Q&A for How to Grow Pole Beans

It depends on what type you get. Usually, though, they'll grow as tall as you let them. Give them a trellis or cage that is 5 feet tall and you should be good.

Pole beans are a type of legume, and they taste similar to other beans in the same family. Pole beans are slightly sweet with a mildly starchy taste. They taste similar to a green bean, and become even more tender when cooked.

Over-application of high nitrogen fertilizers or otherwise high levels of nitrogen in the soil, especially if the extra vegetative growth was especially dark green. The symbiotic bacteria that colonize legume roots fix atmospheric nitrogen into easy to utilize compounds for said roots. Therefore, adding additional high nitrogen fertilizer will result in too much nitrogen for healthy plant development. Symptoms include failure to set fruit, as well as large plant and leaf growth. New leaves are often dark green, and leaves set in greater numbers than is normal.

My guess is the fertilizer. Use a very low, 3/18/36 or nitrogen (the first number) fertilizer. My son uses this formula for soybeans, and it works pretty good in the garden for low-nitrogen-requiring vegetables.

Possibly the weather was too hot. Above 90 degrees, beans won't produce fruit.

The two manures you mentioned are high in nitrogen and as stated in this article, beans need very little nitrogen. So no, that would not be a good combination for string beans.