You are on the right track. The Genuine Cornfield Bean is an old original Iroquois bean traditionally grown on corn in hills. These do work well with partial sun. Other beans that work well is the Cherokee Cornfield Bean and many of the other more rarer Cherokee and Iroquois beans. Production is not effected by partial shade. Another good one would be Faulkner's Cornfield Bean, an old Kentucky heirloom that the Appalachian Heirloom Seed Conservancy has available. Give any of these a try, they will do well for you.

Blueflintcolor>

Thanks for that info, Blueflint! I'm really eager to try growing beans in this spot, because I'd been puzzling over what to put there besides some leafy greens.

I have similar semi-shady patch. Potatoes are quite happy there. Have also succeeded with cabbages, garlic, beets, turnips. I've also grown "cornfield" beans in my corn beds, and they were too hard to harvest that way.

Don't know how this thread passed me by.

Any bean with "cornfield" in its name will be tolerant of partial shade. Those that have been mentioned, plus several more varieties fit that bill.

Thanks, gardenlad.

Do cornfield beans prefer partial shade, or is it that they prefer full sun and just tolerate some shade?

Yes! :>)

Seriously, that's a good question. But I don't know as anyone has looked at it like that.

Growing beans up cornstalks, with or without a cucurbit, has a very long tradition. My guess is that through the years some varieties were better adapted for that, and thus became known as cornfield beans.

If I had to go out on a limb, I would say they prefer sun but tolerate shade. But that's nothing more than a SWAG.

I understand your concern; Florida and Texas have such brutal growing conditions. But I can't answer any better than this, cuz I just don't know.

Have you ever timed the total amount of sun that patch receives? You want at least 6 hours.

I'd also be concerned about the brutal south Texas afternoon sun. You might have to rig sunshades to give the plants some relief from it.

Gardenlad- I'm hoping the afternoon sun won't be TOO much of a concern where and when I'm planting. Where this patch is positioned, it would be impossible to grow the beans in June and beyond without a sunshade of some kind, like you mention. But by then even with shade, it'd probably be too hot anyway. I rigged up some shade for my bush beans last year and it helped a bit, but after a couple weeks the plants just laughed at me for expecting any more beans.

So I'm aiming for a March-April-May growing window. I might switch to sweet potatoes and okra then. Last summer, the okra was the only thing that could handle the blazing afternoon sun without any stress.

I was wondering how did the beans grow in part shade?

I have the same type of area in my yard, with a nice fence waiting for some plant to grow on it. My cucumbers do well on the fence.

thanks,

Dean

Thanks for bringing this post back up... It reminded me I need to plant some more of these!

The beans grew quite well in my less-than-ideal conditions. I only had about eight plants growing in this corner, and they were pretty productive. In fact, the plants seem to be making a bit of a comeback now. I'm hoping they'll produce more flowers and pods. I'm going to plant some along another part of the fence for the fall.

Which beans did you end up planting?

Where did you buy the beans?

How many beans did you plant, only 8?

How much did they produce?

I got them from someone here, but unfortunately I don't remember who! They were just referred to as "Cornfield beans" on the envelope. I think there are several different kinds of "cornfield" beans out there and I don't know which in particular these are.

I only planted 8 (actually I planted 10 but two were uprooted by my dogs early in the season) but got a couple of pounds of beans or more. By the end of the spring, I had gotten a little tired of picking pods and let them mature for seed.

I can send you some, if you want. Just drop me a line.

How about "Hidatsa Shield Figure Bean" from SSE, would they be good for partial shade?

Per SSE -- "Hidatsa Shield Figure Bean - The Hidasta Indians were experts at raising crops of corn, squash, beans and sunflowers in the Missouri River Valley of North Dakota. Dual crop of beans climbing up the corn stalks were often grown in their gardens. One of the most productive dry beans. Shield Figure beans were grown in Buffalo Bird WomanÂs Garden Pole habit, 90 days."

I figured if they grow under corn they might handle shade a little better. Also, Missouri is one state south of where I live and figured the bean might like my location.

Dean

Update:

I had one Cornfield Bean plant that survived the hot, wet summer and an accidental weed-wacking, and is now putting out more leaves and flowers. It's growing along the fence, over a weedy vine and down an old tomato cage. I picked a handful pods the other day--delicious! Even the slightly too-big ones were pretty tender. The extras I planted about three weeks ago are doing well and should start flowering in another couple of weeks, I think.

Another update: I've been harvesting pods from my August 31 planting of Genuine Cornfield Beans for about ten days now. (I emailed the person I swapped with and she said that's how they were labeled in the bulk bin at her feed store.)

The production is much lower than in the spring, but so is the level of light the plants are getting. They're currently getting NO direct sun at all. They get some dappled sun and indirect sun for a couple of hours, and then quite a bit of shade. The fact that they're making enough beans for me to harvest and make meals out of is good enough for me.

If you have a patch of the garden that you think would be too shady for most vegetables, I think this might be a good thing to try.

Hehe, Jim. Thanks for caring so much about my potential hernia. :) I'm very excited to try IWK this spring in similar conditions. They'll have some good sun in the front yard but part-to-mostly shade in a couple places in the back yard.

Jim,

I am also looking forward to trying the Insuk's Wang Kong beans in partial shade. I have a spot in the front and back yard already picked out for next spring.

thanks,

Dean

Update on the cornfield beans:

My August 31 planting is still going. Production dropped off after some chilly weather and wind damage but I see some new buds forming. Plus, we've been having days in the 80s again.

One thing I learned is that cornfield pods seem to be best prepared by blanching. I tried steaming half a batch, and even the youngest, thinnest pods were tough and fibrous. The next day, I blanched the other half of the batch and they were tender as could be.

I have been raising the Geniune Cornfield Bean for many, many years. Have been unable to buy seed the last couple years. I have about 1/2 lbs of old seed that will not germinate. If anyone has just a couple of seed they might share I would be very gratefull. They will grow well on corn but do much better if staked.