Minimum Seeds per Packet: 40

Packet Weight: 14g

Planting Season: After Last Frost

Sowing Method: Direct Seed

Seed Depth: 1"

Direct Seed Spacing: 1-3"

Soil Temperature: 60-80 ℉

Days to Sprout: 8-16

Mature Spacing: 3-4"

Sun Requirement: Full Sun

Frost Tolerance: Frost Sensitive

Days to Harvest: 85

When to Seed Pole Beans 

Pole beans are a heat loving, frost sensitive crop that should be directly seeded into the garden after all danger of frost has passed. 

Where to Plant Pole Beans

Pole beans will want a spot with full sun and loose, well-draining soil. They’ll love a spot rich in organic matter, but too much nitrogen can cause plants to produce more leaves than flowers or pods. 

Growing Pole Beans

Pole beans are vining legumes and will require trellising. Plant pole beans one inch deep and one to three inches apart, in rows one to two feet apart. Once germinated, they can be thinned to their mature planting distance of three to four inches. Assuming your soil is high quality with well-aged organic matter, you shouldn’t have to apply any kind of fertilizer. Something that can be helpful is to use a legume inoculant. This ensures that legumes will have all of the symbiotic microbes they need. Typically, these microbes are already found in the soil but can be in low numbers if your garden is depleted or has recently been converted from a lawn. Make sure your beans get at least one inch of water per week. 

Harvesting Pole Beans

Unlike with bush beans, pole beans will produce until too many pods are left to mature and dry or until the frost takes them in the fall. Picking your beans regularly and often, once they start to produce, will result in a larger and longer harvest.

Bean - Pole, Bush, Phaseolus vulgaris
Pollination, self; Life Cycle, annual; Isolation Distance, 20 feet

Cross-pollination is rare with beans, but it is prudent to not grow different varieties next to each other to avoid the risk. Earmark a couple of plants at the beginning of the season for seed saving. To encourage optimal pod development, water very little and don't feed the seed plants, nor pick any pods from them to eat. At the very end of the season, pick the pods when they have turned crisp and brown. Some varieties will shatter –meaning the pod will split open to disperse the seeds- so keep an eye on your seeds' progress and harvest accordingly. With smaller varieties, the whole bush can be uprooted and hung upside-down for drying. The seed inside the pod should be hard. Dry the pods in a well-ventilated place, clean and winnow, and store.