I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?
--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

Fraid you cannot better Scaffolding poles.

We have two about twenty foot apart, 8ft high. We still have to tether them
to avoid them pulling together.
I suppose that this would be unnecessary if you used enough concrete to set
them in !

We use Canes for the intermediate uprights and very strong non- stretch rope
as a top stretcher.

Regards
Pete
www.thecanalshop.com

On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:04:40 +0100, Moonraker
wrote:

I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?

Try scaffolding poles. You should be able to pick up a new 8 foot pole
for around a tenner but that's plus VAT and delivery. An 8 foot pole
will give you a decent 1.5-2 feet concreted in the ground. Second hand
poles are around and a local scaffolder may sell you a couple. Again,
online, e.g. at
http://www.scaffolding-direct.co.uk/...mm_od_915.aspx
but VAT and delivery will add substantially to the price.

Cheers, Jake
================================================== ==========
URGling from the less wet end of Swansea Bay where it's ....
wet!

www.rivendell.org.uk

"Jake" wrote ...

Moonraker wrote:

I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?

Try scaffolding poles. You should be able to pick up a new 8 foot pole
for around a tenner but that's plus VAT and delivery. An 8 foot pole
will give you a decent 1.5-2 feet concreted in the ground. Second hand
poles are around and a local scaffolder may sell you a couple. Again,
online, e.g. at
http://www.scaffolding-direct.co.uk/...mm_od_915.aspx
but VAT and delivery will add substantially to the price.


But if you concrete them in you cannot move them so bang goes your 4 year
rotation. We use square metal poles similar to scaffold poles and I just
bang them in from on top of a step ladder each year, 4 poles across 20ft row
joined by stout wooden laths wired on and the bamboo poles ties onto them.
Never moved yet.
--
Regards Bob Hobden
Posting to this Newsgroup from the W. of London UK

On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:55:48 +0100, "Pete"
wrote:



Fraid you cannot better Scaffolding poles.

We have two about twenty foot apart, 8ft high. We still have to tether them
to avoid them pulling together.
I suppose that this would be unnecessary if you used enough concrete to set
them in !

We use Canes for the intermediate uprights and very strong non- stretch rope
as a top stretcher.

Regards
Pete
www.thecanalshop.com


I inherited a large scaff pole with the premises some twentysomething
years ago. It's too long for the pikies to take in a white Transit
but if any one wants it, it's in my drive. Also in west London.

Regards
JonH

On Oct 16, 4:18*pm, wrote:
On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:55:48 +0100, "Pete"





wrote:

Fraid you cannot better Scaffolding poles.

We have two about twenty foot apart, 8ft high. We still have to tether them
to avoid them pulling together.
I suppose that this would be unnecessary if you used enough concrete to set
them in !

We use Canes for the intermediate uprights and very strong non- stretch rope
as a top stretcher.

Regards
Pete
www.thecanalshop.com

I inherited a large scaff pole with the premises some twentysomething
years ago. *It's too long for the pikies to take in a white Transit
but if any one wants it, it's in my drive. *Also in west London.

Regards
JonH- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If you are goung to use a pole at each end then it will help if you
sink a piece of wood 12" to 18" X 4" or 6" against the front edge of
the pole, this will help stop it pulling in towards the centre when
the ground is wet and you have a heavy crop.

On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:58:04 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

"Jake" wrote ...

Moonraker wrote:

I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?

Try scaffolding poles. You should be able to pick up a new 8 foot pole
for around a tenner but that's plus VAT and delivery. An 8 foot pole
will give you a decent 1.5-2 feet concreted in the ground. Second hand
poles are around and a local scaffolder may sell you a couple. Again,
online, e.g. at
http://www.scaffolding-direct.co.uk/...mm_od_915.aspx
but VAT and delivery will add substantially to the price.


But if you concrete them in you cannot move them so bang goes your 4 year
rotation. We use square metal poles similar to scaffold poles and I just
bang them in from on top of a step ladder each year, 4 poles across 20ft row
joined by stout wooden laths wired on and the bamboo poles ties onto them.
Never moved yet.

I never rotated the runner beans. Same place every year and never a
problem. Ditto soft fruits. Roots and brassicas moved around though
(and peas and French beans fitted into the rotation). As far as I
remember, everyone else on the site grew runners in the same place
year on year and had semi-permanent structures.

If I'd used a scaffolding pole (I used lighter line posts held in with
ground spikes), I'd have concreted it in simply because if a scaffold
pole tips and hits someone on the way, it could be fatal.

