Pole Beans

Hi Folks,

I usually post in the "tomato forum" but have a question.... I'm planning on growing POLE Beans next season for the FIRST time and wanted feed-back from you re: variety. I'm looking for productivity & flavor. How about Kentucky Wonder???
LD

This was my first year growing pole beans and I was really happy with the results. I grew a small amount of Garden Of Eden beans from Johnny's. They produced well and had an excellent taste, that old-fashioned "string bean" taste that I'd forgotten about after years of eating snap beans.

Wayne

cottonpicker, Be sure to check this link to the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center for the Heirloom Beans they have acquired/saved/and grow. They have a large number of these available online for a very reasonable cost. Read the two excellent articles on Heirloom Beans and Heirloom Tomatoes.
Gary/Louisville

The Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center
http://www.heirlooms.org/beans.html

Thanks, Wayne & Gary... I really appreciate your input!! I was really impressed by the articles from Mr. Best @ SMAC. They WERE excellent, indeed! Can hardly wait to grow pole beans next season!
LD

Cotton. The brown seeded Kentucky Wonder is the standard by which to compare pole beans. I grow others but that is the standard. Missouri Wonder is a little more tolerating of adverse conditions. Nothing beats the flavor of the Little Greasy, but they are tempermental. Many of the others get shucky too quickly to suit me but are fine if you pick them very young. McCaslan is also very good. I f you like Italian style, the Romano is excellent and productive.

Farmer...... GOOD to hear from you and THANKS for your input!!
Being a newbie myself, Your e-mail puts things in perspective.
My grandmother always swore by KY Wonder and I've heard of MO Wonder, but Little Greasy sounds like something I might want to attempt since you say it's the flavor-king. Would be worth the effort and a "fun challenge" just to see if I could raise some.
Thanks!!
LD

We loved McCaslan. Got the seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Everyone who tried this stringless green bean from our garden voted it the best tasting, raw or cooked, they've ever had. It's a very long, flattish, slender bean; very tender.

KY Wonder also nice.

Thanks, Zep!!

LD

cottonpicker, I just came to this forum and found this thread. I have extra seed of the following: Pole Beans - Earth Gems and Pole Beans - Kentucky Blue. I grew them last year and let some go to seed for next year. I liked them both. The Earth Gems are an oriental variety that grows about 18 inches long. LMK I'll be glad to send you some.

Kathy

Kathy..... How nice of you to offer!! I would definitely like some of the Oriental long beans-- EARTH GEM. I have plenty of other Pole Beans from another generous person as a result of my earlier posting. My wife loves them for stir- fries. Will gladly reimburse you for postage. Private e-mail will follow with my address.
THANKS!!!!
LarryD

Hi all,

We actually stopped growing bush beans because pole beans make such better use of our limited gardening area. We continue to experiment with vertical gardening techniques for that reason.

My favorite early pole bean is Kwintus: http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=5023&PrevMainPage=advsearchresults&scChannel=Vegetables%20AS&SearchText=p16.v231;p13.Phaseolus&OfferCode=S1H

The Park's strain of Kwintus that I linked to is considerably earlier at 43 days than the Kwintus strains from some other seed companies.

My favorite eating pole bean is Fortex: http://www.burpee.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=4704&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=13&iSubCat=215&iProductID=4704&iSubSubCat=1918

Last year I bought my Fortex beans from Johnny's: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?ct=HG&item=34

I actually plan to start a few Kwintus and Fortex in pots under fluorescent lights for an extra early start here in our relatively short growing season. Even after our nominal safe no-frost date (Memorial Day), our soil is still too cool for good pole bean germination until later in June, and that's pretty late to be planting pole beans.

Last year we started a single experimental Fortex bean plant under overdriven fluorescent lights and set it out June 1 in the vining stage against a trellis fence. That single plant spread extensively and was quite successful and productive right up to fall, so we plan to expand on that this year.

MM

MM..... Thanks for sharing your interesting experiences!!

LarryD

My mom always grew purple beans. To this day I like them better because they are so much easier to see to pick. Purple podded pole is one I really like.
Find them here:
Seed Savers Exchange (2006 pg. 8, photo page 9 http://www.seedsavers.org/prodinfo.asp?number=102)
Baker Creek (2006 pg. 6)

I'm going to try a new one from Thompson & Morgan called Blauhilde (http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/product_67316.html)

You might find this thread interesting also: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/451683/

Thanks, Jefe QT.......... I already have seeds for Purple Pole Beans from another DG'er. Really appreciate your suggestions!!!!

Happy Gardening!!
LarryD

I like Fortex best for flavor LD as far as poles go and Festina is best (I think) for bush beans. Fortex is available at Johnny's; probably other places too.

Like what was said above--Fortex is the best eating pole bean I have grown, --after that Liana[spelled wrong I am sure] asperagus bean. --both seeds from Johnnys.

Fortex seems to be a big favorite. Thanks everyone for all the input!

Good gardening!!
LarryD

I have to admit that my favorite pole bean is Scarlet Runner. Not only is it GORGEOUS, & attracts both bees & hummingbirds, but both the flowers & beans are absolutely delicious.

You can eat the flowers?

Yup. They have a nice fresh "bean" taste, & look absolutely lovely used as a vegetable garnish or tossed into a green salad.

I'll definitely have to try that. Nasturtiums are my favorite in salads. Pansies look pretty too, but nasturtiums actually taste good.

Mmm... borage. Very good in salads, and pretty.

Thanks to all who recommended Fortex. I have had good results with Kwintus from Parks. Now I'll add Fortex and try plantiing a few of both under lights to set out sooner. I certainly hope 2006 is a better gardening year for me than 2005. I harvested 2/3 fewer pole and bush beans than normal!.