Runner or French bean wigwam. Yes or not.

[Sarico]

Hi I just wonder what the best way to plant beans in a 8x4 bed. I thought about wigwam about 4 of them with 6 or 8 cane each. Is that ok or too much?thanks

[Alison]

That should be fine. I grow my fresh beans up wigwams (French and runners, each wigwam to one type) but my dried ones up rows, not sure why, think it just fits better with my scheme. I like the look of wigwams and find them structurally more stable, especially for runners which are heavier than Frenchies.

[Kristen]

I grow my climbers on an X-frame (the canes crossed over low down) as the beans then hang down on the "outside" and I think are easier to see & pick.

Disadvantage, I think, with A-frame or wigwam is that the beans hang down on the inside. Both are more stable than X-frame though.

[Dorothy rouse]

I'll be doing wigwams again this year, one each for, French, Runner and Borlotti, all on the same bed, if one gets blown off a bit, is supported by the next one, so for me,easier to construct, more stable and uses the space better, only half plot.

[kathyd]

I grow my climbers on an X-frame (the canes crossed over low down) as the beans then hang down on the "outside" and I think are easier to see & pick.

Disadvantage, I think, with A-frame or wigwam is that the beans hang down on the inside. Both are more stable than X-frame though.

Do you have a photo Kristen? I'd like to try that...

[Kristen]

Only one I can find - shows more how not to do it!



The canes need supporting at the top. String will do, provided that left and right are joined in places - so that one side cannot move independently of the other.

Also, worth binding the point where they cross (string again) otherwise a plant can twine into the gap between two canes and then get crushed when they knock together in the wind. I haven't tried, but it might be worth putting the canes [the ones on opposite ides that cross as an X] in an inch or two apart so that the gap cannot close up. I don't think there is any strength in the pair of X-canes touching, only aesthetics.

If you have a permanent location for your climbing beans, rather than rotating them (as I do) then worth consider a Munty-frame. That allows the beans to hang-free for picking, and is sturdy, but is wider than a conventional double-row, thus not really suitable for a crop rotation system.

[Scarlet]

I grow my climbers on an X-frame (the canes crossed over low down) as the beans then hang down on the "outside" and I think are easier to see & pick.

Disadvantage, I think, with A-frame or wigwam is that the beans hang down on the inside. Both are more stable than X-frame though.

Have you got photos?
# note to self - read whole thread before asking questions
That is an easy way to make a frame! - but isn't the top wobbly when you have the weight of the plants on it? I have an open site. Towards the end of the season I have to tie supporting strings to keep mine from flying away!

[Kristen]

isn't the top wobbly when you have the weight of the plants on it? I have an open site. Towards the end of the season I have to tie supporting strings to keep mine from flying away!

Depends on your question a bit.

The left and right tops need joining, that prevents the canes sagging under the weight of the plant. With only a foot or so of cane stuck in the ground if unsupported it will fall down under weight (more so on light soil I expect) If tied to the other side then both are trying to drag their canes down and the one will support the other.

Much easier to do with an A-Frame - run some canes along the top where they cross and bind them together. Bit more tricky with an X-Frame. Canes along the top and brace side-to-side - I just use string side-to-side. I don't bother until the crop gets heavy and looks like it will collapse (me being lazy!) and many years I get away with it. Runners worse than Climbing French - perhaps they have more "top" / weight??

If your question is because you are on a windy site then I'm not sure how well it will perform / how strong it will be.

Either way, worth looking at a Munty frame

[Greenleaves]

I grow mine over what I call a goal frame. Solid 50x50 mm frame consisting of two posts and a crossbar. I then use angled hazel supports at about 300mm spacings on one side only. This like Kristen's method causes the beans to hang down. I then grow lettuce in the shade it provides.

[Jay-ell]

I've got a load of 8 foot canes to make a V frame with the canes suported by horizontal parallel canes with a shorter a frame/tripod every couple of feet.

Ok other supports would be easier, but I'm a Heath-Robinson fan

[Kristen]

I grow mine over what I call a goal frame. Solid 50x50 mm frame consisting of two posts and a crossbar. I then use angled hazel supports at about 300mm spacings on one side only. This like Kristen's method causes the beans to hang down. I then grow lettuce in the shade it provides.

Sounds like what I know as a Munty-frame?



Planted



Cropping - Beans hang clear for picking

(Needs to be facing South)

[Greenleaves]

Very similar Kristen

[Urban]

Sounds like what I know as a Munty-frame?



Planted



Cropping - Beans hang clear for picking

(Needs to be facing South)

Is it the open (goal mouth) side that needs to be facing south?

[Kristen]

Yup. That causes the beans to twine themselves along the supports, in that direction, without any help, and to give maximum light under the frame for whatever catch-crop you might want to grow there. But I've known people erect them with other orientations, because that's all that their plot allowed, but I don't remember whether any of them commented to say if that worked for them, or if they had to rip them down and rebuild them t'other way around!

[Urban]

Seems like a great idea, might try it, I would have to have mine facing west though, so not sure if it would work or not