which do you find easier to harvest, bush or pole beans?

[sheeshshe]

[gumbo2176]

For me, hands down, pole beans. I have a 24' long x 7' tall trellis I can get to on both sides for easy harvesting.

[Ohio Tiller]

Bush beans involves more knee and or bending over work but for me it is worth it due to the bush beens not having the strings to strip when snapping.
Picked these Saturday morning.
ended up with 60 pints canned Sunday morning
[img]https://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/Johnfor3/saturdaysharvest.jpg[/img]

[applestar]

I was going to say "hands down" too
Pole beans on arched trellis -- beans hang down.

Pushing bush beans this way and that way to look for beans gets old really fast. It's just that some locations, only bush beans can fit.

[gumbo2176]

Bush beans involves more knee and or bending over work but for me it is worth it due to the bush beens not having the strings to strip when snapping.
Picked these Saturday morning.
ended up with 60 pints canned Sunday morning
[img]https://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/Johnfor3/saturdaysharvest.jpg[/img]

That looks like two 5 gallon buckets of beans, a 2/12 gallon bucket of Brussels sprouts and 2 good size boxes of beets, along with a couple ears of corn and other produce in the third large bucket.

Looks like things in Ohio turned out pretty nice this year for you. My beets have been gone for a while now and Brussels sprouts don't do well here in the summer at all. They do real well in the fall and I'm anxious to get things in the ground if it stops raining long enough for me to pull my rows. I need at least 3-4 good days of no rain for it to dry out enough to get in the garden.

[sheeshshe]

I was going to say "hands down" too
Pole beans on arched trellis -- beans hang down.

Pushing bush beans this way and that way to look for beans gets old really fast. It's just that some locations, only bush beans can fit.

that is exactly the thing I LOATHE about picking bush beans! I used to do pole beans and I switched bc pole beans grow out of control here and my trellises are never high/long enough But it has been a couple/few years and I can't remember the picking factor. I might think about switching back if it seems easier. I love green beans, I dislike going out there to pick them.

is there a pole bean variety similar to the Jade bush bean?

[Dillbert]

from the playbook of "the laziest gardener you'll likely encounter" . . . that would be me, btw.....

limas I do on poles only because I've not found a bush variety I like.

green / yellow string beans I do only as bush because building all that trellising is ... uhm, too much.

so here's what a lot of years have taught me about bush beans - you get an initial plentiful crop, the follow-on yield decreases. exception: wax beans - these seem to be uber prolific the whole season.

so, I do succession planting and by and large simply rip up the bean plant, pick off the beans. easier on the back. weather depending, if I see they have a lot of new blossoms, yes I leave them for a second picking. and complain about my aching back after picking. this year the leaf miners got to about half the beans - so those I ripped out & picked regardless.

I plant / freeze enough to last us most-way through the non-gardening season - like March/April of the following year. so while I have meself hoisted up on the heretical soap box, here's another off the wall practice: pick the beans, pick off the foliage/odd matter, drop them in a gallon zip-lock bag and freeze. no trimming, no blanching - plant to basket to bag to freezer. I trim the ends "at cooking" - yes, it works. probably not good for storing / freezing 3-4 years out, but season to season, works just as well as the full blown "recommended" procedures.

[Ohio Tiller]

Bush beans involves more knee and or bending over work but for me it is worth it due to the bush beens not having the strings to strip when snapping.
Picked these Saturday morning.
ended up with 60 pints canned Sunday morning
[img]https://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/Johnfor3/saturdaysharvest.jpg[/img]

That looks like two 5 gallon buckets of beans, a 2/12 gallon bucket of Brussels sprouts and 2 good size boxes of beets, along with a couple ears of corn and other produce in the third large bucket.

Looks like things in Ohio turned out pretty nice this year for you. My beets have been gone for a while now and Brussels sprouts don't do well here in the summer at all. They do real well in the fall and I'm anxious to get things in the ground if it stops raining long enough for me to pull my rows. I need at least 3-4 good days of no rain for it to dry out enough to get in the garden.

Yeah we got off to a slow start due to no rain this year early on but right now the beans are going insane My Dad was walking up with 2 more 5 gallon buckets of beans when I took this picture. Our tomatoes we planted ealy are done and did not do very well but the later ones are doing great.

