How to Make Supports for Pole Beans

Bean supports in tepee variation.

Pole beans of any variety are a summer favorite. In order to get the best yield from your pole beans, you'll want to string them up. An easy-to-rig pole system will give your beans full support from development to harvest, and can easily be adapted to include larger harvests.

Things You'll Need

• Butcher twine or hemp
• Two metal rods or bamboo sticks measuring 6 to 8 feet tall
• Garden stakes
• Trowel or shovel
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Use a trowel to dig a hole that's 8 to 12 inches deep beside the garden bed where your pole beans are planted. Stick the metal or bamboo rod into the hole, then cover it with dirt and tamp firmly down.

2. Plant the second pole in the same manner as the first pole on the other end of the garden bed.

3. Tie a knot around the top of one pole with string, then run the string across the garden bed to the other pole and secure it in the same manner, using scissors to cut the twine. If you are using a metal rod that has an eyelet or a hole, tie the string through it for more security and strength.

4. Place a garden stake in the soil beside the developing pole bean vines, being careful not to put the stake through the roots. To avoid root damage, place the stake a couple of inches in front of the developing plant.

5. Tie a knot to the garden stake and run the string up to the horizontal main line. Tie off the string onto the main line and repeat the process for every bean plant.

6. Train the vines to grow up the support strings by winding them around the string as they grow. The plants will soon take naturally to the string and cling to it without your interference.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are short on garden space, adapt the support structure to a maypole design. Plant pole bean seeds in a circle around one stake, with support lines running to the ground to form a tepee shape.

• Properly trench your support stakes in the ground so that the weight of the pea plants does not collapse the metal or bamboo stakes.

References

• Pole Bean Support String