How many beans?

[Flummery]

what about broad beans, how many per cane? ive always planted one per cane, but this post has made me wonder.

I just plant them in a double row, a spade width apart, and a couple of feet between double rows. I just shove a cane in each corner and string to hold them inside. No beans per cane in that sense.

[Bramble_killer]

I thought I was being cruel, planted my peas 5cm apart today and my broad beans in a double row.

Might sow some extra to pop in spare spaces now

[King Carrot]

I used to plant runner beans 2 to a pole at 8" spacings until last year when I did 1 to a pole at 1ft spacings and I still got an absolute shed load of beans on loads of vines that grew from each plant - tis the way forward for me

[Two_Sheds]

what about broad beans, how many per cane?

Broadies don't climb, so they don't need canes (or shouldn't do, if you've grown them hard so they're nice & stocky & strong).
Like Flum says, grow them in a double row with a cane at each corner and string going round in an oblong shape

I thought I was being cruel, planted my peas 5cm apart

My peas went in 2cm apart (because my fingers were so cold I kept dropping them). 5cm is usual though

[Paulottie]

Well...disagree entirely!...they are big plants and the yield you get will be proportional to the space they are given. IMHO four per cane is tosh...they'll be overcrowded, possibly diseased from lack of air circulation, you won't get many more beans, they'll be difficult to pick and the whole lot will probably go over in the first puff of wind.

I plant 30 runners, 10 in May (normally with a patent glass windbreak to start) 10 in June 10 more in early July. One per pole about a foot apart its about a 10 yard row...Prefer 11' chestnut poles for strength. Pole are crossed 18" above ground in a row. (so the beans hang on the outside)...with a horizontal and diagonal bracing for strength. They easy expand to fill the space.

Admittedly we have lots of space but then we are talking enough beans for me to fill the freezer and supply the Pub!

[gojiberry]

Have always planted 8" apart one bean per 8' cane. I find the foliage dense enough and even at this spacing I find it hard enough to find all the beans. Am trying the new moonlight self fertile beans this year.

Ian

[zazen999]

Well...disagree entirely!...they are big plants and the yield you get will be proportional to the space they are given. IMHO four per cane is tosh...they'll be overcrowded, possibly diseased from lack of air circulation, you won't get many more beans, they'll be difficult to pick and the whole lot will probably go over in the first puff of wind.

Depends on how exactly you grow them; the jars of beans in my cupboard don't say 'tosh' to me!

[Alison]

I've always grown 2 to a cane but my (ex) lottie partner put runers in at 3 to each cane (on a wigwam) last year. To be honest I think they were too congested so will be going back to 2 again this year.

[jackie j]

Always do two per pole. One year before lottie I made hole's in the rim of a large round pot, I put a pole in the midle of the pot with two screws fixed like + and tied string to the screws and throgh the holes in the pot. They climed up lovely and lots of beans.

[Flummery]

As I've said, I'm a two-per-poler. I think I might try my usual 12 round a wigwam (for my Cherokee beans, for eating fresh) and another with 6 round. As long as I can remember to weigh the produce from each wigwam before consuming it I might find out which does better?

[sagegreen]

Have always planted 8" apart one bean per 8' cane. I find the foliage dense enough and even at this spacing I find it hard enough to find all the beans.
Ian

Absolutely! If the foliage is too dense there is a risk the whole lot, beans and canes/sticks, will twist or blow over in a wind and it is hard to find all the beans ready to be picked

[vegnut]

I have ever only done one per pole, i will try two this year and see what the outcome is.

[piskieinboots]

Two per pole here. I plant out a dozen to a 6 leg wigwam.

I just plant them in a double row, a spade width apart, and a couple of feet between double rows. I just shove a cane in each corner and string to hold them inside. No beans per cane in that sense.

Ditto Flums on both counts.

Also re the runners - I tend to thin out some of the foliage if it gets too dense, not sure if it's a good idea or not, but I seem to get cracking yields so can't be doing too much harm.

[Rabidbun]

I did three per two poles last year. I had a single horizontal central pole and lashed the uprights to them in an upside down V. Ended up with thirty or so plants in a 1m by 10 inch section or thereabouts. They were a bit of a pain to pick in the end (one side was facing a fence and it did get a bit dense on the leaves), but will probably try two per pole this year on all but the shelling beans* as I have 13 varieties to jam into a small space.

(*Am now going to try three per pole for the shelling beans, thanks! )

[Pies]

10" between poles in a line one bean allowed to grow per pole,ive also placed my beans in an inverted 'V' where the base is 18" apart and the top about 4ft apart.

Hopefully this set up will allow more air to circulate ,and as the beans are growing apart from each other i wont have a tangled mess at the top.Finally i hope to be able to grow a squash between the rows