[SLC]

Is there a stringless pole bean variety available?

Cuz my back is killing me from picking all those beans!!! Last year I had one good crop and then a small crop and then all the plants died, but this year they just keep going and going! I can't keep up with the picking! Pole beans would be soooo much easier, but I do love the stringless.....hence my question.

[jal_ut]

Is there a stringless pole bean variety available?

I am going to try this one next year.

[url=https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/beans/snap/bean-fortex-prod000583.html]Bean Fortex[/url]

[SOB]

My wife has been wanting to try pole beans because she is tired of bending over and picking. I cant harvest bush beans cuz they are too low to the ground for me so whatever makes her happy and keeps her harvesting I'm in!

Is 4-5 feet tall enough for a pole bean trellis? Also, what is the typical production differences between pole and bush? For example can 1 pole bean produce as much as maybe 3-4 bush beans?

[jal_ut]

For each picking I am guessing the yield is about the same. However, I am thinking the pole beans will produce over a longer period as they keep growing and the beans come on the new growth. Over the season, you will likely get more beans from the pole beans. The first picking on the pole beans is down low like bush beans, but each picking gets higher up on the trellis as they bloom on the new growth. They can get to ten feet if you have a trellis that tall. Otherwise they grow up then hang down. Amazing plants.

[gumbo2176]

My wife has been wanting to try pole beans because she is tired of bending over and picking. I cant harvest bush beans cuz they are too low to the ground for me so whatever makes her happy and keeps her harvesting I'm in!

Is 4-5 feet tall enough for a pole bean trellis? Also, what is the typical production differences between pole and bush? For example can 1 pole bean produce as much as maybe 3-4 bush beans?

As I've posted before, I have a 24 ft. long x 7 ft. tall trellis I grow pole beans on. I'm 5'9" and can easily reach the top of the trellis for picking. Like Jal-ut mentioned, when the beans hit the top of the trellis they tend to bunch up and as the vines continue to grow, they hang down a bit.

I have grown Kentucky Wonder with limited success for some reason and no longer grow them. I've also grown Rattlesnake beans and they grew quite well with good production but the wife didn't care for the texture of the bean. However, the most prolific, fastest growing and long season bean by far has been the Asparagus Beans, also known as Japanese Yard Longs. I just pulled my vines last week but I was picking close to 10 lbs. every week in 3 pickings a week and this went on for a couple months. Finally the heat got to them and I'm waiting for the ground to dry out a bit to pull my rows and replant.

Pole beans have a much longer growing season when compared to bush beans. At least that has been my experience. The only bush type beans I now grow are Soybeans I use for Edamame. I'll plant a whole row in a couple days and should be getting close to 10 gallons of pods off those plants by seasons end since you harvest them pretty much all at one time.

[sheeshshe]

One year, probably 4 years ago, it was a cool wet summer. I am not even kidding you, EVERY night the pole beans grew an entire foot. EVERY night! It was a absolute jungle in my garden. that just happened to be the year I decided to do the 3 sisters planting, which I vowed never to do ever again LOL. the corn plants were laying on the ground they were so taken over by the pole beans! thhey just kept growing and growing and growing.

[Ohio Tiller]

One year, probably 4 years ago, it was a cool wet summer. I am not even kidding you, EVERY night the pole beans grew an entire foot. EVERY night! It was a absolute jungle in my garden. that just happened to be the year I decided to do the 3 sisters planting, which I vowed never to do ever again LOL. the corn plants were laying on the ground they were so taken over by the pole beans! thhey just kept growing and growing and growing.

I think I saw that movie The Attack of the Pole Bean

[sheeshshe]

ROFL!

[greenstubbs]

One word, Pole! Didn't do to good this year with them, but all else is OK. Take the good with the bad.

[Gary350]

There are advantages and disadvantages to both pole and bush beans.

I still like bush beans best.
Easy to plant.
Easy to take care of.
Produces about 2 times more beans than pole beans.
Easy to remove and replant second crop in Aug.
Easy to remove to compost.


Pole beans are more work putting up the poles.
Taking down and cleaning the poles is more work.
Storing the poles for the winter is extra work.
Harder to till and keep weeded.
Easy on the old back not much bending over to pick beans.