Can Pole Beans Be Planted Next to Sunflowers?

In companion planting, different plants’ capacity to grow and prosper together leads to a naturally healthy and vigorous garden. Under this principle, specific plants get along well with other plants, even to the point of enhancing and stimulating development. But not each pairing is a great one. Some plants, such as sunflowers, don’t develop well with pole beans. Cucumbers and sunflowers, on the other hand, are a joyful marriage.

The 3 Sisters Principle

Sunflowers look as though they should be the perfect host for a climbing plant such as the rod bean. Underneath the 3 sisters principle, beans are positioned to grow up the corn stem; consequently, beans improve the soil by fixing nitrogen; squash, meanwhile, rises below the beans and maintains the soil shaded. This mutual aid society, however, does not seem to work as well when sunflowers are involved. The sunflower is a bad companion for pole beans and also will hider their growth when planted close by.

Sunflowers and Competition

Chemical compounds in the seed husks as well as the leaves and stalk of the sunflower ensure it is incompatible with certain crops. This chemical procedure, known as allelopathy, is a plant’s capacity to produce and excrete natural compounds into the soil that discourage seed germination and development of certain other plants. And pole beans aren’t the only incompatible plant; potatoes additionally suffer from the chemicals in sunflowers.

What to Plant Under Sunflowers

If you’re looking for something to plant below your sunflowers, try cucumbers. Cucumbers aren’t affected by the chemicals in sunflowers, and there’s also a mutual benefit to this marriage. The cucumber produces lots of lush foliage near the ground that shades the soil, keeping it cool and slowing moisture loss. The sunflower, with its tall stem and large leaves, which provides needed afternoon shade to the tender cucumber plants, maintaining the leaves and developing fruit from being scorched.

Pole Bean Companion Planting

Some relationships work nicely for the rod bean. Crops that stimulate and encourage strong increase are eggplants, radishes and cucumbers. And also to keep insects at bay, try planting rosemary or catnip close by. There are some other incompatible plants for the pole bean. Avoid planting onions, beats, any member of the cabbage family members and kohlrabi as well as fennel and gladiolus among the rod bean plants. One of the greatest companions for pole beans is corn. Beans climb the corn stem and attract beneficial insects that attack insects in your corn plants. Combine that with the nitrogen-fixing properties of beans, and you have a truly happy marriage in the garden.

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