need advice with pole beans

Pepper 5/2/2012, 3:59 pm

I think I have over planted my pole beans. As a newbe SFG I need all the help I can get.

So here is the problem in a 4ft by 8ft bed I planted the 3 back rows (sun's prospective) with greenbeans pole variety, on the west half ( 3ft by 4ft) section are Kentucky Wonder stringless and on the east half Blue Lake stringless. Now that they are comming up I am afraid I planted WAY TOO MANY beans. My concern is they will not get enough sun to produce properly.

I need advice:

1 do I leave them alone to see what happens?

2 do I need to thin the crop? if so suggest methods

Kentucky wonders

looking north need advice with pole beans P5023010

looking east need advice with pole beans P5023011

Blue lake

looking north( these are not as dense) need advice with pole beans P5023012

looking west need advice with pole beans P5023013

BackRiver_SFG 5/2/2012, 4:24 pm

What a great looking start to your crop!

Before the plants get too much bigger, thin if needed, and you will be more likely to have a more healthy and strong crop. Mels's suggestion for pole beans is to plant 2 rows of four seeds for every square foot. Having the 2 rows of four, allows placement your trellace in the middle.

You seem to have a real nice medium for your beans to climb as well as a plentiful starter crop. I would visualize the square foots in your garden and thin out your weaker plants so the number is 8 per square foot and there is easy access to your trellace.

I am planting mine this weekend! Good luck. I'm sure you get some other great ideas from the forum.

**camprn** 5/2/2012, 4:35 pm

I think you will be fine whether you thin or not. They will be competing for space vertically. Did you say your trellis is 10 foot tall? Good thing!!! Make a note for next year to add beds and plant all your pole beans in the back row. Wink

I think you are going to have a bear of a time harvesting all those beans. I hope you like frozen beans and dilly beans. What a Face

If you have extras your local food pantry/soup kitchen will be happy to take whats left to feed the hungry! Maybe you can sell beans road side . affraid

Pepper 6/14/2012, 3:35 pm

Wellllllllllll been pretty dispondent about my beans; havent posted any pic's for weeks now. They are not in MM the 'natures mix has way too much pine bark so nitrogen deficiency is rampant. Anyway no sence crying bout spilled milk. I have had several good pickens that tasted real good. Laughing

My trellises is 8 foot and some achieved that height.

Camprn ; I tried the compost tea idea then the next week topdressed with a blend of Black Cow Compost and Mushroom compost. I still think the bad dirt and the dense planting has cought up with me. The plants got hit with leaf rollers and something else I never found.

before attack

need advice with pole beans P5193018

now after

some of the leaf rollers need advice with pole beans P6083110

I still have some flowering and production has not ceased but many of the beans are yellow and no beans in the pods.

floyd1440 6/14/2012, 8:17 pm

My trellis is only 7 foot high so will my pole beans over grow it?

Pepper 6/16/2012, 8:54 pm

Found some more bugs on my beans; I need help with identification.

These look like bean alphids but I really dont know besides the one near my thumb several more up the vine need advice with pole beans P6163110

There are more that really have me stumped but are so small I am having a real hard time getting a good picture. need advice with pole beans P6153112

sceleste54 6/16/2012, 11:18 pm

Aphids !!! Hit them with a strong stream of water... And for chewing caterpillers.. use BT, aka Dipel.... organic and it stops them in their tracks !!

**Kelejan** 6/17/2012, 3:18 am

Pepper:

I feel that you are going to have a very interesting time with your beans by the time they have finished growing. Very Happy

**Kelejan** 6/17/2012, 3:21 am

floyd1440 wrote:My trellis is only 7 foot high so will my pole beans over grow it?

They sure will, Floyd. Last year my trellis was 6 feet high and I could have done with another four feet. This year I am adding some horizontal chicken wire so that the beans can overhang the rest of the square foot bed. That way the beans will hang down and make it easy to pick. I think next year I will try a cattle panel and bend it over into an archway.

Pepper 6/17/2012, 8:50 am

Sorry floyd1440 for not answering sooner, yes they will over grow it but will then hang down and be easier to pic as Kelejan said.

Thank you for the confirmation sceleste54, I have been already using Thoricide(BT) on the catapillar thingies but was skipping the beans when spraying. They were took care of the day I photographed them. Now the alphids and what I think are spider mites are my next target of necessity. I also seem to have flea beetles to do away with. Learning is in progress.

Kelejan you are right about having "...a very interesting time ..." but with this whole gardening endeavor not just the beans.

