Comments on: Everything you ever wanted to know about pole beans

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 23:37:23 +0000

Great article. I learned a few things, the most important that half runners are the beans to grow with corn. I have a new appreciation of pinto’s! I grew dried beans when I lived in Shelburne, The other VT., lol. I’ve recently gotten back into growing beans. I’m in the mid-atlantic now and bean beetle is my biggest problem. I have a pole bean that was sent to me by an acquaintance from NM. HE lives on a reservation and claims it was found in a cave. This bean is indestructible. Last year the bean beetles nearly defoliated it, AND we had 18″ rain in August and it still set a decent crop. It grows like a weed until late summer when it blooms prolifically and produces many pods that dry just in time in my area (late September).

One question: I’ve read many times from bean growers that beans really don’t need to be separated for purity. Is your 20′ from experience or caution?

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:29:57 +0000

An excellent article on pole beans. I took the year off from them last season and mostly grew bush beans and enough runner beans to keep my seed stock up. This year I am going back to pole beans, we had too many mold/mildew issues with the bush beans…and to be honest, I simply prefer watching the the pole beans grow.:)

By: gayle

gayle — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:03:02 +0000

Wonderful article!
We’ve been growing pole beans for quite awhile (Fortex, Lazy Housewife, and Kentucky Wonder, mostly) but have been using the teepee method. I grew up in Kansas and that was how I learned to grow pole beans – I hadn’t thought about the differences in humidity between here and there. Thank you!