Anybody Plant Pole Beans?

[JackE]

Yes, Rattlesnake is a lot more heat tolerant I remembered that after I made the above post. We considered Rattlesnake for that reason, but our vegetable stand volunteers wanted a conventional green snap/string bean. Our clientele reacts very negatively to anything different or that appears "off-the-wall." Sad but true.

I guess the KY Blue will be finished when they quit making.

Thanks again.

[BlackestKrim]

Last summer I had an insane amount of production from those asian yard-long beans. The flavor was also really nice. This year I plan to grow both purple and green varieties.

I also got some pole lima beans from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and they did really well.

I staple black plastic hardware cloth/deer fencing to my wooden fence with a staple gun. That provided great support for my beans to grow on and was easy to install, so I recommend it to other backyard growers.

I have heard a lot of rattlesnake beans but havent tried them. Perhaps I'll pick up some seeds. I just got such great production off of yard-long beans that I am hesitant to go to normal green beans, which don't seem to give as much production.

[dustdevil]

BK, variety is the spice of life...grow some other varieties of beans to experience different tastes and textures. Yardlongs are good, but I don't think they're the "Holy Grail" of beans.

[puttgirl]

McCaslan's is a very good one. I've always liked Kentucky wonder and blue lake, too. For delicious filet beans, Emerite and Ramdor (a yellow pole) were great, too. Like everyone said, Rattlesnake, and Purple trionfo violetto are two good ones.
For a butter/lima, Sieva is great!

[unkadan]

How far apart are we setting the T-posts on these 5' wire trellis for beans and cukes?

I have swirling wind conditions in my gardens and worry more about that than overload from weight.

[JackE]

If you are using the old-type 5' concrete reinforcing wire that comes in a roll, you need a t-post every six feet.

If you are using the heavier gauge CWR that is sold as a flat panel - which is more common nowadays - you can probably space them at 8 -10 ft. I've never used the panel stuff, so that's just a guess. The gauge looks to be about half-way between regular CWR and a cattle panel. The roll wire is getting kinda hard to find. Many stores don't carry it anymore - the panels are a lot quicker and easier for contractors to handle, but harder for us because there's a lot of cutting involved.

Trellises should always run parallel to the prevailing wind. Here on the Gulf Coast it's south to north, but the swirling winds of a strong thunderstorm can do a lot of damage all right!

Jack

[JackE]

Well, my Ky Blues are up and look healthy. Now if I can just keep the rabbits and Leaf Cutters out of 'em! Those Leaf Cutter ants we have love any legume (they are quite selective) and can completly strip 100 ft row of beans in one night. They don't touch cucurbits or tomatoes, but wipe-out okra and beans.

I regret not planting Rattlesnake. Probably won't get more than a couple pickings from these before the heat gets them.

It's bone dry here. Watering every day. A good front passed north of us and went across Luziana a couple days ago, and we didn't get a drop - just saw the lighning off to the north. The NWS forecast 80% chance this AM and all we got was a brief sprinkle - not even enough to wet the leaves. Our lake level is still okay, but the feeder creek is no longer running. If it stays this dry, the lake will go down fast when the heat hits and we'll be out-of-business. I haven't checked records, but I believe this was the driest March we've ever had.

Jack

[Colorado_west]

People ! Red round tomatoes and the small ones were selling, yellow pear probably best as store had them. On yellow wax beans I was asked if they had to shell them. I tell them they are yellow greenbeans, purple ones turn green on cooking. No you do not cook water melon. I had Sugarbabies. One guy said he did not know potatoes grew in the ground. But they bought large zucchinis for bread. One guy grilled them.

I had thought about doing a Florida weave on the small fruited tomatoes but my rows to get irrigation run north to south. We some some wind from north but some from the west. Not fun picking. I decided the wind might flaten them. No pole beans. Every thing on the ground. I don't think they have turned the irrigation on yet. My problrm is raccoons in the corn. Then some years have had Curly top virus in the tomatoes.

[JackE]

We had an excellent crop on the vines last year with our first planting of trellised pole beans, but, unfortunately, we lost our irrigation water before the first picking, followed by 45 straight days of 100+ temps. Nonetheless, we did get one good picking. We appreciate y'all's help on this last year.

We are looking forward to planting them again in 2012. We still have plenty of KY-Blue seed, enough to plant the 400 running feet of trellis that we now have on drip tape.

The old vines did not rot completly on the CRW trellises and are still there. I'm wondering if we need to clean those off, so the beans don't grab onto them instead of the sturdy wire? I hope not - it would be a big job by hand!

Jack

[lakelady]

Jack, I think it's great that you're trying to bring people together. There isn't enough of that in this world today, so it's encouraging to hear!

I'd also vote for the Trionfo purple pole beans, this was my first year growing them, and boy were they not only prolific, but can grow very large (vines and beans!), stringless and delicious. Easy to find too . My back can't take the bending over anymore to pick beans either. I did not water mine really at all this summer except a couple of times, and they thrived. Then again, we had a lot of rain and humidity.

What if you gave away mini bags with purchase to encourage people to try them? Not a lot, just a tiny bit. I don't know if you can afford to do that, but it sure would be a great way to get people to try something new they might not purchase otherwise. Or free bag with $20.00 purchase, something like that. People love anything free.

[JackE]

Our veggies are all free, Antoinette. We do have a donation can for those who wish to contribute something to help us with the expenses. We operate in a minority neighborhood and our clientele is not like suburban gourmets at a farmers market - they balk at anything out of the ordinary. Next year, we are going to plant Dixie Lee brown crowder peas instead of Purple Hull because we need the nematode-resistance and I really doubt that many of our customers will eat them - some will though. Some of the older folks, who were raised on the land, will remember them from years past and tell the others they are safe to eat.

Jack

[lakelady]

Ah, okay Jack, I see your dilemma. Reminds me of my mom in a way...she's actually very good about experimenting, except with tomatoes. They are red, or they are red and that's all there is to it. Maybe next year I'll change her mind

[JackE]

A few years ago, we changed from regular old Florida Broadleaf mustard to a tendergreen type - japanese Komatsuna, often called "Spinach Mustard" here. They wanted no part of it at first - until we gave some to a lady from a local black church and told her to cook it for their Wednesday night pot luck. She did, and the whole congregation was down at the stand on Thursday begging for some.

I've got some seed for heirloom "ripe-when-green" tomatoes that I'm going to grow for fun next year - in the flower gardens by the house. I can't wait to take a plate to our church potluck - it will blow their minds. My wife says they won't touch them. Personally, I'm not a big fan of tomato. I'll eat a slice on a hamburger and that's about it.

Jack

[Worth1]

http://www.tomatoville.com/forumdisplay.php?f=156

[JackE]

I prefer to just stay here, Worth. I'm afraid I'll get into trouble over on those threads. Been there before on other sites. Most home gardening forums are very organically-oriented and many of those folks find chemical references downright offensive - for many dedicated organic gardeners today, this almost approaches religious zealotry.

In fact, I think christianity is gradually being replaced with a kind of post modern "pantheism" - the worship of the natural world - which is, as a matter of historical fact, actually a throwback to the pre-christian era. For that reason, to avoid conflict, I only participate on market type forums where modern chemistry is not viewed as "sinful".

Jack