What's a good support for runner beans?

I bought "Sonoran Azufrado" beans last year, which were labeled as half-runners. Well, after they outgrew their 3-foot stakes and turned into a terrible (but high-producing!) tangle I figured that was probably wrong, but had no idea how tall they actually got. Loved the taste and the fact that they produced well in late summer, so I grew them again this year. This year, to support them, I'm growing them on upside-down conical tomato cages, which are at least 4 1/2 feet high. They've easily outstripped the tomato cages, and several of them are now growing up into the mesquite tree that overhangs the garden. I'm guessing they'll get to at least 7 feet before they're done, and I'm not sure how I'll get up there to pick!

What other support ideas does anyone have for super-tall pole beans? It has to be something I can easily put up, take down and store, because I don't have enough space in my raised beds to dedicate to just one crop. Looking forward to next year already!

Thanks for the help!

(Edited to fix height of tomato cages)

This message was edited Oct 11, 2009 6:27 PM

Jill, I set 8' bamboo poles upright in the ground at intervals of five feet or more and then lashed bamboo cross-pieces top and bottom. Between the cross-pieces I strung baling twine up and down so it made big W's all along the row. I plant the seeds right under the lower cross-piece. When the beans grow past the top cross-piece they just come back down again - unless there's a handy tree branch they can grab onto.

That's one method, anyway.

I bet I could rig up something similar, maybe using the PVC I've already got. Thanks for the idea, greenhouse_gal!

I did the bamboo for tomatoes this year. One thought that crossed my mind was a cattle panel with staked upright with a couple of T posts. One lady in town has an arch of cattle panels built for her beans. The runner beans cover it and she can walk underneath it to pick the beans in the shade. It is very decorative too.

How did the bamboo work for your tomatoes, Podster? I think I'm going to set my tripods a little farther apart next year to allow for more circulation, and NOT use the overhead sprinkler. I had a lot of foliage disease this season.

I can't quite picture the cattle panel idea but it sounds pretty. Photos?

Ooh, yes please, photos, Podster? I love the idea but like greenhouse_gal, can't quite picture what it might look like. And I have tons of rabbit panel I could use, so the price would be right.

I purchased two bean and pea towers from Burpee - here's a link:

http://www.burpee.com/product/id/103399.do

We have bamboo growing in one corner of our back yard, so I had hubby cut two of the longest/strongest canes.

I set the bean/pea towers almost as far apart as the bamboo stakes. Then I fastened one to the top (between the two towers) and one at the bottom (between the two towers) and tied lengths of jute twine between the bamboo stakes. I used cable ties to fasten bamboo to towers.

Runner beans and tall peas (like Oregon Sugar Pod) grow very will up the towers and the string.

On this side of the Pond bamboo stakes are almost universal. One common format is a wigwam. Eight eight-foot stakes in a four foot circle tied at the top. Two plants per stake. Myself I use a double row of stakes one foot apart and eighteen inches between the rows, the rows joined at the top, with a cane at the top along the rows: again two plants per stake. Some gardeners use a single row; but this is very vulnerable to wind.

Pat George

HoneybeeNC, I like your idea of using bean towers as anchors for more bean supports between!


Pat, if I understand, you end up with a wall about 1 foot wide and however long you go, joined across the top, with beans going up each of the supports?

I can see I need to get much more creative with my bean support plans. I've just never grown anything beyond bush beans--and especially not anything as enthusiastic as these Sonoran Azufrado beans!

Pat, we used to do bean teepees too, and they worked well as long as we used cedar poles because they have so much texture that the beans climbed them well. They didn't seem to like bamboo as much, though. Maybe they were too smooth. The kids used to love to crawl into the teepees when they were young, though, and nibble the beans.

Hmmm... I think I might be fighting the kids off so I could sit in the teepee and nibble beans! :)

Wonder if my infamous PVC pipes would be sufficiently textured for bean-climbing?

Not if they're like my PVC pipes. We use them for a variety of things around the place - to protect the electrical cord from the outlet to the heated base for the poultry waterer in the winter, and to roll our docks out of the water and onto higher ground. Those are pretty smooth. I think one reason that twine works well is because it's easy for it to cling to.

I was just glad I was getting the kids to ingest a green vegetable, although really they're never a hard sell when they're raw!

And, of course, anything tastes better when you think you're getting away with something forbidden... little do they know how happy we are if they're illicitly snacking on garden beans rather than chips! :)

I'll do some rethinking on my PVC teepee plan, then. Mine have been spray painted and over the years have acquired some surface roughness, but I bet you're right, it's not enough.

Well, it might be. Ours are still pretty smooth. If yours have been spray painted maybe that will do it, though.

I don't have enough growing season left to expect any production, but I bet if I planted a couple seeds they'd germinate and grow enough to test out the PVC supports. Worth a shot, anyway, and would give me an idea about how to do next year.

That's a good idea, Jill. I was gonna say it's a shame you can't test it first!

I scanned the cattle panel arbor with runner beans on it. This was written up in an earlier TX Gardener issue. It is staked by T posts. On the left you can see another cattle panel placed vertically for trellising other plants.

The bamboo worked for my application and I will utilize it again next summer.

