Quote:
Originally Posted by habitat_gardener
wow -- it's as big as a squash plant. Looking forward to the taste report.
I don't have that variety, but when I've only picked a handful, I like to eat them raw in the garden. (Which leads to a question: once they form pods, what is the picking window? I'm not sure if I should pick every one when I see it, or wait a day or two for it to get larger.)
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Up here I pick every two days, call it three times a week. I'll pick all of the pods that I consider ready from the patch. That is with clemson spineless, double row planted, a foot or more between plants. Generally only picking the lowermost per stalk, if it looks ready. I want to pick as big as possible, while on the young side. A good eye evaluating them is just something that takes some reps to develop. I do eat a few raw each time. They are so good.
With a lot of water, they grow pretty quick, so that might be mostly a fat 4-6". 7-8" are usually a miss from last picking, unless a 6" was had a very pliable nose that I trusted to let on the plant. If I pass on a 5" pod, two days later it might be 6 1/2" and perfect, or still 5" and turning. Depends on the pod age and growing conditions. Picking every one that hits 5" is okay with me, since those extra two days of growth energy will be used by the plant for faster growth of the next few pods.
If it is dry, or late in the season, I have to lower expectations and pick smaller. A 3" pod might be the time to pick, then. Or 3"-4" due to a lot of shade, might be the picking size for that row. They love sun, high heat, and wet.
The last few years I picked up the habit of cutting the supporting leaf along with the pod. I think it was Rajun that mentioned that. It seems to help a lot for making space and keeping track of where to look on each plant for the next pod. Last year it worked well.
I put a pic here to understand the way I grow clemson spineless here in PA. Not a bush with a lot of space all around, but double rows. It probably makes the choice (pick?: y/n) simpler. This is three double rows from a morning this week. They just started producing. In that space I could fit six big bushes, but I don't think the production would be nearly as steady, early, or as much overall. We are getting past the japanese beetle surge here and these are taking off with the recent rain and seemingly constant heat. The rows are close to N-S so that was an early morning shot according to the big white sun-dial.