Planting 3 Sisters - Beans, Corn and Squash

13 years ago

We have been talking about this in another thread but I thought it might be good to give the subject its own thread.

I had mentioned that an old Indian friend of mine told me that when the Indians did not have room for a large field of corn, they would plant the corn in a circle. This helped the pollination as well as aiding in some humidity, which the silk needs in order to produce the pollen.

I decided to call him and ask for more details. Here's what he told me:

1. Dig a funnel-shaped hole, large opening up, narrowing down to a final depth of 6" - 8".

2. Plant 6 seeds in each hole, top with some soil then some sand. The sand allows the water to disburse more evenly.

3. When the corn sprouts its first 2 leaves, keep filling in the hole with dirt. Continue re-bury-ing the shoot as it grows, backfilling with sand at the top each time. (I think of this as laying the tomato transplant side-ways in the hole when transplanting in order to get roots to grow along the stem.)

4. The corn should be 12" tall before you plant the squash and beans. Otherwise they will shade the corn too early.

5. He said pole beans are a bad idea because corn does not like anything growing up its stalk. This is contrary to what I have read elsewhere but as long as I'm following his other instructions, I'll stick to this as well and plant a bush bean. He suggests lima or, for max nitrogen, soy.

Anyone else planting this combo now? How are you doing it?

This planting is in a 4' x 6' raised bed. I've probably overdone it but I have 7 'pockets' of Sunglow corn seeds. I put 8 seeds, which have been soaked overnight in RO (bottled) water in each pocket.

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Comments (11)

mangledmind
13 years ago
Great info marymcp,

I too have read MULTIPLE ways for 3 sister plantings. And we just tried another way, a spin off of the link I shared in the other thread.

We did plant everything at the same time. 4 different varieties of corn and beans plus winter squashes. We'll see how this turns out.

We also planted bush and vining types to see the difference.

I understand the backfill, kinda like potato mounding or tomato transplants sideways. Guessing this is because of the shallow root system of corn and should help with the monsoon winds. We are going to use garden netting at 1.5' and another at 3' secured at the corners with 2"x2" furring boards cut to 3' and fastened to the outside of the wood raised beds, to sturdy the corn as it grows up thru the garden netting. This should help with the loose airy soil in the bed.

Also soaked the seeds in RO water, per your earlier instructions on the indoor starts, THANKS AGAIN for that info.

Used the spacing method of the Square Foot Gardening in a 3x6 raised bed. Hopefully it will allow the corn silks enough space to pollinate, if not we'll help it along. :)
mangledmind
13 years ago
hey mary, here's another thread discussing 3 sisters, pros and cons

Here is a link that might be useful: Native American Three Sisters Method
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grant_in_arizona
13 years ago
Hiya Mary and all,

Fun! I've heard of this too for many years but not in such clear detail (and I've never tried it) so thanks for sharing the specifics. Same to you, Mangled, it's fun to hear how you're both doing things. Keep us posted and send in some pics too.

Good luck and happy harvesting!
Grant
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
Original Author
13 years ago
The link below is an interesting video sent to me by rtl850nomore

Thanks for the link mangled, I wanted to read the article but all I could find was the blogs. Was there an article that spurred the conversations?

Thanks for your comments Grant, I'll post back as the garden begins to show signs of life.

Mangledmind, what kind of winter squash are you planting?

Here is a link that might be useful: Hopi Corn
mangledmind
13 years ago
Mary,

The link was just a discussion on 3 sisters, but a simple google search turned up
about 121,000 results.

We have Acorn, Butternut, Buttercup, Delicata and Spaghetti squash going right now.
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
Original Author
13 years ago
We have lift-off - That was fast!!!

{{gwi:410203}}
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
Original Author
13 years ago
Here's the bed. I'll post more (and better)pics as the bed grows in. WHERE will the beans and squash fit??? A friend came by and insisted there was room for 9 corn pockets plus the beans and squash in this one 4'x6' bed. Blame Jayne!!

{{gwi:410204}}
mangledmind
13 years ago
Nice marycp ... :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Some more info on SFG - 3 sisters
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
Original Author
13 years ago
Poor, poor, pitiful corn. This planting is now a bust. I had nine sets of corn going well (2' - 3' tall), then they just started to brown up and disappear. I'll put in beans and squash this weekend. Try, try again. The life of a farmer can be very disappointing.
grant_in_arizona
13 years ago
Sorry to hear about the corn, Mary, but it's good information to know, so thanks for posting about it. I'm definitely getting ready for a nice big bean planting too, so hopefully we'll have better reports in a month or three.

Thanks and good luck. You can't win if you don't play, right?

Take care,
Grant
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
Original Author
13 years ago
Yeah that's right Grant. Thanks for the note.

Did anyone else plant corn? If so, what are your results? Always like to know what I did wrong so I can correct it.