I guess it depends how much of a lost cause you think it is. I don't know how big a plot this is, but I might try to cut some of the bean vines away so the corn has a chance. Its not too late to plant both corn and beans in zone 7.

Sorry for the damage but consider it a valuable lesson learned. We have all been there for what that may be worth.

If it were my patch I'd sacrifice the corn and rig up a trellis or several trellis of some kind for the beans to try to save as much of them as possible. They will climb anything you can give them and grow on. Then plant some corn somewhere else in a place of its own.

Dave

I thought and did the same as dave suggested. as I realized the corn/bean/squash planting was not going to work..I just put some poles, some fencing etc. anything that the beans could climb, into the bed and I think they are doing well. The squash are fine and I figure whatever corn plants decide to stand up and bear fruit will just be a bonus to the lesson learned! Anything else is just compost. lol

I'm not sure I've got it straight, but a friend had the same problem several years ago.

To try to save the beans, I think she said she cut the corn stalks loose at their base ends, then propped up the stalks with bricks (on end) so the corn stalks sort of resembled a trellis (designed by a drunk) that lay horizontal on the tops of the bricks. Then she gently worked the bean vines up and through this "trellis" and just let them grow over the tops of the cornstalks. She said it kept most of the beans off the ground and prevented rotting.

She also said it looked like a mess, but she did get a fair crop of beans, which is more than she would have had if she pulled up everything, as she lived in a fairly short-season area (Rocky Mountains).

Sue

The native americans had their crops in smallish plots surrounded by tall trees, so wind blowing stuff down was perhaps not as much of an issue as it is for some of us. Not to mention that it is probable that north america experiences higher average winds now vs 4-500 years ago. And far more severe insect pest problems. There are many reasons why 3-sistering would be more difficult now than then besides just incompetence.

I have had several successful attempts with pole beans and field corn and more unseccessful ones. A heavy load of beans will bring down any corn in a gale. It is tricky to get enough good vines but not too many. Definitely putting the corn in clumps is much superior to rows.

I agree to try to save the beans rather than the corn in this case.

Actually, the Native Americans had quite large fields. four or five acres per family, and the area around Iroqouis villages with several hundred families looked like any other pre industrial farmland. The farmscape would have been awesome before the Spanish brought smallpox and wiped out the huge corn based native population in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.

My corn (Painted Mountain) got blown down in its little protected hole in the trees the other day. The Native American's did plant rather densely with 6-9 plants a few inches apart in each hill, and then banked up soil around the stems before they left town for the summer hunt. That may have helped bolster the plants against the wind.

http://www.archive.org/details/agriculturehidatsa00waherich

http://www.archive.org/details/cornamongindians00williala

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7057602M/The_use_of_maize_by_Wisconsin_Indians

http://www.archive.org/details/iroquoisusesofma00parkrich

a good fence will break up the wind