Long story short I don't want to have to buy a trellis. I got some seed money and I want to try growing green beans, specifically the pole variety. Would my crappy Home Depot tomato cage work? I could trim the legs so that they are closer to the ground too.
by Honest_Eggplant3998
20 Comments
No, but you could grow bush beans in it. You don’t have to buy a trellis for pole beans. They will wrap themselves around twine very quickly. So you just need string and something to attach it to. Some people like to make a circle with poles and they grow like a tent. If you only had one pole at the center, you could do that with strings all coming together at the top of the pole.
No. My pole beans went up 8 ft trellis, came back down several feet and started back up again.
It’s a good start but you might need to get just about anything taller 8ft at least, and just zig zag some twine and it will keep growing up and up.
They work GREAT for peppers….and not much else.
For pole beans, you don’t necessarily have to spend money, but you do want something about 7-8′ tall (they’ll gladly grow twice that tall or more, but picking beans off a ladder sucks!!).
A few somewhat straight branches made into a teepee , or just some pieces of wire or twine strung from a tree or the eave of your house, will work fine enough for pole beans.
Who can we blame for inventing these cone cages and saying they’re good for tomatoes?
Cattle panel cages kick butt – these flimsy cages might work for peppers or bush beans – but I grow them every year without them…..
It will very quickly out grow it. I ended up growing mine up an old branch and it out grew the branch.
Honestly get some 6-8ft fencing and tie it to t-posts. Take the tomatoe cages and use them for pepper plants. Green peppers grow great on them and it prevents wind damage. For actually tomatoes cages you need the 5-6 ft thicker ones or the rod iron Victorian style cages which are basically a buy it for life item.
For a little while, then you’ll need something much bigger.
You might get better mileage out of a wigwam structure (like we learned in elementary school). The sticks (if you can find free or really cheap) plus twine going around will probably give you a more sturdy (and taller) structure. Good luck!
I use string between 4 poles. String is about 4-6 inches apart. Been doing the string for *string* beans and peas for decades.
I use canes, either bamboo or sunflower stalks, and make a teepee about 7-8 feet tall. Plant the beans around the base.
I did a 5×5 net trellis and some 2×2 lumber, like 5 years ago, still going strong, peas,beans,cakes.
I’ve planted pole beans next to sunflowers. The beans will wrap around the sunflowers and you don’t need a trellis!
Maybe Forhook Limas . They only climb about 3 to 4 feet.
Throw that trash away – and go buy some cattle panels , look on the internet on how to construct a trellis and you my friend will thank me.
Make yourself an arch with some medium weight fence. Will last for years.
Bush beans
I grew beans on a cage like that, worked but not ideal. They needed something taller
These cages would work for individual rat-tail radish plants. (A radish grown for the edible seed pods.) They get 4′ – 5′ talk and need support.
It’d probably work for free, honestly.