I thank all in the forum for the advise I am getting. Watching and reading about what others are experiencing is truely enlightening. Like I told the kids in sunday school: "A smart person learns their mistakes, a WISE person learns from the mistakes others make."

floyd1440 6/17/2012, 7:11 pm

Pepper wrote:Sorry floyd1440 for not answering sooner, yes they will over grow it but will then hang down and be easier to pic as Kelejan said.

Thank you for the confirmation sceleste54, I have been already using Thoricide(BT) on the catapillar thingies but was skipping the beans when spraying. They were took care of the day I photographed them. Now the alphids and what I think are spider mites are my next target of necessity. I also seem to have flea beetles to do away with. Learning is in progress.

Kelejan you are right about having "...a very interesting time ..." but with this whole gardening endeavor not just the beans.

I thank all in the forum for the advise I am getting. Watching and reading about what others are experiencing is truely enlightening. Like I told the kids in sunday school: "A smart person learns their mistakes, a WISE person learns from the mistakes others make."

I will let them grow over and will they climb down and cling to the trellis?

Pepper 6/17/2012, 10:41 pm

I really don't know if the will grow down the trellis. The few I have that made the top have not yet started to fall. Since I have a full wire pannel across the top they will probally just meander across the fence. I used string for them to climb I do not know if they will cling to it.

Unless I kill the alphids I may never know. I plan to use a soap spray untill I can get the tomato leaf potion made. Hopefully between the two the aphids will be history and I will be able to answer your question from my own observations. Laughing

**Kelejan** 6/17/2012, 11:33 pm

I found last year that the beans climbed to the top of my trellis and then just grew into a great tangled bunch. I don't think they grow DOWN. I missed some of the beans because I could not find them until the fall when I stripped all the greenery from the trellis.

The beans turned to seed so I did not have to purchase any this year, and had enough to give away to other gardeners.

Pepper 6/27/2012, 12:33 pm

Well............ I tried the insectacidal soap seems it made them grow.

I did find something that works first time every time........ MY THUMB AND FOREFINGER need advice with pole beans 889526

Three rounds of tomato leaf spray, one round of soap and still getting ATE UP with the little boogers HELP study

Pepper 7/23/2012, 6:16 am

I am not really sure what finally killed them but thankfully they are gone. Of course the beans are destroyed, what once was a dense forest is but a few stragglers( the climbing greenery seen over the peppers) need advice with pole beans P7213215

What I labeled as aphids are actually "three-cornered alpha hoppers" need advice with pole beans P6163114

Here is the image I stumbled on to making the ID sure need advice with pole beans 13549511

and another need advice with pole beans Juveni10

I did make up a double strength soap solution in a tank sprayer that I credit as killing the infestation. I did saturate those buggers Twisted Evil

Saturday I found another infestation on the misses sunflowers. Ants seem to herd these critters also atleast feast off their residue. So used a granular ant poison to fix them pests. Then water streamed off the 'hoppers. I sure hope they die before finding a food source( like aphids would;I hope).

**walshevak** 7/23/2012, 6:15 pm

In our region it's not too late to plant more beans. We can sow seeds into Sep. Add some compost and try replanting the bare spots. You will get a late crop with fewer bug problems.

Kay

AvaDGardner 7/23/2012, 9:15 pm

I've got Blue Lakes & KY Wonders growing, too. The Blue Lakes are the tasty and prolific ones. I have had 1 plant die, but have not seen any of these type bugs. I have seen some CO potato bugs crawling by, and they just keep going somewhere else. When I take it out, I'll have to see if I can figure out why it died.

My trellis is about 4 feet tall, an arch, and the beans have reach the top of it. Now they are covering it, and have actually caused it to bow inward (I need to add a center support).

For some reason, my beans are growing north. They have southern exposure, yet are leaning north. I can't figure it out. All of them are leaning that way. It is so weird.

Ava

**camprn** 7/23/2012, 10:14 pm

My Kentucky Wonder beans grew more than 13 feet tall last year... Good luck! You goin' to have lotsa beans, YUM! What a Face

Pepper 7/24/2012, 12:00 am

yea Kay I already planted replacements where the other ones were. Most of the new troopers are up and nearly 4 inches tall. I will be watching for more hoppers cause I got their number
Camprn I surely hope so. It would be a shame to have bought the canning equipment and not get to use it from MY garden.
Ava you gonna need a bigger trellis. Mine is nearly 8 foot and many went out the top before they got killed.

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