Bean poles

[smallblueplanet]

Following on from one of the thread posts on here, I've been thinking about getting some 'bean-poles'.

However.....what do I do with 'em? They are pointed 8' poles, how should they be tied, etc? Help....

[nick the grief]

with string

just incline them so the base is wider than the tops (if you have the room you can make it a 4ft diameter circle & leave one pole out to allow you to get inside to pick any hanging inside) & then tie the tops by whipping round about 4 or 5 time as tight as you can before tieing it off ( a reef knot looks good)

[Benacre]

Quiete easy really I run a cross over at each end then spaced out at 18" intervals the same way with a bearer going along the top and bottom all tied with string.

[smallblueplanet]

Okay NTG got the string! How many poles to make a stable wigwam effect? They come in bundles of 12.

Can't quite figure out what you mean Benacre, sorry.

[nick the grief]

If i remember right a 4ft circle uses 16 poles (less one for the door) If you can get hold of a steel bar you can poke holes in the ground first to pu th ends in. But I guess you could just use 12 and have a larger spacing between them in the circle just as easily.

[smallblueplanet]

Blimey Nick that seems a lot of poles. Was thinking of making a couple of 'wams of 6 poles each (but not 4ft diameter obviously).

[nick the grief]

go for it SBP you'r probably looking at 2ft dia. The only thing is if they are tall & narrow based they may blow over if there is a good wind when they are covered in beans. The wider the base the more stable it will be

[smallblueplanet]

I'm just being mean NTG - the only 8ft poles we can find are £10 for 12

[nick the grief]

you'd probably be OK with 6. it would nearly be half the height wide you'll just have a bigger spacing thats all between poles. but put the ends a good 6" - 8" in the ground.

Is there any reason you are buying these rather than 8ft bamboo canes ?

[smallblueplanet]

Eco-friendly rural-trendies?

We've got some bamboo canes left, but last year our borlottis ended up nearly parallel to the ground when the canes snapped with their weight. The OH wants hazel poles cos they're a local reknewable source.

[supersprout]

These are the ones we use on our plot sbp, for beans and squash.
You can tie netting to them or make a lattice in and out of the vertical poles with willow, string or canes - it gives the plants something to cling on to.
Spacing is 1 - 1.5ft apart for arbour and trestle, diameter of wigwam is about 1m.
We sow four beans at the foot of each pole, or plant one squash seedling.



Some of my gardening chums run the trestle type East to West, with the South side sloping (supporting the beans) and the North side straight (straight supports, no beans). They do this for an earlier yield and they say the dangling beans are easier to pick

[smallblueplanet]

Thanks SS, got any pictures?

[supersprout]

Sure!

Trestles & Wigwam (Sun Bright runner bean on wigwam)



Native wood trestle - Borlotti and Gigantes - clearing new ground on 2nd plot



Native wood wigwam in front, bamboo trestle behind supporting tomatoes on strings



Sorry no pics of squash (Burgess Buttercup) arbour (I used wide bore black alkathene pipe over 5 ft bamboo canes) but will put that right this year!

[Mrs Dobby]

We were going to use ustic poles and netting ti make our pea and beab supports this year, kind of like an A-frame with the netting supported at about a 30 degree angle, but after seeing this thread I'm not so sure now! I've seen lors of wigwam type affair on out plot that look very unsafe, but those pictured here look good, is there an advantage to using canes as opposed to using supported netting?