Pole Versus Bush Speckled Butter Beans

Space and Planning

• Pole and bush speckled butter beans have different space requirements within a garden. Pole beans grow up in runners and take up much less ground space. Bush beans require much more space in terms of square footage of soil. Which type of speckled butter bean you choose will hinge on the size and shape of your garden and the other plants that reside within.

Planting and Support

• Pole and bush speckled butter beans require different methods of planting and support. Feel free to crowd pole beans, as they grow vertically. Remember that they require trellising or some other form of support. Pole speckled butter beans can grow over ten feet tall. Bush speckled butter beans tend to stay shorter, two or three feet tall at the most. Do not crowd the bush variety, as they will be competing with one another for sunlight and space to grow.

Use in the Garden

• Pole speckled butter beans grow up and out. Shape the trellises and support system to utilize the shade from the broader leaves of the pole runners. This can benefit any plants that do not care for full sun. Both pole and bush speckled butter beans take nitrogen from the air and deposit it into the soil. Bush beans come to harvest faster than their pole cousins. Many gardeners choose to till the bush beans back into the soil at harvest to help replenish the soil's nutrients.

Harvesting and Yields

• Bush speckled butter beans are ready for harvest between 60 and 80 days after sowing. They only produce one healthy crop. Pole speckled butter beans take a little longer to come to harvest, approximately 85 to 90 days after sowing, but you can harvest them every two or three days and they will continue to produce quality beans until the first frost.