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Beans have reached top of bean poles, should I pinch them off?

tuffnelljohntuffnelljohn Posts: 284
in Fruit & veg

Hi all,
What do you do when the beans have reached the top of the poles? Should I pinch them off or let them dangle down?
Thanks




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Posts

  • pinutpinut Posts: 194
    No need to pinch in your situation.

    Just let them grow unchecked - they will repeatedly droop down and climb upwards again.

    The important thing is to keep harvesting the beans and to not to let them mature unless you want seeds.

  • tuffnelljohntuffnelljohn Posts: 284
    Ah great - thanks @pinut !
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    why not get taller poles. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Just leave them to dangle,  I find that nearing the end of the season I cut them off because they’re never going to ripen and swell here.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Answer to @war garden 572 - because if you make the poles taller you can't reach the beans to harvest them.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    edited July 2023
    liriodendron there is this great invention called a ladder.
    that is very helpful with this problem. I believe folding
    ladders have been available in UK for over 100 years.
    John H_ Basely of Dayton invented the step ladder in
    1862.When he made it he put hinges on it so when
    someone had finished they could fold it away.

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    This reminds me of a joke I heard recently...
    There was a breakout at a local prison. I saw a dwarf prisoner climbing down the wall on a ladder and thought to myself ‘well that's a little condescending'...

    Anyway. Something that works really well in my situation is to set up the poles as an arch between raised beds. Poles either side with a wide flat top. The beans hang down above your head which makes for nice easy picking too.

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2023
    The veg garden at Helmingham Hall(very close to where I grew up in Suffolk) had/has a tunnel of metal arches along the central dividing pathways (IIRC in a + shape) and these were used for the climbing beans, and they could be picked easily as they hung over the pathway. 

    Prince Charles was a frequent visitor there before he married and I understand that he based much of the veg garden at Highgrove on that at Helmingham. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • myclayjunglemyclayjungle Posts: 162
    Not mush help this year, but our neighbours add a few extra poles either side, and before the plants reach that high- add a large piece of plastic trellis mesh horizontally across the poles.  Their beans then tend to reach the top- then grow sideways along the mesh- instead of continuing up. They are still reachable- without the risk of climbing a ladder.
    Coastal Suffolk/Essex Border- Clay soil
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    For 'Crop24' tuffnelljohn you might like to try a 'pit' as opposed to your 'row'?  I grow 24 plants in one square yard/metre.  They all support one another and you can let them grow wherever they want to.  Bones of the unit attached.
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