Can Pole Beans Be Planted Next to Sunflowers?
Pole beans are a warm-season legumes that grow on vining plants. The vines need sturdy supports up to 8 feet tall. Common supports for pole beans include bamboo poles, fences, corn plants and sunflowers. A disease-resistant variety of pole bean planted in rich soil in full sun provides a harvest of green beans in about 70 days. Green beans are eaten fresh in salads and cooked in side dishes. Abundant crops of beans can be canned, dried or frozen to eat later. Does this Spark an idea?
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Sunlight Versus Shade
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Pole beans need support that doesn't shade their leaves to produce enough flowers for a full crop. Some larger sunflower varieties have large leaves which may compete with pole bean vines and leaves for sunlight, and may shade the smaller, slimmer plant's leaves. Shaded bean plants competing for sunlight will produce sparse crops and may have spindly growth which interferes with the plant's growth. If planting pole beans next to sunflowers for support. The spacing of the sunflower plants will be very important. They should be planted farther apart than normal, 2 to 3 feet apart at least, to avoid excessive shading of bean foliage.
Strong Support
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Pole beans need strong support that won't blow down in high winds and break vines and branches. Some of the fancy sunflowers grow on smaller, slimmer plants than larger varieties like mammoth sunflowers. Even large sunflower varieties can be victims of strong winds. If using sunflowers for pole bean supports, you may want to stake the sunflower plants to avoid losing both crops in summer storms before they produce crops.
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Heavy Feeders
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Both sunflowers and pole beans are heavy feeders and need rich soil with lots of organic matter to grow and produce well. Overfeeding with too much nitrogen will not benefit either plant, but top dressing with compost and mulching with shredded or chopped hay will feed and conserve moisture. Black compost and aged manure provide better nutrition and fertilization for beans than chemical fertilizers, and release nutrients into the soil available to plants on an ongoing basis. Planting squash at the base of sunflowers and pole beans is an alternative to mulch, with the squash leaves providing shade for roots and keeping weeds down.
Water
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Regular watering during the growing season is important for healthy growth and good crops. Sunflowers are more drought-tolerant than beans, but will resist wind damage better if they are watered well. Beans produce more and resist yellowing more easily with a consistent water supply. Water at least once a week, twice if the temperatures are extremely hot. Plants growing in full sun especially benefit from a light mulch that keeps roots shaded and keeps soil moist. Mulch also reduces the amount of watering necessary.
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References
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Comments
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Beans are not heavy feeders, in fact they host nitrogen-fixing bacteria that are beneficial to the sunflowers, helping them grow larger and stronger. This is also why beans are part of the Three Sisters, being grown along with corn, using it as a trellis, in traditional Indian farming.
