A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 anchoring bean poles?

I was just wondering how to build and anchor a bean pole so it would blow over in the wind.

I also want to be able to take it down each season.

Possible design would be like a narrow swingset with srings across bottom and top and then the up-down strings between the two. Or is that overkill?

over kill never!
ive seen so many get blown over.
i use scafold poles 3 in my row, and steel wires top middle and bottom.
then i use bamboo canes 8ft long, driven in the ground about 9 inches, each one tied to the steel wires!!!
now i dont worry when the weather forcast says its gonna get windy tonight
i say go for it!!

Mark...what do you mean about scaffold poles? I only know of scaffolding as the steel structures that painters, etc. put together.
I've heard of some varieties of beans that grow 16 feet! How would you harvest those? LOL
There are lots of ways to support beans, but one I hear about a lot is using bamboo or other poles in a teepee shape. Train one vine up each leg.

scaffolding, yeah thats what i use!
i find nearly all the bamboo only structures fall over at some time!
theres a big windload when them beans get to 6 or 7 feet, even the teepee shaped ones dont stand up too well if theres a decent wind blowing!
if i was going to make a teepee i would still use a scaffold pole in the centre, then tie canes to it.
its a bit of a mission to get the pole in, in the first place!
but its well worth it.
its just so hard to re fix once they have gone over,(harder than banging in them poles)
16 feet! i pinch mine when they reach about 7 then the side shoots grow better.

Good to know. I've only grown the bush type. It's not uncommon here to have wind gusts over 50 mph. Without storms! We've had over a dozen days so far this year when the winds gusted to 40 plus most of the day...and temps over 80 F., even 90, at the same time, as early as Feb. Hard to do tender crops here... Temps were abnormal, winds were not.

ive not grown the bush type yet, only in french beans!
the crop from pole beans are a lot heavier!
you can never have enough friends n family when they start

Mark...in the south and central states here, green beans and new potatoes cooked together are practically worshipped! And often with bacon as seasoning. Do you do that there?

I love new potatoes or chunked russets...green beans, and chopped bacon. In foil over a campfire, one of our favorite camping foods.

As for the bean poles...should I bury the ends so they are anchored somewhat, and then I can take them down at season end?

That's a good idea. What I do is take a 2 foot length of pipe with a piece of duct tape around the middle (at the 1 foot mark). Then I pound it into the ground till the duct tape is at ground level giving me 1 foot deep holes. I pull the pipe out with a circular motion to widen and pack down the sides of the hole then simply put my bean poles in the resulting holes and tie them together at the top. This works great for the 10 foot copper pipes I use for my bean poles. If you use wooden stakes, you probably won't be able to get them a foot into the ground, but it should still help. Get up on a ladder and pound 'em down the rest of the way.

dave
i eat all of what you mentioned!
but we never cook them together, i wont let anything near my new potatoes!! i have them on a seperate plate, just waiting for large amounts of cold butter!

I agree with that Dave!!!!!! Nothing beats that first pot each gardening season! I grow bush green beans also, but my neighbor grows pole beans and he placed metal T post in the ground and strung heavy string between the poles and had no problems with wind, and the beans grew up onto the strings with no help from him.

Last year I used three 10FT REBAR poles for sweet 100 cherry tomatoes & also for green beans. I tied them with plastic fasteners-it worked great & was too heavy to fall over.

I decided to use 7' fence posts (steel t post) and nylon netting for my climbers.

I make a frame using metal electrical conduit available atv places like Lowes or Home Depot stores. I like the 1" size on the outside and use 1/2" in between. I use 1/2" conduit across the top - couplings are available to connect extra lengths. The cross poles are attached to the uprights by bending heavy wire so that a length goes down the upright and a loop is made to hold the cross piece. I use a nylon netting available from Gardeners Supply. It has about 5" holes and will last for years. I weave the netting onto the cross pole. I affix the netting to the poles with electricians' tape. This setup has worked very well for me. Hope you like it!