Greenbean Trellis

[hunterridgefarm]

I hate picking greenbeans, I'll plant, hoe, cultivate, grow and eat them but I hate picking them. I planted several long rows last year only to have them eaten by the deer(not sure if I should be happy or sad about that ).

But I have decided to plant several rows this year since several people have asked to buy some. Some will even pick them. And since we are wanting to start a pick your on farm this could help get us started.

Last year they sold for $35 a bushel and should sale around the same this year. I need a trellis for them to run up. My FIL used T post with wire stretched across the top and long sticks/2x2's' placed on each side to form what look like the letter "A". I have thought of using cattle panels ( got this idea from the Blackberries and Grapes thread). That could get a little expensive but would last a long time.

Anyone have any ideas on a trellis or cheap way to have the greenbeans off the ground and easy to pick?

Thanks
David

 

[Chuck52]

If you can find a pole bean to your liking, they are much easier to pick than bush beans. No stooping! I grew Kentucky Wonder pole last year. I made a trellis with some cheap 2x2's wired to t-posts and then had more 2x2 cross pieces at the top. I ran a heavy gauge wire across the bottom of the t-posts and stretched twine between that and the top 2x2. I like Kentucky Wonder, but there are many different pole beans available now. They bear for a longer period than bush beans and are usually longer and bigger around. I do like your idea of somehow supporting the bush beans. I always lose a lot of them to rot when the inevitable heavy rain hits just at the time I should have been out picking....I hate picking bush beans, too, and put it off as long as possible. It just about kills my back to do a 50' row. Picking pole beans is like a walk in the park in comparison.

Chuck

 

[2manyrocks]

We used to use cane poles lashed together at the top like an Indian teepee.

 

[DennisArrow]

For my cucumbers and green beans I use:

16 ft rows spaced 3 feet apart

Concrete reinforcing wire

T posts

I put a T post at the head and end of the row and then one in the middle.
Cut the reinforcing wire into 8' lengths and attach them verically using wire tires to the 5 posts. Then across the top I again cut 8' lengths of reinforcing wire but I bend it across the width to make an arch. I attach this to the verticles. Makes a long tunnel.

Have done this for seveal years now and the vining plants grow up and cover it. The fruit hangs readily exposed on the vertical sides and down through the top. Easy pickins........Dennis

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Chuck52, Half runner green beans are what everyone around here likes. The vines can climb 8 foot easy.

2manyrocks, I have thought of using the cane poles but don't have access to any.

Dennis, that sounds great, you could pick in the shade. Only problem is my rows will be 150-250 foot long. I was hopeing to do something easy to put up and take down. Thats why I thought the T post and cattle panels would work.

I thought about fencing but don't want to roll it up at the end of the season. May need to use cattle panels and 2x2 to start with and buy a few cattle panels each year.

 

[clenhart]

I planted bush beans myself, but my Mom and Dad planted pole beans and I helped them fix their rows up. We used T-posts and cattle panels down the center of the rows. It came out looking pretty good and was easy to put up. We'll see how it turns out when the beans start producing...

 

[2manyrocks]

I have never done it this way, but my gardening book suggests spacing poles (could use T posts) along the row of beans. A horizontal string is run at the top and near the bottom of the poles. Then a vertical string is run between the two horizontal strings above each hill of beans. According to the book, the beans like to climb vertically. They suggest using something like builder's twine. Something that will rot or burn easily would be preferred I suppose, because at the end of the season it would be hard to separate the vines from the twine. If you could burn the twine and the vinesl at the end of the season, then less work.

 

[tommu56]

My father inlaw used to use the aircraft cable at the top of an A frame on each end and some in middle if it sagged too much, and baler twine down to the plants with a stake in the ground.
If he plant was stubborn and wouldn't grow around the vine he would give the plant a twist around twine.

tom

 

[dooleysm]

My uncle always planted enough bush beans that he could wait for them to set on a load of beans then he'd just pull the whole row of plants and sit at a picnic table to separate the beans from the plants, then discard the plants.

When I was single and living in town I had a small garden around my back porch. I trained some pole beans to climb the posts holding my porch roof up. That worked out well for me and gave me enough beans for a couple meals. An old timer friend of mine told me all pole beans were stringy, but I didn't have any problems.

 

[DUMBDOG]

At $35 per bushel, I would not pick them either. A bushel of green beans weighs 28-30#. Last year I started out at 3/4# for $3. Later in the season I did drop my price on green beans to $3 #.