Netting beans and peas

[peanut]

I have just planted out some broad beans and french beans. At what stage if at all should I cover them with netting?

Thanks

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hi peanut! Not sure how you planted yours, but I think I started a thread somthing like "most hated jobs!" I tried to put up pea and bean netting on my bamboo frames a few weeks ago - what an awful job! Got in such a mess trying to unwravel the stuff, then get it straight so I could attach it to the framework! After this have stuck to the wigwam bamboo style growing style - much easier than the netting!!! LOL
PS Have just planted some dwarf beans - purple and borlotti dwarf in buckets following the advice in this months GYO - just got a few sticks in the soil and will nip out the growing tips as appropriate. Bernie

[Alice]

Hello Peanut, do you mean at what stage should you cover them with netting to keep the pigeons off. If that's what you mean, and pigeons are a problem, then you should cover them straight away.

[suee]

Hello peanut,
The broad beans can manage just with sticks and a couple of rows of string as they only grow to within 1/2 to one metre high. Make sure you contain them within the string as they get heavy and flop all over the place.
I've just netted my French beans ( not the dwarf variety - they don't need net - just string again) when they were about 3" high and they immediately clung on and reached for the sky (though I'm not sure why, as there is absolutely no sunshine). I've done a linear wigwam support but will probably end up crawling underneath it if the pods decide to form inside the netting.
Sue

[rustylady]

I don't normally net beans for protection, but they do need something to climb. This may be where you are getting confused. If you use netting for them to climb, please make sure it's sturdy stuff - the cheap flimsy stuff from the pound shops snaps under the weight of the crop and it's a nightmare clearing it up at the end of the season. I usually persuade my beans to climb bamboos or strings suspended from a frame. Broad beans usually don't need support as they're not climbing plants. It may be a good idea though to put a few stakes along the outside of the rows and run string along them in case we get strong winds.

[Alice]

Isn't it amazing how people read things differently. I read Peanuts question as being about covering beans to keep things off, and 3 other people read it as being about giving them something to climb on.
PEANUT, do clear the question for us.

[peanut]

Sorry for all the confusion!
Alice is right, I mean when or if I should cover them with netting to stop them being eaten by birds!

[nick the grief]

Yesterday !!!

[Alice]

You have your answer, Peanut.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Ah! I see! I havent covered mine to protect them from the birds but I have put a few cd's on long pieces of string which move in the wind and so far, it seems to be working! Bernie