Both Red Eye Greasy Fall and Hazard Fall beans are doing a lot of branching with up to 8 vines per plant now. Both are trying to cross over to the neighboring trellises 4 feet away.

Red Eye Greasy Fall, Hazard Fall and Leslie Tenderpod are all making a new vine from each leaf base so there are a very large number of branches with no sign of blossoms. I think I know what heavy branching looks like.

"Goose", "Striped Cornfield", and "KY Wonder" meet my criteria for heavy branching, with 5-7 vigorous full-length runners sprouting from the base. "Woods Mountain Crazy Bean" is the most heavily branched bush bean I've grown, followed by "Giant Red Tarka"... they both look like bush beans grafted onto a pole bean rootstock.

But even the most vigorous pole beans have a hard time keeping up with pole limas; I plant those 24-36" apart (depending upon variety) and they still completely cover the trellis! I'm growing "Hopi Pole" again this year; the vines are off to a good start, and have already begun to flower.

"Emerite" and "Fortex", IMO, are more on the wispy side... I thin them to 2 @ 12", as opposed to the 1 @ 12" spacing I give most pole beans.

I should note that soil, shade, and climate can influence the degree of branching from year to year. When I last grew "Hopi Pole", it was on my rural plot, with full sunlight & high fertility. It branched heavily from the base, but was not very aggressive vertically. This year it is in one of my home plots, with less fertile soil, and late afternoon shade... and shot to the top of the trellis quickly.

Drloyd, it sounds like you are growing some interesting beans. Wish I could try them... but Mother Nature has been teaching me humility in recent years. My rural plot - which is the main garden for trials & seed production - was wet & unworkable until July again, as it was in 2011. As they say, "The best laid plans...". I'm sure I will still do a few trials, but I am being forced to scale back for at least the next few years, and focus on preserving what I already have.

Zeedman thank you for your post, useful as always. Sorry to hear about your rural garden. It sounds like some of my past experiences of poking seeds into cold mud in June.

I agree about Giant Red Tarka. It acts like that here too. Striped Cornfield on the other hand is on the wispy side here. The vines hardly branch at all and they look a lot like Emerite!

A couple of my new beans including Blue Greasy Grit tend to sprawl before they climb and I plan to check them for branching at the base. - Dick

This post was edited by drloyd on Tue, Jul 30, 13 at 18:26