Using tomato cages to grow green beans?

[stef]

My bush beans were decimated last year by rabbits, or "something".

I know there are many ideas of growing pole beans, but I'm trying to come up with something that's workable for my budget and physical abilities.

Therefore...has anyone ever used the larger tomato cages available at places like wal mart as pole bean supports?

I'm sure some of the beans would grow outside the cage, but wouldn't a lot of them also grow in the interior?

And, if necessary, the cage might be small enough to wrap with some kind of netting.

Just thinkin'.

What do you think?


stef

[unregistered5595]

We had used all our tomato cages last year for the tomatoes and tomatillas and put tall stakes at the ends of the bean rows and some string across, but, I think the big tomato cages would work just fine.
The cages are pretty wide, so plant a double row kind of wide across, they just need to be off the ground.

[nehimama]

I wonder if the tomato cages would be tall enough to support the pole bean vines; they get pretty long / tall. I've used a stock panel in a hoop shape, and that works really well for me.

[||Downhome||]

I say go with the livestock panels, nifty trellis they make and you can do it a number of ways form a arc with them and you can use to shade lettuce or simular crops, or run them in straight rows (id run them north to south)

cattle panels would be the cheapest (last i checked 20 bucks) they a 4' by 16' so sure you wouldnt need many but they will work with all your vine crops (even melons if you have some way of supporting the fruit as well as tomatos. I would mount them 2' above the ground and use sting or wire to help the young plants reach.

you can even plant along side them shorter crops swiss chard,peppers the vines will get most of there energy from the higher reachs so a little lower shading wont hurt once established, and if oriented right the lower plants will get all the light they need and some protection from the vines.

[Oldcountryboy]

Is tomato cages all you have access to? If so, yes you can use them although they might be a little bit too short to use. But might work anyway. I think what I would do is turn them upside down with the pointy end up in the air. Plant your beans around the ring at the bottom and then as soon as you can place some long limbs/sticks through the center of the cages for the vines to continue to keep the vines growing up on. You might need to stake the cages down if you use them upside down.

[rxkeith]

i have used the larger cages for pole beans and they worked fine.

i poked 1 cage in the ground, and put another one upside down on top of it, and secured it with twine in 3 or 4 places. i also pounded a couple stakes in the ground, and secured the cages to the stakes, otherwise they will get top heavy, and the wind will just blow them down. seeds were planted in a circle around the cages. it works good on a small scale. you could put some 2 ft chicken wire around the set up to keep the rabbits out, till the beans get bigger.


keith

[mullberry]

I plant my CORN first. then I plant beans so they grow up the corn stalk .works for me & easy to pick. I let cucumbers gro up the corn stalks last year & had a bumper crop Of STRAIGHT cukes

[dancingfatcat]

I have used tomato cages to support a number of different things. Beans, peas, cucumbers, squash and small watermelons just to name a few. They grew fine and the tomato cages worked well for me.

[upnorthlady]

Why would you want to use tomato cages for beans? Plant bush beans. I always plant Jade Green bush beans. I planted 18 rows of them and about 7 rows of Goldenrod bush beans. Now - THAT would be a lot of tomato cages!!! Each of my rows was close to 30 feet long. I'd need a million cages! As for tomato cages you buy at the stores like Wal Mart - forget them. They're too flimsy to even support tomatoes well. My husband made my tomato cages out of cattle panels and some out of rolled concrete reinforcement wire. They held up much better and were taller. I had 50 tomato plants.

By the way Jade Green beans are open pollinated so you can save the seeds, and they are very prolific. I won't plant anything else. I can my beans in the pressure canner and canned 85 qts.

[bluetick]

I have used 4' high fencing with 4" square openings attached to T posts and raised 2' from the ground. The fencing is light in weight so it is easy to work with. By raising it 2' the bean vines went up and over the 6' height of the fence, but the sturdy T posts provided good support.

[geo in mi]

I'm having trouble understanding: Did you try pole beans last year when the rabbits ate them? Or, are you trying pole beans THIS year hoping their height will make them unreachable? If you wish to grow any kind of beans, you'll have to protect them when they are at ground level--just getting started. Rabbits and woodchucks, and deer, too, for that matter, love the tender sprouts, shoots, and leaf tips of any kind of bean. After that, they seem to only go for the tips since they have a limited amount of time in the pre-dawn or post-dusk time frame to do their eating. (MY woodshucks, however are on steroids, so they brazenly eat whenever my back is turned...)

