Charlene Taylor said:


I just put up a l2 foot tipi of four poles to grow pole beans. I've
grown bush beans for years, but never pole ones. Woodchucks have made
me give up on bush beans where I live now.

Just curious, but how do you intend to keep the woodchucks from eating
the pole beans? They may never get a chance to climb...and even if
they do, woodchucks are pretty good climbers (I've seen them in mulberry
trees, eating the leaves)

The poles are each 3 inches in diameter at their bases, and taper to
about two inches at the top. The poles are 4 feet apart at the bases.

Those are pretty big poles! I've seen pictures of setups where large
poles are used with strings running from the top of the pole down to
the ground in a circle. Or no strings, but slimmer poles together at the
top and spread out like the frame for a tipee.

Do I need to use twine/string attached to the tops or are these poles
thin enough for the beans to wrap themselves around the poles?

I think with poles that size you might want to pegging in some strings
in between them.

Thank you for any help with this, and any other tips on growing pole
beans.

The nicest thing about pole beans is that most of the picking doesn't
involve any stooping. Keep them picked regularly. Let a few pods
mature so you have fresh seed for next year.

I have a variety that was given to me 20+ years ago that I save seeds
from every year. Flat pods, large pinkish-brown seeds. Very tender,
even when the pods are fairly mature (bulging with tiny beans).
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)