Not usually. 6ft is plenty high, They will go up and come back down. It is the continuous growth of the vine which enables to keep bearing.

So I should just let it come back down then instead of lopping it?

Yes. Just let it drop down. It'll grab hold again and start back up again.

Last summer I grew some pole beans, which regularly top over 10', on broken spading forks, pushed into the soil. The beans simply did the loop d loop, producing quite well.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Even 10 feet many pole beans will easily outgrow. Regardless of any looping or growing down and back up you are going to have a concentration of vines and leaves at the top of your trellis. There's no way they're going to fall very far down without catching onto something and growing back up. Often a trellis will bend over quite a bit at the top due to a thick, heavy mass of growth at the top. Seems to work out mostly OK.

WF

Maybe next year you could consider putting cattle panel into arches so the beans will have something to continue to climb on and you can keep your neighborhood association happy. That is, if you have access to cattle panel. Do a search on Tractor Supply Company to see if there's a store near you and then call to see if they have the cattle panels in stock.

Otherwise, you may have to grow all bush beans, which, I suppose, is better than nothing.

I've considered arching it. The problem is my small yard and annoying neighborhood associaton. I think I'll try to the loop de loop and guide it down to the bottom by hand before letting it climb back up.

How much the vines stay at the top of the pole really depends on the variety. I have one bean which, no matter what, will camp out at the top of the pole, as before mentioned , like a lollipop. Others don't get so top heavy. In either case, they produce quite well.

George

These are Big Mama Pole Limas. But I have only 8 vines due to my limited space so I can nurture them individually more than I could a swarm of vines. It's more of a bean experiment for me as I have had veyr little experience growing beans. Even if they try to stay top heavy I'll unwind them and force them down then tie them to the pole at that point. They will not outrun me! But the arch idea is still in my playbook. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Set 2 sets of poles. Run wire across top and and drop strings down for them to climb. Run strings across and let them climb to the other set of poles. Plant on the north or west poles since they like to grow to the sun. I plant mine 4 feet apart and they fill out from pole to pole (8' apart).