I would highly recommend you make the investment in rabbit guard , a two foot high fence that has tight mesh at the bottom, so you will will have something to eat for yourself. Or a .22..... The fence you can get at the BB store, usually on sale in the Springtime......

[ronbre]

i doubt if tomato cages would really protect the green beans from rabbits..my suggestion is to get a 18" or so roll of chicken wire and string it around your patch..you can step over it to harvest your beans, but the rabbits won't bother as they will go where it is easy to browse

it might have been some insect eating your beans though

[Cascade Failure]

Originally Posted by geo in mi

I'm having trouble understanding: Did you try pole beans last year when the rabbits ate them? Or, are you trying pole beans THIS year hoping their height will make them unreachable? If you wish to grow any kind of beans, you'll have to protect them when they are at ground level--just getting started. Rabbits and woodchucks, and deer, too, for that matter, love the tender sprouts, shoots, and leaf tips of any kind of bean. After that, they seem to only go for the tips since they have a limited amount of time in the pre-dawn or post-dusk time frame to do their eating. (MY woodshucks, however are on steroids, so they brazenly eat whenever my back is turned...)

I would highly recommend you make the investment in rabbit guard , a two foot high fence that has tight mesh at the bottom, so you will will have something to eat for yourself. Or a .22..... The fence you can get at the BB store, usually on sale in the Springtime......

Don't get me started on woodchucks. They WILL climb to the top of a tomato cage by the way.

[geo in mi]

Originally Posted by Cascade Failure

Don't get me started on woodchucks. They WILL climb to the top of a tomato cage by the way.

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, but I shot him anyway.

[Backfourty,MI.]

When I grow pole bean's I would always use stakes about 3 or 4 feet apart the length of your row & zig zag twine or heavy string back & forth on horizontal twine. Start close to the ground & the beans will grow right up & wind all around but will stay up off the ground.

I usually always grow the bush type beans anymore but the pole beans take up much less space that way too.

[jmtinmi]

Originally Posted by upnorthlady

Why would you want to use tomato cages for beans? Plant bush beans. I always plant Jade Green bush beans. I planted 18 rows of them and about 7 rows of Goldenrod bush beans. Now - THAT would be a lot of tomato cages!!! Each of my rows was close to 30 feet long. I'd need a million cages! As for tomato cages you buy at the stores like Wal Mart - forget them. They're too flimsy to even support tomatoes well. My husband made my tomato cages out of cattle panels and some out of rolled concrete reinforcement wire. They held up much better and were taller. I had 50 tomato plants.

By the way Jade Green beans are open pollinated so you can save the seeds, and they are very prolific. I won't plant anything else. I can my beans in the pressure canner and canned 85 qts.

Where did you purchase your Jade green beans? I would like to try these this year.

[prairiedog]

I used tomatoe cages to grow pole beans. They were close enough to the garden fence that the ended up drapping ove there too. I had a regular tunnel that I went through picking beans

[Cascade Failure]

Originally Posted by geo in mi

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, but I shot him anyway.

Good! Come out here and get the one that get's my garden when I sleep. Darn night shift.

[upnorthlady]

Originally Posted by jmtinmi

Where did you purchase your Jade green beans? I would like to try these this year.

I order the seeds from Jung's in 1/2 lb pkg. I think other seed catalogs have them, too, like Henry Fields. I just have real good luck with Jung's, as they always seem to get my orders right. Jade beans are nice long, bright green beans. I can pick enough for supper just from a couple plants!

I have read other posts on this thread about critters eating green beans. I have 10 barn cats who keep all the rabbits away - my garden "helpers" (sometimes NOT!), and we put up an electric fence to keep the deer away. I also tie old cd's on strings from the electric fence wire. The constant motion of the cd's, plus their shiny almost blinding light as they twirl in sunlight or moonlight also keeps the deer away. Try it! It works!

[fishhead]

I toy with the idea of using hoops from cattle panels. If it was oriented the right way other things could be grown inside plus it would make picking the beans a lot easier.