Sunflowers and Pole Beans

[WesTex]

So, i've read that pole beans don't like sunflowers. Has anyone ever tested this theory? I should probably listen to the books, but Sunflowers would make the best poles for polebeans, growing taller than poles that i can buy and no ladders involved! >.> so, if you haven't tested this theory, any thoughts as to why they don't like sunflowers?

*Sorry i've been gone lots lately, school started back up and someone stole my checkcard info so life's been uber stressful lately!

[ottawagardener]

My understanding is that sunflowers are unfriendly to most plants BUT I wondered about using them to grow vining plants like beans before and googled it. There were several examples of people who had done it with satisfactory results.

You could try and let us know!

[WesTex]

Really!? I'm glad there's been folks who've gotten decent results. I'm going to try this next year; i'll let y'all know how it goes! <3

[mnjrutherford]

Excellent suggestion DustDevil! Actually, quite a few members have indeed planted "3 sisters" and reported the results here on the forum. Maybe the fact you are asking the question suggests that we should have a dedicated thread for the subject.

I have attempted it myself... dismal results My brains are much greener than my thumbs ;D

[Joseph Lofthouse]

My brother made a three sisters planting this summer. The beans and corn did fine together. The squash didn't get enough light to do well. He planted the corn at normal monoculture densities and then added squash and beans. I'm thinking it would have done better if he had spaced things out more.

[garnetmoth]

I personally dont have enough room to grow enough corn to get good pollination. I could try hand-pollination for a row or 2 of corn....? (whereas that would make a nice sack of sunflower seeds without having to hand-pollinate)

[paquebot]

The second link mentions why a tall one is needed but also wonders why nobody else has done it. That's because those which he plans on using won't work. Regular sunflower stalks are very hairy and the beans don't like that. I had giant sunflowers at various places in my main garden this year and several were right next to bean tepees. Although the beans sprawled all over the adjoining tomatoes and their cages, the sunflower stalks never had a single bean vine. Both varieties, Cherokee Greasy and Romano, also possibly suffered lower production as a result.

Martin

[bunkie]

interesting thread westex.

on the first link dust provided, aren't mexican sunflowers the Tithonia? they don't have a hairy covering like the others as i recall. haven't grown them for a couple of years.

on the second link, i wonder how did it work for him? his last post was in July.

we have not tried beans with sunflowers, but we have grown cucumbers with sunflowers. they both did very well in growing and production.

we also have grown cucumbers (all types) amidst the corn, and they thrived and production was exceptionally good.

[galina]

Nov 5, 2010 11:53:19 GMT -5 dustdevil said:

Why not grow corn and let the beans grow up the stalk? This has been done for hundreds of years in this country.

Difficult here in Britain, although it has been done with some success. The corn grows too slowly and is too short for most bean plants. The bean foliage shades the corn and makes a fairly late crop later still because not enough sun gets to the corn. The really tall corn varieties are late, too late for us in Britain even without beans shading them. Due to latitude reasons bean foliage is bigger in Britain than in areas further South.

Mr John Yeoman (the owner of the erstwhile Village Guild in England) has had good success with sunflowers and beans, but suggests starting the sunflowers indoors at least a month earlier to get them growing tall, before beans will overtake them. It is crucial to select tallm strong sunflower varieties and there is a risk that some reinforcement may still be needed on a windy site.

[paquebot]

Straight 8 cucumbers also had a chance to climb the sunflowers this year and they got along quite well. Cucumber vines also are fuzzy and thus are protected from the sunflower stalks fuzz.

Martin

[extremegardener]

For three sisters plantings, my theory is that twiner/half runner beans were bred for growing on corn - they climb and need support, but the vines are shorter and don't overwhelm the corn so much as regular pole beans do.
theextremegardener.com/?p=70
Will Bonsall in Maine has tried growing pole beans on Jerusalem Artichokes. I gave this a feeble attempt - poked a few bean seeds into the ground at the southern edge of a JA patch. The beans were overwhelmed, but I might try it again with a single JA tuber... I get nervous, though, thinking about planting JA in a proper garden bed...

[ottawagardener]

Cucumbers and sunflowers sound like a combination that I would definitely try.

I also like the idea of planting beans near the JAs, maybe a super vigorous variety. Actually, I was thinking of pairing them with some other perennial twiner but I can't rememer it off the top of my head.

[littleminnie]

I used to always grow cucs on sunflowers and that always worked well- except that they have similar leaves and you have to look hard for the cucs.
I think just as much is supposed to not get along with sunflowers as pole beans. Maybe they would cancel each other out. I would prefer a sturdy fence with the beans though.

I also have issue with the 3 sisters because I feel it should be field corn, drying beans and squash not sweet corn, green beans and squash. The squash would make it hard to pick the corn and beans and many beans would be missed anyway.

A teepee or a-frame type situation made with bamboo poles is nice for green beans; then you can put a green like lettuce in the shade.

[flowerpower]

In a traditional 3 sisters, the corn would never be sweet. All the veggies that they could reach would be eaten fresh. But the majority of the plot was for winter storage. Also some of those squash are really hard shelled gourds, like Dipper or Birdhouse. They needed storage containers for the dried beans and corn. And some of the others were used for musical instruments like rattles.

[wildseed57]

I did a small traditional three sister's garden in honor of a fallen friend, but it didn't turn out as nice as I thought it would, the corn was a tall flour type and for some reason the corn didn't pollinate like it should have and all I got was cobs and no corn to speak of, the beans were a bit over powered by both the corn and squash but did ok. If I do it again next year I will use a smaller type of flour corn and spread them out some. I used Seminol pumpkin and one called Choctaw sweet potato which was very rampant and tried to over power every thing, so next time I will not grow it either and will try not to use a variety that is less rampant if there is such a thing. Maybe I will try to find a small gourd rather than a squash or pumpkin. My sister Has some wild sunflowers that self seed every year, they would probably work as a trelis for beans as they have a very thick stem or trunk and have to be sawed down at the end of the season.
George W.