HI, I read somewhere on gardenweb that someone grew a greenbean on a vining plant that grew tall, that it was the most productive green bean and they wouldn't grow any other kind....i can't remember where exactly I read this and was wondering if anyone had any recommendation for a superior bean such as this? I've never grown green beans and would like to try with a superior variety.
I'm in zone 6/7 on the coast.
Most productive superior greenbean?
They are talking about a pole bean. There are is much disagreement about which is superior. Poles beans are quite good for limited space and longer bearing season. While I grow a few, because I like the flavor. I am not among those that believe pole beans are superior to bush beans.
Thanks farmerdill. I think i recall the name blue lake?
thanks
I grow 2 very prolific, delicious pole beans: emerite and trionfo violetto. I used to grow bush beans but not any more. These are much more productive, use less space, and are not as likely to be eaten by slugs.
Blue Lake is an antique( 19th century) pole bean that is still quite popular. There have been a whole series of bush beans developed to emulate its flavor. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n4_v196/ai_18285074/
Yep, there's a Blue Lake pole bean: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/39354/
Pole beans are great space savers, and I think they look nice. I grew Kentucky Wonder pole beans and they still produced after being heavily attacked by Japanese beetles.
Beans are easy. Just make sure your pole or trellis is in place and direct sow them when the soil is 60 - 85 degrees. If you have cutworms in your area, push half of a toilet paper tube into the ground to make sure that the cutworms can't get to the seedlings.
They continue to produce after the first beans ripen, although the yield gradually decreases. Most people also recommend succession planting (planting a few seeds, then planting a few more 2-3 weeks later, and so on) to extend the harvest.
The attached picture is from Triomphe de Farcy, an heirloom bush bean dating back to the 1890s.
About 5 years ago I got a package of Pole Filet Beans from Renees Gardens which contained both Ramdor yellow and Emerite green beans. I had always planted regular filet beans and loved them but the pole beans sounded so practical and space saving. I have never gone back to anything but this packet. It is prolific and keeps us in beans until frost. They don't get tough and can be harvested as very small to much bigger and retain their crunchiness and great flavor. I'm sure there are other super varieties of Pole Beans but for filet types these can't be beaten!
I've always grown bush beans but today I was eying my 20 ' of trellis in the front yard and thinking about pole beans, winter squash and melons. On second thought, I decided it needed to be pole beans because with melons I'd have every visitor sniffing and hinting for a gift.
I think I'll get several kinds and keep succession planting all season. Do you all think I could plant a row on both sides of the trellis or only one? The sun will be directly overhead all day since they run east to west. I'd like to get enough to freeze a bunch.
Wow, you guys are jam packed with great bits of info.
Bebop2 - thanks for the info on the 2 types you grow.
Farmerdill - thanks for the info and the article, I enjoyed reading it.
dividedsky = thanks for all the info. When you say a pole, i'm not sure if your talking about a plane old wooden pole? I've never grown these so I may have to start a new thread that says "pls post a pic of your support for pole beans". Your pic of Triomphe de Farcy is really pretty.
gardadore - thanks for the info on the types of beans you grow, they sound yummy. I need to find out what a filet bean is, i'm new to beans and have no idea. the package of beans from 5 yrs ago is still good? Wow, that's getting your moneys worth:-)
twiggybuds - hopefully one of these fine people will answer your question -- wish I could but i can't:-) too new to this.
Pole beans, if you can make a support, get my vote for sure. I hate picking bush beans, it seems harder on the back than picking any other veggie. My Blue Lake gave me all I wanted last year, and I even got tired of picking them.
Answering another question, we just put up two metal fence posts with hog wire stretched between. Worked very well until the plants got so heavy we had to add more support with more metal fence posts. Our whole planting was about 6 feet long. I will try to find a picture tomorrow.
They sound like absolute monsters to get that heavy on only a 6' run. I hope I can get tired of picking them. Lol.
