Peas and Beans that need trellised- grown in hanging pots

So I want to use all the space in my greenhouse. I have 8 foot ceilings and a nice pot rack hanging from it where I intend to hang some hanging planters. My idea is to plant peas and beans that would normally need trellising and just allowing them to hang down. Anyone done this? Do you think their roots would be strong enough to handle it?

I haven't done this, but it's a cool idea! I imagine they might like a string or something to grab on their way down so that all their weight isn't on their roots. Curious how this turns out!

I have not tried anything like that but I suspect what will happen is they will grow up until they fall over, probably nearly a foot, then they will loop round themselves and grow back up again, That is what happens to the peas that get to the top of their trellis at my place. Runner beans tend to loop round each other and make it 2-3 feet up self supported before falling over and snapping.

I think if you wanted a long cascading effect you would need to put a stick in going down and tie them to it once a week or so.

I tried this with sugar snap peas, they still wanted to grow up. Didn't really work how I envisioned it.

I wonder if a little shade above their pot, like a hat or something would discourage them from trying to grow straight up.

I'm going to attempt this as well. I might try jute string pulled taught and wrapped around tomato style.

Follow-up at 10 cm of growth- I tied jute to the opposite side of the hanging wire pot and threaded it across the top, through the other side of the lid and wrapped the pea shoots through it behind each leaf growth. I expect they will continue to try to grow up, but they haven't developed a strong stem so I'm hoping I'll be able to train them down. I'll try to get pictures when I can.

Right now the jute has no anchor, but I can easily tie a rock to the ends or the like if it seems like this method will work.

So far so good. I switched the training string from one plant to another because it has split and branched. I also tied small rocks to the ends of the jute, so they are now anchored.

They're growing, and they really want to go up. It takes daily attention to train them down.

Have you tried it with the beans? I'm curious to see if it'll work!

My friend grows peas in planters on her deck railing. They do cascade down as they get heavy, and as described above, mostly form into a bushy mass that wants to grow up, but can't. She has not had a big problem with them breaking off, or the roots not holding.

My friend has limited mobility, so this keeps the peas pods from 2 1/2 ft off the ground up to no more than 5 feet off the ground, making it much easier on her for picking.

Since she's looking for a tender crop and can pick these every one to three days, the system is working wonderfully for her. Sometimes the definition of "working" depends on the exact niche a person needs to fill.

Fascinating idea, and given time, I imagine you will devise a way, or select for a variety that doesn’t have such a strong geotropic growth tendency.


In large conservatories and greenhouses, there are nasturtiums hanging down from their containers, cascading 12 and 14 feet down without even trying to grow up.

We all know that plants grow towards the light.  Plants have a similar ability to detect gravity and grow in relation to it, down, up or sideways.  

Geotropism is the technical term I learned in college, meaning growing in a specific direction in response to gravity.

If anyone is still experimenting with this, what have you discovered?

If I were to give it a try, I would look for hanging varieties.  Anybody develop a bushing hanging variety?

This idea is quite fascinating. I experimented with not trellising my climbing peas this year and the results were not good -  they ended up scrambling on the ground and most got eaten by mice and slugs...

L. Johnson wrote:They're growing, and they really want to go up. It takes daily attention to train them down.

I wonder whether they will have more of a tendency to branch too? You might get a later, but higher yield as a result.