This was the least successful. The trellis was supported by vertical risers. I feel the angle was too sharp and the trellis had to be repropped a few times this summer.

This one worked well and is still supporting a crop of Porter tomatoes. This trellis was over 8' tall, 2' wide and 8' long. I used a plastic mesh to weave the tomato vines thru.

At the end of this bed trellis, I made a teepee of sorts using 5 bamboo stakes. It supported squash as well as tomatoes.

The other end of that bed also supported beans.

All in all, I was happy with the bamboo for trellises. I am afraid if the plant is delicate it would be burned too harshly in our sun/heat to grow on metal. I believe the runner beans would be among the hardier plants and could be used on a metal trellis.

Podster, thanks for those photos! It looks like a very nice setup. I've seen folding trellises for beans and cucumbers like the one in the first photo of your garden, and they've always seemed like a neat idea.

Thanks for all those pics, Podster! Lots of great trellising ideas there--not only in "how to", but in "what to"--I tend to let things sprawl, but I bet you get much better results with getting things up off the ground.

I definitely have to get more creative with what I do. Not only do they seem to be extremely functional, but it looks great, too!

Edited to add, I think the "Hall of Beans" has my name all over it--that's wonderful!

This message was edited Oct 13, 2009 8:18 AM

Came across this bamboo support for peppers if anyone is interested... http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-1716,00.html

I just came across this thread after Podster bumped it up with the link for the pepper support - there are some great ideas here! I love using bamboo in the garden, it blends in with everything so nicely. Podster, your trellises look great, and I have to say I love the cattle panel arbor - I can think of a lot of uses for that one!

Jill - how did your test of the PVC trellis come out? I wouldn't think the beans would be able to grab the PVC too well, but I bet you could easily make a teepee, or even just an upright frame, and use the "trellis netting" that's sold in just about every seed catalog -- here's a picture of my bean trellis, these pole beans (African Blue, aka Blue Peter) easily go up to the top (over 8 feet tall) and then about halfway back down.

Sorry I never posted the end of my saga, Weedwhacker, but I was mighty irritated. I planted seeds, seeds sprouted, dratted birds dug up and ate every one of them. So no test results for me!

I'll give it another try this spring just to see what happens. The beans I planted really love the fall, but I bet they'll go long enough to try my climbing experiment. The beans did end up well over 9 feet, and went up into the tree. Not sure exactly how I'm going to get the dead vines down...

Wow podster, I didn't know you had so much bamboo power. Don't get mad if I copy your teepee's ok.

RATFOOD ~ Fancy meeting you here... LOL

I loved the bamboo and raided a large patch that was growing a few miles down the road. Many of us gardeners and a few fisherman managed to keep it under control last spring. I think I'll be able to reuse mine but am keeping an eye of the patch in case I need a spring harvest of fresh. I found a patch on the back of our property but it is smaller bamboo, commonly known in this area as switchcane and not suitable for trellis's.

Heh, I think I was following something twiggybuds was writing about suffocating mosquitoes in kiddy-pools and next thing I know I'm in the "bamboo trellis forum", go figure... Anyhow, I actually have an "unused" section of earth in the greenbelt behind the fence here. I think it would be a great place to grow bamboo so i'm planting some this year. Do you happen to know if clumping or running bamboo makes for better trellises?

Be careful about bamboo; it's invasive. I've been tempted but have resisted the urge because of that. Different types of bamboo are more or less invasive, and more or less suitable for garden purposes. You might want to do some research on types.

I never got around to putting mine under cover in the barn over the winter and it still looks sturdy and quite usable.

Amazing how these different threads can wrap us around their finger. I am sorry but no bamboo expert here. I suspect you and your neighbors will appreciate the clumping kind as it won't take over the world. Maybe a foray into east TX with your machete' would be safer. Folks sneak out and cut bamboo and don't realize that the more it is cut the better it will grow. Bamboo is a dangerous thing ~ best handled with respect.

OK Clumping it is! The thing is I need to fill this empty pie-shaped piece of land with "something" to protect that back corner of my property. I was thinking of thorned blackberries but the right bamboo would be even better. If I can get it to 10' tall it would help block out a neighbors property so it's win-win-win with the trellis. I saw some 50'+ tall bamboo at http://www.bamboosourcery.com so now I am excited... Imagine how big your pole beans would be with 50' trellises!

Lord have mercy... please research first. I am not a bamboo expert and that could be the bamboo that ate San Antonio. Let me go look at your link...

Come on podster, if you know I don't do any research beyond the say-so at DG. Besides wheres the fun in something working out exactly as planned? If the bamboo takes over san antonio we'll just move out toward the east. First we'll take out Gymgirl , then we're coming for you>>>> Bamboo in tow!

Here we come

Imagine the beans you could grow on one of Gymgirls bamboo's! You'd make Jack very proud....

LOL ~ I am the wrong person to say that to... I just spent the past two weekends pulling up nandina, liriope, ivy, mex petunias and asian jasmine. All that in between doing taxes ~ I not only have a death grip, I have a temper to go with it. 8 )

Good grief! You could live in one of them. 50' bamboo trelli to grow 'maters. You would get a nosebleed harvest them at that altitude.

OK this is to get rid of Pods temper: