I forgot to put this in my original post:

Do these varieties grow well in bean teepees?

and

What sort of yield can I expect from these varieties?

Thanks!!

Hello, vtguitargirl. I suggest you take a few minutes to learn how to search this forum. There are dozens of threads regarding each of the varieties you mention. Just two weeks ago there was a lengthy discussion on scarlet runners. And last week there was a discussion of how folks support their pole beans, with photos. There's so much to learn from just entering a keyword, something like "pole bean". Actually, there's always something to learn here!

Happy searching, and welcome to the forum!

I have grown the Jacob's Cattle and Scarlet Runners with success in teepee type situation - worked just fine.. BUT, this would be good for saving seed rather than eating, as it would take a lot of teepees to get enough beans for a few rounds in the bean pot!
Glad

Uh, guess I'll risk looking foolish. But isn't Jacob's Cattle a bush bean? I grew them in 1984 & 1985 and they were nice upright bush beans: very early and trouble free. Is there a climbing variety? If you grow the bush variety I wouldn't think of using a tepee, but rather plant them in blocks or rows.

George
Tahlequah, OK

gladgrowing & macmex, after some research, I've seen Jacob's Cattle & Soldier beans only as a bush variety. Do you know of a pole variety too?

I've decided to grow Cranberry beans & Scarlet Runner beans as dry beans. I wonder if a 16 foot row (planted close together) growing up 8 ft of string to the deck above will give me enough beans to make a few pots of soup.

Does anyone have knowledge on typical yields for dry beans?

Can't speak for the runners---which are on the large side---but pole types grown for dry beans are very inefficient.

My 15-foot equivilency rows typically yield 12-14 ounces of dry beans. About enough for one good mess.

If you want dry beans you're better off choosing a bush variety, for various reasons.

Thanks gardenlad, I appreciate your input on the bean yield. I think I'd like enough beans for more than one batch of soup for all my effort!

I guess I've been a little confused on the pole vs bush dry bean because, apparently, there is more than one type of cranberry bean.

The cranberry beans I bought are Seed Savers Exchange "True Red Cranberry" - the seed packet says "Used like dry kidney beans, excellent flavor. POLE habit." They do indeed look like cranberries. Johnny's Seeds has "Vermont Cranberry" beans which are more speckled & listed in their BUSH dry beans category.

If I can get my Darling Dad to build me another raised bed ( or 2! ) I will grow both varieties and see what happens.

looking for scarlet runner beans, FRENCH beans and FRIED EGG FLOWERS anyone have any of these SUE

Vermont Cranberry
Soldier
Jacob's Cattle

Are definitely bush beans. I have grown them excluding the Solider beans a few times. You might try growing them in rows with only 16" spacing to increase production, it has worked for me.

Scarlet Runner
True Red Cranberry

Are both pole beans, which I have grown both and they do quite well, but I have to agree with Gardenlad, I have had better luck in production of dried beans with my bush beans than pole bean. Now I know Zeedman has tracked his production results and I am sure could recommend some good pole bean possibilities for dried beans.

I did learn something after searching in Google, I see dried Runner beans are used quite often in soups. Hmmm, pretty and edible, makes sense though.

Dean

Don't know how I missed this thread; glad to see it brought back up.

As a preservationist, I periodically grow most of my beans for seed, regardless of their intended usage. Even my pole snaps are grown for seed every 4-5 years. You can get good dry seed production from pole beans - sometimes exceptional yields. My 2009 bean seed yields, as well as detailed discussions about plant spacing, can be found on this thread.

To summarize, though, I get average dry seed yields between 1-2 ounces per plant for bush beans (6" spacing/24" rows) and over 6 ounces per plant for pole beans (12" spacing/36-42" rows).

For short season areas like Vermont, bush beans - because of their earlier maturity - stand the best chance of success. Many excellent bush dry beans are available. Bush beans are also the best choice if growing beans in subsistence quantities, because the plants can be closely spaced & require little care.

Pole dry beans would be the better choice if you could only plant a single row, and wanted the maximum yield. "Soissons Vert" and "Brita's Foot Long" are outstanding pole dry beans.

A little bit of math, regarding my observations of bush vs. pole yield. While the 6+ oz. average yield per plant for pole beans easily exceeds the 1-2 ounces per plant of bush beans, there would be twice as many bush beans in the row using my spacing (6" vs. 12"), and the row spacing for bush would be 2/3 that of pole (24" vs. 36+"). If you multiply out the differences (bush beans twice the plants, rows X 1.5) the yields are comparable... so it really comes down to garden philosophy, personal preference, and choice of varieties.

Wow! Zeedman I never saw that thread before. I'd like to transplant it here! - Dick

Drloyd, ditto on the thread transplant wishes. Is it possible, anyone?

Tormato, your experience with "True Red Cranberry" echoes my own. Beautiful beans, but the yield was nothing special... neither was the flavor anything special to my taste.

I've been trying a lot of Cranberry-like pole heirlooms sent to me in trade over the past several years. The yield has been very good for some of them, such as the "Austrian Soup" I received from a Wisconsin GW member. My best dry seed yield of 2009 (per plant) was from the Cranberry-like "Striped Cornfield".

Hi everyone and Happy New Year. I'm planning my garden for nuxt summer and would like to try some chickpeas or other dry bean.

My question is: do rabbits/deer eat these plants? They eat the snap beans I grow, so I'm assuming they will, but am still hoping!

Thanks, Florrie