Here's a good picture from plant files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/45551/
I like bamboo. But the bamboo that's typically in the store around here is only 6 feet, which kind of works but really isn't tall enough. You can see in the picture in that link that some people use long wood stakes. Some people use those metal fence post things. Anything that they can vine up.
Twiggy, I think you could plant both sides of the trellis if you staggered them so that each vine has room to grow. They don't take up too much space.
Thanks dividedsky. I could easily do the rows 12" apart. I've heard that bamboo grows all over the country and maybe you could ask for cutting priviledges on craigslist or freecycle. I use it for tomatoes and it works great, peppers too. I think I'll lash some together for melons and running squash supports. I know I've seen photos of pole beans on bamboo tee pees.
Maureen,
The filet beans are known better as French filet - they are usually longer and thinner than the regular beans, pencil width. I think they are used more by "gourmet" restaurants. Most varieties are Bush but these two are the exceptional Pole varieties that I mentioned above. I prefer them in general for taste and the fact that they are good at all stages of development. Check out www.reneesgarden.com/ for a description of the package I mentioned above. She's the only vendor I can find to carry the yellow ones. The green Emirates can be found at other vendors. Try these and some of the Blue Lake and see if you prefer one over the other! You might love both! No harm in that!
We use two tomato cages, one piled on top of the other, and plant the beans all around them, about 6 inches apart. It works very well. Last year we had three set up (6 cages in all) and got a ton of beans. They produced from July till frost.
I'll add another vote for pole beans - very productive and a lot easier on the back when it comes to picking! I tried a new one (to me) last year called Garden of Eden and it was earlier than others I've grown and very productive, as well as very tasty. Our trellis is about 25 feet long and we eat as many as we can fresh, give lots away, and still freeze 25-30 pounds for the winter. I do plant a short row of bush beans for an earlier crop, though - last summer was so cold we didn't have any of the pole beans ready until mid August.
Sandy
We should also mention that many supply companies offer various kinds of trellis, if you want to that route. Here's one: http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Search-ShowCategory?cgid=VegetableGardening_Supports&PageSize=2000
Here is a pic, though not very good of our green bean fence. This provided us with enough to freeze, can, and eat fresh and I still got tired of picking them after a while. They were the Blue Lake variety mentioned earlier, but you must be aware that our summers are very mild and not hot.
And here is a pic of our lovely canned pickled green beans. I posted the recipe on
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1065848/
thank you all very much for all these great pics and ideas. I am really grateful to you all for your suggestions:-)
I've got to try those pickled green beans. Sound yummy.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1066511/
Check out the links for beans listed by Gary in this link.
I never expected to find so many bean choices.
Warning NSW : Not safe for your wallet if you look at the choices. You have been warned. :-)
Oh, yes! That was the link where I checked out cherrygal.com and they got a check as well! LOL!
I placed an order too. I will have pole beans too and hopefully some of those lovely pickled ones.
And don't forget to save a little room for Italian Flat Beans. OMG - I tried them 2 years ago and will never be without them again. We had a horrendous year last year with the awful weather, early blight, and "best" of all late blight, so the beans were the highlight of my garden. they stated in Spring and i was still picking them in the first couple of snow falls.
I, too, like the French filets, but I cheated and bought a Frencher, so my flat beans become Ooh-la-la!!!
Melissa - I do boths sides of my bean trellis and only space them about 6" apart. It's been my experience that they like to be crowded. In fact, when the vines start reaching above the 6' crown, I just send them back down to continue growing, or tie a string across the top over to the corner of the enclosure for the raised bed and let them have at the deer fencing. CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY BEANS!!!
Beans- can't live without them! I too, love Italian flat beans- my favorite (and it may not be Italian) is Kwintus- wonderful flat, crunchy, totally stringless even if they get 12" long! I absolutely love them! I got my seeds from Parks, but others have them too. Very productive,too.
