Canes For Runner Beans

Hi, what height canes would you recommend for Enorma Runner Beans? I have just put my plants into the bed i had prepared but my nan is concerned that the canes aren't high enough. They are approx 5ft. Is it possible to pinch off the tops as they get to the top or am i going to have to replace them? I don't want my first attempt to be doomed from the start!

Thanks

Sarah

 

It doesn't matter at all!!! We use 7 foot canes, but my elderly neighbour used to use 4 foot canes in a pot - if they get too high, pinch off the tops. She still got a really good crop.

 

Ours are pretty tall ( I use some bamboo that has been reinforced with fibreglass and inserted into 3 foot alloy tubes), and in a triangular formation with one central vertical and two sloping. They stand about as high as I can reach.

This year I'm trying growing sweet peas and morning glory along with the beans. Should make for a colourful display and possibly attract more insects to aid pollination.

With 5 foot canes you'll still, as Honeybee says get a decent crop.

 

Dave W (AKA Heath Robinson)- been playing Gadgets, again, have you??? I have visions of your garden and house full of these contraptions!!!

 

Thanks, so pleased i don't have to take it all down, was very proud of my trench and canes!!!

 

Just wait until I get the hamster powered conveyor belt working taking the contents of the indoor composting loo down the garden to the compost heap. My methane extraction plant will then be used to power the water pump extracting water from the hole that is presently being drilled by a male ferret chasing a female while harnessed to an old bit of scaffold tube with teeth ground at the end.
The water will then be fed into an 80 gallon storage tank (an old plastic thing I have lying around) before being drip fed into the greenhouse and polytunnel onto old water- retaining disposable nappies (which I beg from the neighbours) on which the plants sit. Two hundred solar powered garden lights (cheap from Ebay)wired in series are being used to power a couple of old domestic fans found on a skip to provide ventilation.

I think it will work :D

[ 19. May 2006, 12:53 AM: Message edited by: Dave W ]

 

:D :D :D

 

Just tape two 5 foot canes together with strong tape and voila 10 foot canes. Looks more dramatic if they're big.

 

Wandering off a bit but, is there a non rottable version of 7 or 8ft canes, plastic or glass fibre etc. I seem to always be buying a few new ones.
And DaveW as you probably know urine is a compost accelerator but what a long way to walk on a wet night, downstairs, wellies on, afraid not.

 

I use 8ft canes, these are pushed into the ground about 18inches, so they are only 6ft 6in above ground.yes by all means pinch the heads off when the plants reach the top of the canes. they will only bush out lower down.

 

B&Q used to sell plastic coated metal "canes" about 6 feet long. With a wooden dowel plug these could easily be extended.
Or you could DIY by buying long bamboo and wrapping in cotton bandage impregnated with fibreglass resin. Lasts for years, but is a mucky,sticky job getting it done.

 

I have tied string to the top of the cane before to extend the height, then fixed that to the wall. Its an easy fix if you dont want to dismantle what is there already, think I might have to do that this year, when I see how mine have grown in the last week.