Bush beans and pole beans question?

[nao57]

So... I had a question about bush beans and pole beans?

I've grown bush beans before but not pole beans. A lot of people in the southwest don't do pole beans. I guess it just never took off. But people do bush beans.

Supposedly beans are nitrogen fixers, which is part of my interest in them.

Anyway... I forgot to do beans this year. I mean... I mostly do cucumbers and tomatoes primarily and then a few other things. So because I was focusing on trying to learn melons this year I just forgot about doing beans entirely. (Wish I'd remembered...)

Anyway, when I did do beans in the past I sort of had a hard time. I did get them to grow. And to produce fruit I also succeeded. But I don't feel like I really had them take off and really do well. Plus, a lot of insects like snails are really attracted to bush beans over other vegetables and that probably played a part in not doing as well with them.

I thought maybe it might help to ask others... for bean techniques what other vegetables would you compare the ideal watering schedule and other techniques with to have them do well? I thought maybe a comparison to the ideal setups might have insight to have them take off and do well next year?

Also I'd wondered do you do a different strategy and techniques and watering setup for pole beans compared to bush beans? Will the same watering rotation and setup even work for pole beans? People I'd talked to that do pole beans say they produce a lot more ('potentially') than bush beans. This made it seem worth it to investigate more on them.

A side question that I'm curious about for beans is when you grow them for the nitrogen fixing, or fertility fixing trait in a field or area, if that area is depleted somewhat in resources, do you grow them there more than 1 year to fix the soil? Is 1 year enough or do you need to do more than 1 year?


Thanks and happy gardening.

 

[fuzzi]

The main differences between pole and bush beans:

• Pole beans need support
• Bush beans do not need support
• Pole beans will produce beans over the entire growing season
• Bush beans will produce a lot, all at once, then die back

Bush beans were originally developed for large scale farming where harvesting all at once was preferred.

 

[Sally PB]

Bush beans don't need support, but I put tomato cages down the row to give them something to grow into/around. This helps keep them from flopping over if they get heavy with beans, or if we get some wind.

I have read that if the beans remain picked, the plant will keep flowering and producing. Even 1 bean left on the plant can cause the plant to stop flowering if the bean gets to a certain ripeness. The plant "thinks" it's done its job reproducing.

 

[NanaK]

If you have a shorter growing season bush beans give you a lot of beans in a shorter amount of time.

I have a fairly long growing season so I grow pole beans because I get a lot of beans for longer and I can stand to pick most of them. I have a bad back so I can't bend over long without pain. I sit on a milk crate to pick the lower beans.

I trellis everything I can.

 

[NanaK]

A side question that I'm curious about for beans is when you grow them for the nitrogen fixing, or fertility fixing trait in a field or area, if that area is depleted somewhat in resources, do you grow them there more than 1 year to fix the soil? Is 1 year enough or do you need to do more than 1 year?

I really don't know the answer to this but I would suspect if 1 year was good a 2-3 year rotation would probably be the way to go to get maximum benefit.

 

[nao57]

The main differences between pole and bush beans:

• Pole beans need support
• Bush beans do not need support
• Pole beans will produce beans over the entire growing season
• Bush beans will produce a lot, all at once, then die back

Bush beans were originally developed for large scale farming where harvesting all at once was preferred.

Thank you.

 

[nao57]

Bush beans don't need support, but I put tomato cages down the row to give them something to grow into/around. This helps keep them from flopping over if they get heavy with beans, or if we get some wind.

I have read that if the beans remain picked, the plant will keep flowering and producing. Even 1 bean left on the plant can cause the plant to stop flowering if the bean gets to a certain ripeness. The plant "thinks" it's done its job reproducing.

Thank you.

 

[nao57]

If you have a shorter growing season bush beans give you a lot of beans in a shorter amount of time.

I have a fairly long growing season so I grow pole beans because I get a lot of beans for longer and I can stand to pick most of them. I have a bad back so I can't bend over long without pain. I sit on a milk crate to pick the lower beans.

I trellis everything I can.

Thank yous to all here.

Its very nice to be able to talk to other gardeners here. And people here are more humble too than other sites I'd used.

Milk crate is a good idea even without a bad back.

Is it easier for you with pain issues with raised beds?

 

[Acre4Me]

We grow pole beans for drying (such as for using for soup), and bush beans for fresh eating green beans. I’ve grown pole beans for green beans but did not prefer this bc beans hid among the leaves very well, and they would become tough- could have been the variety.

We have 10 ft trellis for pole beans, and it’s usually full to the top with vines.

Watering as needed, but beans aren’t as water needy as some other things.

We have raised beds, but my biggest challenge is that right when they pop out of the ground something eats them (the new leaves), so I spray with Sevin bc then I only lose a few sprouts, and one spray application at the right time seems to

 

[NanaK]

Is it easier for you with pain issues with raised beds?

We tend to have hot dry summers unless we have a hurricane. So I find my garden does better planted directly in the ground and I don't have to water as much. The fall/winter garden also seems more hardy. I use wide rows to give me plenty of room to work.