three sisters planting method

I'm doing a bit of experimenting this year. I have plowed up more space then ever before on this property. working into the soil wood ash from the stove and the material cleaned out from the chicken coop.


im not sure how others plant beans, squash and corn together. but im doing a bit of experimenting so far I have put in 2 rows each about 100 feet long. I first made a trough with the hoe and then dropped in corn seed about ever 8 inches or do then I dropped in green bean seeds some right next to the corn then I dropped in squash seeds. in one row corn was a 60 day variety with black beauty zucchini and producer green beans the next row was 75 day corn variety with straight neck yellow squash and the same green beans. then covered the seeds over

the next row is about 150 feet long and I dumped lots of seeds in it this one just green beans and 3 kinds of squash from seeds I dried out from last year including yellow and white scalloped squash and zucchini no corn in this row,. its in a completely different location where last year all the corn there was completely destroyed by wildlife.

bruce Fine wrote:... but im doing a bit of experimenting so far I have put in 2 rows each about 100 feet long. I first made a trough with the hoe and then dropped in corn seed about ever 8 inches or do then I dropped in green bean seeds some right next to the corn then I dropped in squash seeds. in one row corn was a 60 day variety with black beauty zucchini and producer green beans the next row was 75 day corn variety with straight neck yellow squash and the same green beans. then covered the seeds over...

I love reading about experiments. I do hope you post updates regardless of the outcome, although I do hope you're successful.

The Corn/Beans/Squash combo has a long history. However, when I researched it, there are subtleties. I recall that the corn was planted a few weeks before the beans and the squash almost a month after the corn. This was so that the corn got a chance to grow enough that the other crops didn't overwhelm it.

My problem is that in my ecosystem we have a very long, slow spring and often get cold damp weather in June. ( The locals are coined the nick-name Junuary!) My other problem was that I think this system needs *really* good sunshine and I simply have too many tall trees casting intermittent shade.

Would you mind adding a little description of your ecosystem - soil, water, sun, weather?

I am sure it has been linked here many times but if not.  Buffalo Bird Woman

https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html

Interesting to see how the two corn varieties play out with the different squash. The timing is the bit that always gets me, if the beans go in at the same time as the corn they can outpace it and end up with nothing to climb. I've had better luck giving the corn a couple weeks head start so it's got some height before the beans start reaching for it.

Doug McEvers wrote:I am sure it has been linked here many times but if not.  Buffalo Bird Woman

https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html

Do you know what "the ground beans" are that she refers to? Wondering.

I’m relatively sure ground beans are Amphicarpaea bracteata, and wild potatoes most likely Apios americana. I could be wrong.

Thanks!!

Been there, done it.

I tried about any corn, bean and squash variety where I could get hands on.

The three sisters group in our head cinema is:
Almost maintenence free bountyful yield of 3 crops from a neat looking formation.
There are beans climbing into the corn and squash crawl humble between them..

The outcome of my trials was:
A brutal massacre between 3 plants competing for food and sunlight.
Beans flattened the corn and the squash took the chance to climb on top of them and shaded lots of green.
A few squash, a meal of beans and corn, nothing special to call the neighbors in.

Lesson learned:
We found here in Thailand (and from a supplier in Taiwan) no corn which can support climbing beans.
3 sisters is a good method to whitness how merciless nature claims its territory.
Small scale like one single guild and for teaching purposes it can be fun

Good luck with your trials

Three sisters polyculture can work well. But the devil is in the details.  It was an extensive system with very widely spaced hills that the corn was grown on,  this gave more root space for all the crops and allowed light to reach the ground between the hills for the squash.  Tight corn plantings in commercial-esque rows will prevent the squash from recieving adequate light and will fill the root volume with corn roots at the expense of the beans and squash.

There was lots of space between hills, the entire system was extensive vs intensive.  And it was primarily designed to provide food for harvest at the end of the season.  Dry corn for grain calories, not sweet corn.  Dry beans for protein nutrition, not green beans as a vegetable.  And mature winter squash for drying and use as a winter dried vegetable.  

Three sisters was for efficient food production, not for vegetables.  

Sweet corn is generally too weak to support climbing beans.

Traditional corn varieties for NE three sisters gardens would almost certainly have been Northern 8-row flint corns like Roy's Calais, Narangansett, Bear Island Flint etc.

Traditional bean varieties for three sisters would have been low climbing, branched varieties often called "semi-runner"  like Octarora Cornfield, Seneca Allegheny, Ga Ga Hut, etc.

Squash would have been long vining winter pepos or moschata vars like Long Pie, Long Island Cheese, Canada Crookneck, etc.

I'm not saying you can't plant your corn in rows, but you want big spacing between the rows to give the squash light, and sweet corn ain't going to cut it.  

My experience is wide spacing works best. I have my corn hills 4-6 feet apart. Closest hills about 3 feet (one meter) and widest spacing 6 feet (just under 2 meters) apart. This allows plenty of room and sunlight for the squash.
Beans I plant in the same hill as the corn, one or two bean seeds among 4 corn plants. I use any variety of beans I have on hand, some climbing beans, some bush beans. Climbing does better like this but bush beans do well enough.
Plant beans after the corn has sprouted and is a few inches tall. Climbing beans can smother corn and it needs to be tall enough that it is taller than the beans at least until pollination is done.
Plant squash a bit later than beans. I regularly pull squash vines off the corn or it will overwhelm the corn. Squash is planted between the corn hills, so a few feet separation from the corn plants.

Hi Bruce

I am experimenting with tree sisters as well. Reading your question, two things came to my mind immediately:
1. For windpolination, it better to plant corn in a block than in a row.
2. Thom Bri, who replied here as well, has been experimenting with 3 sisters for years and he has documented his proces and the results (successes and failures) here on Permies. I learned a lot from it. I can really recommend his threads. This is the last one: https://permies.com/t/367120/Sisters-Year#3728367