Bush vs Pole beans, experiences and expectations?

Let me ask you a few questions this may help shape your opinion on bush vs pole.

What do you do with most of your beans? Are you looking to freeze/can them or eat fresh? Are you growing them for yourself/family or looking to sell them?

I have KW pole beans and we really like them. We eat most of our beans fresh. Every couple of days we go harvest some and cook. We don't can them as my wife's not a fan of canned green beans, and jury is still out on freezing them. Its what works for us. Yes its a full growing season commitment to them, however having them available all summer long is why we have poles vs bush.

I also like the fact that the woodchucks and rabbits can only reach so high so we're not losing a whole crop of blossoms to critters and not getting any beans. As my family grows I'm sure we'll probably do a few small plantings of bush beans to puree up into baby food and have more fresh beans available but I can't imagine not having pole beans to snack on and have all season.

I would look at what your consumption is and go from there. Maybe your production was low due to losing some blossoms to critters. Maybe the quality of the seed wasn't so great. Maybe it was just a bad season for them in your area. Maybe the soil needs some tweaking. Hard to say. But I would plant based on what your needs/consumption and go that way. But then that's how I plan my whole garden is based on consumption/use.

Hope this helps.

I grow pole beans. The trellis is 3 rebar stakes driven in the ground webbed with hay twine. When the beans are done, I just cut the twine loose, roll up the vines and toss in the trash. Plus, we have beans all summer till a killing frost.

We grow both. We plant them both as early as we can in the spring. The bush beans are nice, because they produce quickly. I hate bending down to pick them, but it's a small price for getting early beans. The bush beans usually stop producing a few weeks before the pole beans start producing, so by the time we get pole beans, we're craving them again. We could always plant a second batch of bush beans to extend the harvest, but somehow we never get around to it.

Our preference is the pole beans, because they produce for so much longer, and picking them is easy on the trellis. We only plant the bush beans because we get impatient to have something, and green beans are one of DH's favorites. He thinks that the pole beans taste better, but I honestly can't tell a difference.

R any of the pole beans stringless? Grew Roma II for,the first time. Love them

Most of the commonly available pole beans for fresh beans are stringless if picked at a tender stage. I mean varieties such as all the Kentucky Wonder strains, Blue Lake pole, Romano, Purple Pod pole, McCaslan, Missouri Wonder, White Seeded Half Runner. Those you find in most seed catalogs.

That's the simple version. But there are better Beans, some that need "snapping and stringing" that are picked at a later stage, a few days later I mean, for more meaty and hearty recipes. They are a bit harder to understand, and I think that is probably the reason most of the larger seed companies don't carry them. These kinds of Beans are called Cutshort or Greasy, or Greasy Cutshort. With the Greasy kinds, there is little or no slight fuzziness to the pods. Some greasy varieties remain stringless. Oh. Most "greasy" bean pods are smaller than commonly available pole bean pods. Some varieties as small as 3 inches, and I guess there may be some 8 inches long.

"Cutshort" Beans are usually small too. The reason they are called cutshort is that the beans in the pods are jam packed together, and each bean seems like it's been cut short. Actually kind of squared off by its neighbor bean. These are the meatiest bean varieties in my opinion. Cutshort beans make for a very hearty breakfast with bacon.

Some varieties are actually both cutshort and greasy. (I sure want to get some!)

These are all mostly Appalachian heirlooms that families and neighbors and places and hollows up small dirt roads have. Zoom in on google maps, satellite view, to the border areas of Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. You'll see Bean gardens 100 to 200 feet long, 50 feet wide. 2 per mile on some roads.

Most beans designed for dry bean use have a terrible string problem, and some are decidedly fuzzy, but most of them are edible in a pinch. Some of these actually look so bad I would not want to eat the pod at any stage. But some of them are definitely multi purpose. Most of the colorful Borlotti pods are good, and they make very excellent gourmet dry beans, for example.

I didn't know this! The names seemed so odd but thank you for clearing this up, Marshall!

greasy = little or no fuzziness

cutshort = beans are jam packed together in the pods, each squared off by its neighbor bean.

On the pole vs. bush, I like to have both. The idea is to kind of sneak the pole beans in - somethings can grow at their feet as they climb above. DW doesn't really care for them because they tend to have a stronger flavor. There are bush beans with a lot of flavor but she likes the very modern bean . . . the one that is little more than a "green line" on the plate . . .

Steve

If its just about flavor I prefer the pole varieties since they have a stronger flavor as Steve pointed out. I've been a big fan of the Kentucky Wonders because they are stringless and even picked late are really good. Ive picked some that I missed and were as thick as my finger but they were not stringy and had great flavor.

For us we send our 4 yo daughter out to the garden with the soup pot and the steamer basket right inside and she'll fill it with beans she's picked. That's a pretty common practice here at our house for dinners through out the summer. Sometimes I'll go with her to get other veggies but if all we need are beans off she goes to go get them. She loves to be able to "help get and make dinner" in her words. Mind you this is the kid who cracks her own eggs for breakfast in the bowl without making a mess.

I use a teepee out of maple saplings that I've collected and dried. When its time to replace one I just go cut and dry more. Ill put a zip tie at the top to hold them together but that's my simple trellis. Ill mulch inside the teepee and around it leaving enough room between the teepees to get around each one so we can pick 360* as we plant all the way around the teepee except for the opening we leave for her to hide inside the teepee (thank you Hoodat for that idea she LOVES to play in there)

Thank you for the info Marshall that's really cool to know.

marshallsmyth said:

Some varieties are actually both cutshort and greasy. (I sure want to get some!)

Click to expand...

Hey Marshall, I have some brown-speckled, greasy cut-shorts called "Ora's Speckled" that I grew this year, an Appalachian heirloom from Kentucky. Would you be interested in a trade? They are going to seed right now, so it would be a little while before I have them dried. I'd be interested in trading for a pretty dried bean that would make a good soup or chili. PM me if interested.

ETA: I'd trade with anybody actually! Didn't want that to sound exclusive, although I am tempted by Marshall's beautiful beans. LOL I've got 2 other heirloom varieties, but one of them didn't come out to standard, even though it was the only bean I planted that year--those I'll hang onto and grow one more time to see if they come out like they're supposed to. But the other that was good is a slender white pole bean called "Nickel". I'd trade for heirloom tomatoes that I don't already have or any kind of winter squash (that you know aren't crossed), as well as drying beans.

Ora's Speckled! Wow, that sounds great!

I am absolutely terrible at sending seeds, so make sure I send first! Lol! Since I moved so far up in the hills I've gotten out of the postal service habit!

So far I owe Thistle seeds of a fast growing bunch of Beans for her northern garden. Those'll be probably eye of the tiger, indian woman yellow, and a few other quick dry beans, and probably the wide podded semi greasy white seeded that i sorted out of a batch of white greasy.

(Sometimes ya have to sort out some cuz some folks let theirs get a bit mixed up over the years).

I kind of think that wide podded, very straight semi greasy is actually a vigorous half runner, but a real good one.

So far also, I owe Ninnymary some pretty beans for her preschoolers to do art with, plus she can grow a few.

But, I did get some more envelopes! Got that far on the project!

oh, i also owe janice and raeann seeds too...I need a secretary!

I'd send a good assortment of some beans you can grow in wv. Hidatsa shield pole is a real good and vigorous pole, and fills a can quick. The borlottos and cranberry types are very pretty and gourmet quality.

tarahumara purples are unique, and even larger are the mount pima plums. Those rose bolitas produce like crazy...bush

Sounds wonderful. I'll wait to PM you when I have mine dry and ready to go. They are still on the vine right now.