Vine Maple used as bean pole. . .bad?

17 years ago

Greetings!

I am wanting to make a bean-pole teepee this year and was thinking of using some nice long, yet thinish Vine Maple that got blown over at the end of winter. Pieces are ~8ft long and not more than 2in diameter, and I'll probably end up pruning off the top foot or so because they get thin & bendy toward the top.

When I went to harvest them this morning I discovered a few buds and/or new twigs. I would leave and let live except they fell over the trail and we have more than plenty growing on the property already. So my thought was to atleast put them to good use.

My concern is that some are obviously not completely dead (hardy bugger that Vine Maple!) and I don't wish these limbs to set roots down in my garden. Anyone know of a way, other than letting them cure until next year, to prevent these limbs from taking over the garden if used as a bean-pole teepee? Maybe removing the lower foot of bark or something as if an animal had girdled it?

I've tried surfing through the Search Engine but have yet to come up with any threads mentioning this particular concern. And, I'll admit, I've gotten side tracked a few too many times by other interesting and very informative threads lol.

thanks for any and all input!!!

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Comments (4)

cabrita
17 years ago
The only input I have might not help much, but I have had a similar experience with some very straight branches from my two fig trees. Right after pruning I used them as stakes for my peppers and noticed some of them wanted to be fig trees on their own. I also have a very large pile of pecan branches, so this is what I am using for some of our bean trellises. I do not see them taking off (yet, cross my fingers). What I did with the fig branches was to lay them in the sun, hot sun, on part of an asphalt driveway. That was last October (when I pruned) and I plan to use them for pepper stakes again very soon.

Don't you love the way natural branch trellises look though? I like the price too.
flora_uk
17 years ago
If you have free bean poles I'd use them. Even if they strike roots they will be easy to pull up after the season. I don't know about vine maple but I don't think maples are generally that easy to root, unlike, for example willow poles. I have had many currant and forsythia sticks root when used for pea sticks but I just pull them up. Fig is also a well known easy rooter. I have used apple, plum and hazel for bean poles none of which has rooted.
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Macmex
17 years ago
I've had Red Maple root, when used green for a pole. But as Cabrita mentioned, it wasn't any problem. Once I pulled them they stopped growing.

George
Tahlequah, OK
cabrita
17 years ago
Nice to know this is common with figs Flora, I was pretty surprised when it happened - is it so easy to clone fig trees?

George, not a problem with beans, since they are annuals, even with a long season one can pull the stick up. I try to keep my peppers and eggplants as perennials if they want to live another year or two I will let them live, so I do watch what I use for them. Most beans are annuals, except for red scarlet runners, so I would not use something that roots easily for the King beans (IWK) even though they have not completely decided they like it in southern California. I hope they make up their mind soon and decide to stick around (and give me some beans some day....)