I originally got mine (Helda) from a DG'er in Spain, but now that I'm hooked, I'm finding them different varieties in local nursery shops. Guess I just never knew to look for them.
Oh, yes--I tried the Italian flat beans last year. Just a couple of vines. This year there will me MANY vines. It is DH's one request and they were easy for me. A happy find!
You guys are a terrible influence. Now I was forced to order some Kwintus.
You show no mercy at all... :-)
You will be a happy man...
No one has mentioned Fortex, which is my favorite. It's a filet bean, long and stringless, with a great flavor. I grow a long row of them (about 20') and have enough for most of the winter, although I also grow Pelandron bush, a very productive and tasty bean. I used to grow Trionfo de Violetto and liked those, too.
I think the Emerite Pole Bean is similar to the Fortex. The Emirate is in the mixed packet I get from Renees garden every year along with the Ramdor yellow filet pole. Some day I will do a comparison planting since the Emirate is similar to your description. I have now found the Ramdor being offered separately at Solana in Canada. http://www.solanaseeds.netfirms.com/beans.html
It is one of the very few yellow filet pole beans available as far as I can tell. Both are prolific and produce until frost if picked regularly.
I want to grow the pole bean Fortex. How does it do in the wind? I grow bush beans for market and it kills my back to pick them. Pole beans would be so much easier.
I used to grow acres of pole beans (white half runner, turkey beans, greasy beans and white mcsomething) in TN. My only attempt in TX at growing pole beans was a failure but it could have been the variety (white lady from T&M because it was all I could find at the time). Beans will be in 34 ft raised beds, 4 ft wide with cattle fencing for support.
Gardadore, I think Emerite and Fortex are two different varieties of beans. Fortex is long and slender, but I also really like the taste - and it freezes well. I have a hard time keeping up with the production but it keeps me in beans all winter if I can.
Calalily, the last couple of years I grew Fortex on a temporary trellis that we made with bamboo poles and twine, so it really didn't go anywhere when it was windy.
When I'm picking my bush beans I bring a little garden stool out and sit on that while harvesting. It's a real back saver!
They are two varieties but similar in that both are filet types (long and slender). From googling the Fortex I see it will grow longer than the Emerite and still taste good. I don't let my Emerite get longer than 7" and don't really know how long it could get. Some like the flavor of one over the other. It's personal preference I would guess. Have never tasted Fortex.
Scheepers describes the Emerite thus: Émérite Filet Pole Beans: 50-60 days
Now, pole bean enthusiasts can have their filets and eat them too! Émérite is a true filet bean from France, generously borne in cascading clusters on graceful vines growing to 8’. Pole beans out-produce bush beans due to their protracted harvest and, in this case, what a harvest! Émérite sets heavy yields of uniformly slim, 1/4” filet beans. Special breeding work to slow seed production within the bean allows harvest at any stage from teeny baby filets to mature filet beans at 7” long. The vines are beautiful - delicate rose-pink blossoms contrast with the large, soft green, deeply-veined leaves. (OP.)
And yes, Calalilly, pole beans will do wonders for your back! That's why I stopped planting the bush types! LOL
Greenhouse_gal I will see if I can get a garden stool between the rows. The isle is a little over a foot wide between raised beds. Sometimes I sit on the other raised bed if nothing is growing on the edge, but that kind of squishes the soil.
Gardadore, now I don't know which one to choose! The pink flowers sound pretty.
Plant some of both or all........? I think I will add Fortex this summer as a comparison. But if you like yellow Renee's is the way to go.You get two types in one packet and they look pretty growing with the yellow and green growing together.
Jessica
Thanks for introducing me to Renees seeds. I spent hours reading there yesterday and put in a good order. I'm eager to grow some beans and other things that are new to me.
I grew pole beans along my 8 foot chain link fence I have around my veggie garden. It was great for a support. The vines went all the way to the top and supported the beans well. Only problem was the deer came and ate all the beans dangling on the outside of the fence. :) I plan to remedy that this time around. :)