bamboo poles without a lot of success.
jolj
11 years ago
ruthz,
My brother use bamboo with no problem.
He cut it & left the leave branches on & the butter beans covered it like at was chick wire.

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Pole Bean And Pea Tower question

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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada

ruthz
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Pole Bean And Pea Tower question

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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada

ruthzOriginal Author

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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada

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