Pole beans and Japanese Beetles

jcmorse33 · October 8, 2009

I've been reading the thread on great tasting pole beans and was wondering if anyone could offer some input as to varieties of pole beans that don't attract clouds of Japanese Beetles. I grew Kentucky Wonder two years ago and was amazed at the swarms that descended on my little garden. I'd never seen anything like it. Went back to bush beans (Contender / Dragon Tongue/ Blue Lake) for last year and this year and didn't have any issues with them... but the taste didn't measure up. Still I've been a little gun shy over trying pole beans again as I don't really want to spend 20 minutes every day hand picking beetles or have to resort to too many chemicals.

--Justin

RJ_Hythloday · October 9, 2009

I had purple podded pole beans this year, and was also amazed at the numbers of JB's I was handpicking every day. I posted in a companion planting forum about maybe planting them on purpose to keep JB's away from other crops lol, but I'm pretty sure I won't be planting these again.

tjg911 · October 9, 2009

excellent question justin. i hope someone can inform us.

ky wonder is an absolute JB magnet.

i have grown KW next to a flat pod italian 'romano' style pole bean for years on a trellis. the KY plants are attacked like mad while the flat pod bean plants are ignored. even back when i did not grow KY and only grew the flat pod the JB never bothered my flat pod pole bean. apparently KW smells or tastes better but i have no idea why.

tom

Ruth_10 · October 13, 2009

What I grew this year and how well the Japanese Beetles liked them:

Pole beans
Kentucky Blue moderate/high
Blue Lake high
Uncle Steve's Italian Pole not at all
Good Mother Stallard not at all
Fortex moderate/high
Jimenez low
Hidatsu Figure Shield not at all
Tobacco Worm not at all

Bush beans
Dragon Langerie not at all
Empress not at all
Canary not at all
Tiger's Eye not at all
Shirofume (edamame soy) moderate

I could go out and give the Blue Lake trellis a shake and hundreds of JB would take flight. Perhaps the Blue Lake served as a trap crop and kept the others from getting devoured. In the end I still had plenty of Blue Lake and Kentucky Blue--I always plant too many.

October 8, 2009	#1
jcmorse33 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Virginia Posts: 242	Pole beans and Japanese Beetles I've been reading the thread on great tasting pole beans and was wondering if anyone could offer some input as to varieties of pole beans that don't attract clouds of Japanese Beetles. I grew Kentucky Wonder two years ago and was amazed at the swarms that descended on my little garden. I'd never seen anything like it. Went back to bush beans (Contender / Dragon Tongue/ Blue Lake) for last year and this year and didn't have any issues with them... but the taste didn't measure up. Still I've been a little gun shy over trying pole beans again as I don't really want to spend 20 minutes every day hand picking beetles or have to resort to too many chemicals. --Justin

October 13, 2009	#4
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	What I grew this year and how well the Japanese Beetles liked them: Pole beans Kentucky Blue moderate/high Blue Lake high Uncle Steve's Italian Pole not at all Good Mother Stallard not at all Fortex moderate/high Jimenez low Hidatsu Figure Shield not at all Tobacco Worm not at all Bush beans Dragon Langerie not at all Empress not at all Canary not at all Tiger's Eye not at all Shirofume (edamame soy) moderate I could go out and give the Blue Lake trellis a shake and hundreds of JB would take flight. Perhaps the Blue Lake served as a trap crop and kept the others from getting devoured. In the end I still had plenty of Blue Lake and Kentucky Blue--I always plant too many. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

October 9, 2009	#2
RJ_Hythloday Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Logan, UT Posts: 207	I had purple podded pole beans this year, and was also amazed at the numbers of JB's I was handpicking every day. I posted in a companion planting forum about maybe planting them on purpose to keep JB's away from other crops lol, but I'm pretty sure I won't be planting these again.

October 9, 2009	#3
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	excellent question justin. i hope someone can inform us. ky wonder is an absolute JB magnet. i have grown KW next to a flat pod italian 'romano' style pole bean for years on a trellis. the KY plants are attacked like mad while the flat pod bean plants are ignored. even back when i did not grow KY and only grew the flat pod the JB never bothered my flat pod pole bean. apparently KW smells or tastes better but i have no idea why. tom