Hi Leisa, I have a couple of suggestions because some years ago I had the same problem. First you might considering spraying your little pole bean seedlings with a solution of eggs and water or a fish emulsion such as Neptunes Harvest or a similar product. Rabbits are herbivores and do not like the taste of animal products like fish or eggs. Along with this I cover my seedlings with a floating row cover until they are six or eight inches tall. After they reach this height, I remove the cover and they take off growing. If the bunnies want to chew off the bottom leaves, no harm done. The rest will take off to the sky. This approach is not a lot of work and has worked for me. I grow a great crop of Emerite fillet beans and always one other yellow wax pole bean (this year it is Marvel of Venice). Good luck to you and I hope this approach is as successful for you as it has been for me.

Ditto on Farmerdilla's comments. When we in the U.S. say "pole beans", "bush beans", "green beans", or "snap beans", we are generally referring to P. vulgaris. I often refer to them as "common beans", which is an English translation of the Latin vulgaris. In the U.K., they would be referred to as "French beans". Runner beans (P. coccineus) are mostly climbers, hence the name. There are only a few bush varieties. They are also good as snaps... in fact, "snap beans" in the U.K. are almost always runner beans. As Farmerdilla mentioned, runner beans thrive in cooler weather, where common beans struggle. In the U.S. they do well in the Pacific Northwest and areas with cool maritime climate. They do not like hot weather, so common beans are better for areas with warm summers. Some runner beans (especially white-seeded ones) are often misidentified as common beans or limas. When in doubt, observe the cotyledons (the seed halves). For runner beans, these stay below the ground during germination. The cotyledons emerge for common beans & limas.

MomesqNY, I am having the same problem. I just tore down all my pole beans today and have to replant. This has been going on for a month now. I had perfectly healthy plants and started noticing that entire poles were missing leaves (whole leaves chomped off). Sometimes just the top leaves and then the bottom leaves would be gone the next day or vice versa. The beans were left completely untouched and intact. I am certain it is an animal and think it may be a rat! I've seen a rat running along the fence on that side of the yard several times. I purchased a rat trap 2 weeks ago, but have yet to set it up. I think that is the only critter that is capable of climbing the poles without dragging the whole plant down. We also have squirrels, but I haven't seen them in that area during the daytime. It is definitely a nighttime creature! I checked for droppings but didn't see anything, but I am not ruling it out. Does this sound like it may be what's eating your leaves as well? I'd hate to admit that there are rats on my property, but I am at a loss as to what it could be. We also have skunks, raccoons, coyotes and opossums but they would be much too big to climb the bamboo tepees I set up!

Those are the caterpillars of pretty little skippers, a type of small butterfly. Several species can be found on legumes, behaving exactly the way you've described. One of the most common in your area would be the long tailed skipper, known to be an occasional pest on garden beans. The Bt should help control these larvae at this stage....they are still quite young. Remember that Bt doesn't kill them immediately, but they should stop feeding once they have ingested the bacteria propagules. In the meantime, you could also reduce the number of these caterpillars by removing them by hand as you see them. You might also look for the little piles of roundish, yellowish eggs glued together. These tiny little insects will soon develop into larger caterpillars, so keep after them. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here to see your probable culprit