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Corn Varieties for Three Sisters

 
Ryan Burkitt
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I want to attempt the three sisters method this year. I was thinking of using Montana Lavender Clay. However, when I grow Montana lavender it’s usually 5ft tall and I’m afraid the beans will over grow it. I’m not sure if this variety gets taller than that. I’ll admit I didn’t fertilize it the best so they might have grown taller. Will Montana lavender work for the three sisters method? If not, I want try another heritage Native American variety.
 
Thom Bri
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Depends on where you live. Look around locally for seed sources.
Or, acquire several different varieties and mix them all together to create your own local variety.
Regarding beans overgrowing. I just let it happen. Plant the corn first and when it is well-sprouted then plant the beans. The corn gets a good head start and can pollinate before the beans get too big. Both do well if the corn is not planted too close together.
 
Ryan Burkitt
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Thom Bri wrote:Depends on where you live. Look around locally for seed sources.
Or, acquire several different varieties and mix them all together to create your own local variety.
Regarding beans overgrowing. I just let it happen. Plant the corn first and when it is well-sprouted then plant the beans. The corn gets a good head start and can pollinate before the beans get too big. Both do well if the corn is not planted too close together.



Thanks, I checked out Bakers Creek seeds and they have a bean variety that only grows 3ft, so I think that would be good for the Montana la ender. But they also have a Delaware tribe variety of flint corn that grows 6-8 ft high. It seems native tribes that lived farther north like the Dakotas had shorter growing corn varieties, but also shorter growing bean varieties. So I feel there are bean varieties that are adapted to corn varieties of the same region.

 
Doug McEvers
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You might try GRIN,  

https://www.ars-grin.gov/
 
Christopher Weeks
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I *like* my beans to overgrow the corn. They grow to the top, spiraling around and around and then they grow...up. But with nothing to grow on, it falls over and then it finds the next corn plant over and starts spiraling on that one. The bean vines lock the corn together so that when the damned racoons try to pull them over, the corn resists better because the beans and corn form a matrix together that's harder to overcome.
 
Ryan Burkitt
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Christopher Weeks wrote:I *like* my beans to overgrow the corn. They grow to the top, spiraling around and around and then they grow...up. But with nothing to grow on, it falls over and then it finds the next corn plant over and starts spiraling on that one. The bean vines lock the corn together so that when the damned racoons try to pull them over, the corn resists better because the beans and corn form a matrix together that's harder to overcome.



The bean plant won’t strangle the corn too much? I watched a video and a guy did three sisters, but the bean plant over grew the corn and smothered the whole thing plant.
 
Christopher Weeks
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That hasn’t happened in my patch.
 
tuffy monteverdi
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Ryan Burkitt wrote:I want to attempt the three sisters method this year. I was thinking of using Montana Lavender Clay. However, when I grow Montana lavender it’s usually 5ft tall and I’m afraid the beans will over grow it. I’m not sure if this variety gets taller than that. I’ll admit I didn’t fertilize it the best so they might have grown taller. Will Montana lavender work for the three sisters method? If not, I want try another heritage Native American variety.



Can you trial peas instead of beans? Or some w peas, some w smaller bean plants? Peas seem less tall and less heavy, less aggressive.
 
Thom Bri
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tuffy monteverdi wrote:

Ryan Burkitt wrote:I want to attempt the three sisters method this year. I was thinking of using Montana Lavender Clay. However, when I grow Montana lavender it’s usually 5ft tall and I’m afraid the beans will over grow it. I’m not sure if this variety gets taller than that. I’ll admit I didn’t fertilize it the best so they might have grown taller. Will Montana lavender work for the three sisters method? If not, I want try another heritage Native American variety.



Can you trial peas instead of beans? Or some w peas, some w smaller bean plants? Peas seem less tall and less heavy, less aggressive.


I have had pretty good luck with peas and corn. I plant the peas earlier because they don't seem to tolerate shade as well as beans.
 
Thom Bri
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Ryan Burkitt wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:

The bean plant won’t strangle the corn too much? I watched a video and a guy did three sisters, but the bean plant over grew the corn and smothered the whole thing plant.



Some, but the corn still produces good ears.

PXL_20250813_145637047.jpg
3 sisters
3 sisters
PXL_20250813_145705724.jpg
3 sisters
3 sisters
 
Ryan Burkitt
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Thom Bri wrote:

Ryan Burkitt wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:

The bean plant won’t strangle the corn too much? I watched a video and a guy did three sisters, but the bean plant over grew the corn and smothered the whole thing plant.



Some, but the corn still produces good ears.



Really cool thanks for sharing did you have to build mounds for the corn?

 
Thom Bri
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Ryan Burkitt wrote:


Really cool thanks for sharing did you have to build mounds for the corn?

I built the mounds several years ago and reuse them year after year. They run 4 to 6 feet center to center, leaving plenty of space between hills for other crops. Usually beans, squash, cantaloupe, potatoes, tomatoes etc.

Peas and beans get planted on the same hill as the corn. The other stuff is in the gaps between the hills. I have several long threads here on permies you can look at. Lots of pics and details about how I do it.

https://permies.com/t/279261/Sisters-Garden-year
 
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