Chinese Red Noodle will easily climb to 6 feet or more (it covered a 6 1/2' trellis for me last year). Nowhere hear as vigorous a climber as limas or common pole beans, though. It is what I would call a "reluctant" climber, and needs help getting started... but will begin to climb on its own after a couple weeks. In my experience, it does not like climbing plastic, so using organic materials for the trellis (such as sisal baling twine) is helpful.

Two vines will take up a 2-3' section of space on a trellis, if wandering vines are turned back in. While Red Noodle is a great tasting variety & one of my favorites, it is less productive than pole beans would be in the same space. With two plants, you might need to pick a couple days worth to get a meal. I pick mine often, usually every other day...as long as they are kept picked & well watered, they will continue to produce. There are other long beans (or "yardlongs") that are more productive, with pods in varying shades of green.

I don't know if you are short on space, but if you ever try making pickled dilly beans with Chinese Red Noodle, you will want to grow more. ;-) They turn out scarlet after pickling, and have a wonderful crunchiness.

I don't grow the red ones, but i assume they grow just like the green Chinese ones i do grow - just posted a thread in the seed exchange looking for Red ones to compare ;-)

I'm in agreement with the info from Zeedman

They have a growth habit similar to pole beans. my plants get huge, but i also inoculate them, so I am not sure how much does that play into their growth as i never tried without one. i would plant them like 12 inches a part, unless you prune their off shoots as they will make a tangle mess like most pole beans do. i put 1 plant in the middle of jute string secured to the ground with a piece of wood (bamboo stakes) then to the left and right, about 5-6 inches apart i have another string, basically 3 strings per plant.

That's pretty close to the same spacing I use, Stevie. I usually space plants 15-16" apart in the row to allow air flow, but have used 12" spacing in the past. I noticed that for some of the more vigorous varieties, at 12" or less, more pods were grown in the lower half of the vines. One year I even grew clusters of 3 plants per foot, and the vines were stunted to a half-runner habit... which is the trick I would recommend for shorter supports.

I concur on the use of inoculant for cowpeas & yardlong beans (which are related sub-species). When I experimented one year with inoculated vs. non-, the inoculated had more & larger nodules, and noticeably more vigorous growth.

zeedman...you are so right! The pickled dilly beans are the reason I grow them !!

By what method do you inoculate beans? I just try to get the seeds wet and the powder sort of sticks to the seeds, sort of. I also put some inoculate powder in water and water the area, hoping it does something. I grew two cowpots of Red Noodle seedlings, two to each. Definitely not vining early like a regular pole bean. Maybe thin to one to a pot? Will plant some more seeds today.

Weather has been cold and then very wet until this weekend, so the weather prevented any unwise planting of beans early.

My Red Noodles are finally sending a climbing vine. First they grow a set of 3 leaves, then a second set of 3 leaves, then a third set with no vine. Must be building up energy over a month, then finally it sends out a climbing vine with the fourth set of leaves. Then I assume it spreads out sideways.