Beets and Pole Beans
Question from Andrea:
I recently planted pole beans Kentucky Wonder and next to them I planted beets. I just read they they stunt each others growth. Should I pull out the beets? Thanks.
Answer from Pat:
The idea that beans and beets “stunt each other’s growth” most likely has no real basis in fact. I would need to find out that this concept has been tested by agricultural scientists in a controlled test for me to believe that there is any truth in it. This idea, and many other similar ones, are sometimes found in books or writings on “companion planting”, which is an ancient but largely untested pseudo-science. People who believe in companion planting think that certain crops grow well together and others don’t. Even though most of the ideas of companion planting are nothing more than old wives tales, some of these ideas do contain grains of truth.
For example, even if beans and beets don’t actually “stunt” each other, they are nonetheless not particularly good companions, and here is why: Beets are root vegetables and root vegetables require a rich fertile soil, well supplied with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements. Beans, on the other hand, are legumes, which means they have nodules on their roots and that through a symbiotic relationship with certain rhizobia these nodules enable them to make their own nitrogen. This works particularly well if you inoculate their seeds with the appropriate rhizobium especially the first time you plant them. (If you grow them more than once in the same place they will have inoculated the ground themselves.) For this reason there is usually no need to fertilize the soil when you plant beans. If, on the other hand, you plant beans in rich soil that has been well fertilized, such as beets require, then your beans will put all their energy into growing leaves and you will get mighty few beans.
Another reason these two crops are not particularly good next door neighbors is that beets must have full sun and correct spacing. If beets are not correctly spaced or if you grow them in shade you won’t get a good crop. Pole beans, on the other hand are tall and leafy and cast shadows on crops planted to the east or west of them. I would not plant a north-south row of beets next to a north-south row of pole beans not because there is anything chemically wrong with the two crops growing side-by-side, but because the beets would be shaded in the morning or the afternoon. I am not going to tell you to pull out your beet seeds because I think I’ve given you enough information to make up your own mind depending on how well you have spaced your crop. If you’ve left a 3-foot pathway between the two veggies, you should have no problems, but it you’ve planted them in a raised bed where they are crowded together, your beets are unlikely to thrive and your beans may have too many leaves.
Another example of companion planting—but this is a positive example and not a negative one—is that corn, beans, and squash grow well together. For this reason, the American Indians called these three vegetables “The Three Sisters”. First you make a hill. Then you plant 3 or 4 corn seeds in the hill. Once these are up and growing you plant a bean seed next to each corn stalk. (In interior zones plant pole-type lima beans, since these require a long season of growth.) As the corn grows, the beans climb up the stalks so you don’t need to stake them and they also help make nitrogen to feed the corn. After the beans have climbed up the corn stalks about a foot, then plant 3 or 4 squash seeds surrounding the hill. The squash plants grow quickly and with their big leaves and a lot of prickly stems help hide and protect your ears of corn from raccoons who love corn but hate the feeling of all those prickles on their cute little hands. In this case, companion planting makes great sense. You can even plant this combination in a half-barrel.