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My corn is now about a foot high, and heavily mulched with dried bindweed. They say you can use corn to support pole beans, though others say it pulls down the corn.

my corn patch

So, at what height of corn should I plant beans to use the corn for support, and is there a point when it's too late? And can I just plant the seed into soil under the mulch, or do I need to pull the mulch apart?

Edit: the corn is being grown in an area just recently cleared of native bush, and under a large pine tree. The soil has 6 - 12 inches of topsoil full of organic matter, is not compacted, and the plants have not been fertilised.

Graham Chiu
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  • I'd plant my pole beans you betcha right now. That corn is tough stuff. Just remember to fertilize consistency. Not over fertilize. You already are short on nitrogen with your non decomposed mulch but make sure your fert is lower in percentage with nitrogen than P and K. How funny...'pull your corn down'? If anything the corn puts more effort in support with this kind of stress. Easy peasy to trim and control...Are you short on room? I'd plant my beans somewhere all of their own. – stormy Jan 20 '17 at 21:13
  • @stormy I'm short of a sister in my guild! The soil is near virgin forest so should be fine, and the mulch is there for weed suppression. The beans are supposed to export nitrogen which I probably don't need looking at the colour of the corn, but I lack poles for the beans to grow elsewhere! – Graham Chiu Jan 20 '17 at 21:23
  • How acidic is the soil? (more curious about the base materials tendency than the fact that pine debris has decomposed) – J. Musser Jan 20 '17 at 23:26
  • @GrahamChiu Soil in 'virgin forests' is as void of chemicals as potting soil. All the nutrients are in the living part of the ecosystem. Isn't that amazing? When they tear down these rain forests THERE IS NOTHING IN THE SOIL. They are actually MINING the chemicals when they take away the live growth. I think your corn is spaced just fine. Just be more aware of your plant's needs and add fert when necessary and not before. Growing two cash crops in the same space is smart but takes far more vigilance to make sure both get the chemicals they need. (I use chemicals versus nutrients...) – stormy Jan 20 '17 at 23:51
  • Plant those beans in the soil, not mulch. Definitely pull the mulch back. Check for pill bugs and slugs and earwigs or whatever loves that moist 'housing'...corn likes a bit more acidic soil and beans like more neutral. I'd keep the pH between 6.7 to 7.0 to accommodate both. Need to show you raised gardening. Vastly easier and more productive. – stormy Jan 20 '17 at 23:55
  • Good call J.!! On the pH!! Just saw you had addressed that issue...hate repeating great answers/comments!! – stormy Jan 20 '17 at 23:58
  • @J.Musser soil pH was 6.8 so looks fine. There's lots of organic material in the soil and trees are springing up all the time. I don't think there's a nutrient issue. – Graham Chiu Jan 21 '17 at 06:48
  • I just planted some runner beans last night all along the 2nd row. I'm not keen on scarlet runners so it's more of an experiment. – Graham Chiu Jan 21 '17 at 23:29

2 Answers2

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You'd want it in now if you can. After the corn plant has half a dozen leaves or so, it begins to stretch quickly between nodes, and you want that to happen just as the beans begin running. 6-8 leaves on the corn is usually when i would plant.

Also, Unless you have a long day of sun, and deep, fertile topsoil containing good ratios of the necessary compounds, I'd thin the corn just a bit. Part shade can cause the same affects as overpopulation, minus the root crowding. It's best to leave each plant plenty of room for best size. Long thin stalks will not support beans for long. I usually planted the corn in hills rather than drills, with 3 kernels in triangle formation (kernels spaced 10" apart) in hills on a 30" grid, left to grow (no thinning). And I only used 2 bean seeds per hill, as these are aggressive, and will grow until frost, even after the cornstalks are dead. I've never tried it in an area of any substantial shade.

If that's your only corn planting, I'd only put beans in half of the plot. That way you have backup in case of structural failure (you can prop bean vines back up and get a crop, not so with broken corn (if a grown stalk breaks, before the ear develops - If the corn leans from the root it can be propped).

I'd pull the mulch back just enough for the seeds, so they don't have to do the extra stretch for sunlight before beginning photosynthesis and mass building, although the mulch probably wouldn't stop a bean sprout.

Also, corn and beans are both heavy nitrogen feeders, but if fertilized too greatly the corn will lodge and you won't get a real crop. Let me know if I can expand on anything or add more.

J. Musser
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I planted pole beans and it overgrew my corn and pulled it down. I think the corn was a foot tall when I planted the beans. I must have done something wrong with the corn. Planted to early maybe, not sure. It seemed to mature before it got to 4 ft (1.2 m). However even with small corn and beans taking it over I am still getting healthy ears of corn. I'll try to add a pic.

Alina
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Guipe
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  • cant get pic to load – Guipe Aug 13 '18 at 14:54
  • Hi, Guipe and welcome to the site! When you try to upload it do you get an error message? Like if the size is bigger than 2 MB or something else? If you'd like to try again, you can use the edit btton under your answer. I bet it will help other users landing on this question. – Alina Aug 13 '18 at 19:51
  • Is this an answer or a comment? – Graham Chiu Aug 14 '18 at 14:29