General information and discussion about cultivating beans, peas, peanuts, clover and vetch.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
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Growing pole beans on bamboo teepees this year. How many beans per pole? I'm thinking of using 4-5 poles per teepee and want to maximize the number of varieties and production. I've usually used a cattle panel trellis.
Would it be the same for pole Limas? |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: MA
Posts: 4,968
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I use 4 pole teepees, 6 plants per pole, 6" between plants.
Pole limas need about 16" spacing between plants. |
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: massachusetts
Posts: 1,710
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I use an overhead wire with tomato twine that the pole beans climb up with the help of a couple tomato clips.
Double overhead wire 18" apart 5 beans per foot in a wide row underneath the wires. 5ft row centers. Kind of weird but works for me. Hope that helps. |
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
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Thanks,everyone.
I have some big bamboo poles. I will either need to whack off the tops this weekend or not be able to reach the top. I built my teepees last weekend and my dad didn't think I should cut them. Since he was helping, I deferred. He's back home now,so I will chop them. I think they're about 20 feet high! |
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: MA
Posts: 4,968
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My poles (maple) are ~11 feet long, the base buried about a foot into the soil, for an overall height of 10 feet.
With perfect weather, and the right variety, vines can climb to the top and almost all the way back down to the ground. I need a ladder to help in assembly (and to help in sometimes picking the most flavorful pods that are out of reach. With most beans, I simply pick those that I can reach and let the highers ones go to seed. |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
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Thanks,Tormato.
For my next bamboo project,I'd like to try making a trellis with bamboo with a horizontal pole suspended from two or three poles from each end and strings hanging down. Since figuring out how easy it is to cut down bamboo with the battery operated reciprocating saw, and taking the branches off with a big meat cleaver, I'm much more enthused about harvesting it. The pruner and branch loper were just not getting the job done. |
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#7 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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I just trim the bamboo branches back a bit and use the full-length poles singly. They are flexible enough that I can just pull down on them to pick the beans that are up at the top.
If you tie them into a teepee, they are rigid and you can't do that. The poles last for many years. |
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#8 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
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That's exactly how dad grows them and he's been using the same poles forever. I'm hoping to inherit them some day, but not too soon. |
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#9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 31
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This year I made my first teepee with 3 poles and three beans @ the base of each pole. Days later I realized I order new beans, so when they arrived I planted rows between the poles. Now the plan is to add twine over the row planting so they will climb the sides. I also crafted netting to add to a new trellis I built using electric conduit.
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