Cheers, Jake
================================================== ==========
URGling from the less wet end of Swansea Bay where it's ....
wet!

www.rivendell.org.uk

On Oct 16, 2:04*pm, Moonraker wrote:
I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?
--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

What you need is guy ropes to prevent them from blowing over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_rope

Also a double row withe the canes leaning and joined at the top to a
common horizontal rail/cane is more secure.

Moonraker wrote:
I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?

For the first year ever, our runner beans didn't blow over. And we didn't
use bamboo.

Nick went on a forestry/copicing trip with a friend. I'm struggling to
think what tree they were - is birch a copiced tree? But whatever it was,
they were 'free', and they were the best 'canes' we've ever used.

"Bob Hobden" wrote:

We use square metal poles similar to scaffold poles and I just
bang them in from on top of a step ladder each year, 4 poles across 20ft row

Do your farm supply places have "T-posts?" They're metal in various
lengths, T-shaped in cross-section, with a plate near the bottom to act as
an anchor. Drive with a sledge from a ladder (for the tall ones), or with
a weighted pipe with the end plugged that fits over the post. I bought a
lifter to pull them at season's end- just a lever on a stand. I grow pole
beans on a teepee, since I have a *lot* of maple saplings in a back lot.
Six eight-footers, bottoms in a 4-foot circle, tops tied together make a
strong support; even a passing hurricane didn't topple them. Full
disclosu I was west of the worst of it; only 40 or 50 MPH winds.
(Apologies for not using metric units; we coloniels haven't converted to
any great extent, though automobiles made elsewhere are forcing me to buy
metric tools.)


--
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

On Oct 16, 11:35*pm, wrote:
Moonraker wrote:
I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?

For the first year ever, our runner beans didn't blow over. *And we didn't
use bamboo.

Nick went on a forestry/copicing trip with a friend. *I'm struggling to
think what tree they were - is birch a copiced tree? *But whatever it was,
they were 'free', and they were the best 'canes' we've ever used.

Probably hazel.

On Oct 17, 6:19*am, harry wrote:
On Oct 16, 11:35*pm, wrote:

Moonraker wrote:
I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?

For the first year ever, our runner beans didn't blow over. *And we didn't
use bamboo.

Nick went on a forestry/copicing trip with a friend. *I'm struggling to
think what tree they were - is birch a copiced tree? *But whatever it was,
they were 'free', and they were the best 'canes' we've ever used.

Probably hazel.

In my youth (around 50 years ago), down in Hastings we used to grow
around half an acre of stick beans(Runner) and used Chestnut poles
1/2" to 2" at the base, we would punch a hole with an Iron bar then
push the poles in and then link the tops with Hop twine, as rough as
hell on the hands. Heavy poles knocked in at each end and if I
remember right about every 60 ft down the rows. No problem with them
blowing over.

On 17/10/2011 09:39, Dave Hill wrote:
On Oct 17, 6:19 am, wrote:
On Oct 16, 11:35 wrote:

wrote:
I am fed up with my runner beans blowing over, thus making is a PITA to
harvest. Decided that a couple metal posts fitted in at each end of the
row would work. However any suggestions as to a source of cheap poles? I
see them advertised in the form of Washing |Line Posts, but a bit dear
me thinks. I thought of trying scrap metal merchants, but by the time I
have driven around to find a supply I may well have spent a lot on
petrol. Any other suggestions please?

For the first year ever, our runner beans didn't blow over. And we didn't
use bamboo.

Nick went on a forestry/copicing trip with a friend. I'm struggling to
think what tree they were - is birch a copiced tree? But whatever it was,
they were 'free', and they were the best 'canes' we've ever used.

Probably hazel.

In my youth (around 50 years ago), down in Hastings we used to grow
around half an acre of stick beans(Runner) and used Chestnut poles
1/2" to 2" at the base, we would punch a hole with an Iron bar then
push the poles in and then link the tops with Hop twine, as rough as
hell on the hands. Heavy poles knocked in at each end and if I
remember right about every 60 ft down the rows. No problem with them
blowing over.
Many thanks for all your help and tips. In the end I went to the local
scrap merchant, selected 2 scaffolding poles, went to pay for them to be
told they were free. Very happy with that price!

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

"Moonraker" wrote in message ...

Many thanks for all your help and tips. In the end I went to the local
scrap merchant, selected 2 scaffolding poles, went to pay for them to be
told they were free. Very happy with that price!

--
Excellent - so you can now afford to splash out on a length of rope to top
it !
This is my setup - note the guy system at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thecanalshop#p/u

As you may deduce we have been mainly "fallow" this year!

Regards
Pete
www.thecanalshop.com