Not offering a pic, but the way I do it is very simple and very secure. I use t posts with 5' spacing between them. They are pounded 18" into the soil.

From here there are a bunch of options.

What I have used the past few years is the white nylon trellis netting with 7" openings found all over the place.

Really anything reasonably sturdy that has vertical 'strings' to it will work. The horizontal strings on the trellis netting don't fool the beans ;)

Here's mine, 5 bamboo poles, strung twine down to let 'em climb.

These are 7 ft bamboo poles that are about 6ft tall at the top after pushing about a foot down. Taller would be good too.

Here is a link that might be useful: pic of my pole beans

We have 2 different set ups. On our smaller bean bed, we have used some metal panels that my DH rescued from work a couple of years ago. If we use these again, we're going to make an A-frame out of them so that they're wider at the bottom. Eventhough these are secured to the frame of the bed at the bottom, a good 45+mph wind toppled them.

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Here you can see how it's assembled and the width at the bottom.
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On our bigger bean bed, DH engineered this trellis. We used rot-proof string (because that's what we had on hand) and just looped it over the top beam and under the bottom beam. It's worked very well, but unfortunately we lost almost all of the beans in this bed, so it hasn't seen much use this year.
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Here is a link that might be useful: The Haphazard Gardener (my blog)

This photo is from two years ago, but I am using the same thing this year. Just planted pole beans yesterday in fact.
I pounded in a 3 ft. piece of rebar right outside the raised bed, slipped a 6-1/2 ft. length of pvc over it with the strings (I think there were 10) tied to the top. I ten tied the bottom of the strings to wooden pegs and planted a bean on each side of the peg. This set-up has been wonderful in high winds because the pvc just flexes a little.
Sunny

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These look really good. I'm no carpenter, but I'm handy with hammer and nails. Justaguy, RJ and Sunnyside1, I think I could easily manage one of these set-ups. Didn't realize the string was the key. Its always covered in the pics I see. Where do you find rot-proof string?

Stephanie, nice construction. Your first set-up is similar to the one I tried before - a square-foot method that kept falling over for me.

Ourhappyhome, I looked all over town for polytwine --white plastic twine that just won't break, but no one had it. I just used regular twine. After all, you're only using it for a few weeks, you don't ordinarily water the bean leaves on the string, and sun won't really hurt the string for the short time those plants will grow. Believe me, you will want to use new string next season.
Good luck!
Sunny

I used CRW mesh wire as a trellis, 5ft high and 30 or so ft long nailed on lanscaped timbers, pounded 2.5 ft down paralell,every 8 ft apart I nail 5ft long 2x4's on top of the lanscaped timbers and 2x4 pieces as a support on the 2x4's to form a "T", I run another set of CRW on top and secure them with nails or ties, plant the beans at the bottom of the CRW so they can climb (this is my multi-purpose trellis for my snow peas on the fall and yardlong beans on the spring/bittermelons on the summer) and make it easy to pick your beans as you see them hanging over your trellis. (note: you can make a 2'x ? (made of 2x6) long raised bed at the bottom of the CRW to retained your soil so it wont washed away and just condition the soil as needed or every growing season ) good luck.

beans on a ladder, although they are way over the top of it now. In the middle to help them get started, I took off the front wire across the horse stalls and put theat in the middle of the ladder. not very professional looking, but it worked {{gwi:89108}}

Mine are in a container in the greenhouse. Got an early start and have been eating beans for almost a week now. I quickly tied bamboo together to form a simple trellis. one for the back, one for the front.

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Justaguy, RJ and Sunnyside1, I think I could easily manage one of these set-ups. Didn't realize the string was the key. Its always covered in the pics I see. Where do you find rot-proof string?

I don't use string (more work than I want), but just nylon trellis netting like this.

If you want nylon string it's available here.

Found a pic of the trellis/tpost set up.

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Here is mine. Not a lot of beans on it yet, but that makes it easier to see the trellis, which is painted electrical conduit for the uprights, and standard 2x4 studs for the top. Screw eyes in the wood allow me to string the jute up for the actual trellis.

I'm using a synthetic line on another trellis, and it doesn't provide as much grip for the beans as this jute twine does, plus the jute can be thrown in the compost heap with the vines at the end of the growing season.

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Man, these are great. Haven't seen a set-up I don't like. I'm really encouraged because most seem so simple - simple enough for me to do. I notice that just about everybody has a separate raised bed/raised area for the beans. Is there some reason why they are not in the garden with all the other veggies. I have just one plot and plan to plant along the edge for easier picking.

I have cucs, mellons, and pole beans on these..
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This year while seeding, i forgot the 2nd teepee. You only realize this when the plants come up! LOL!

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This is my bean trellis last year. Three foot long steel fence posts were driven into the ground at the corners. The rest is eight foot long furring strips bolted to the fence posts and lashed together with binder twine. Beans are climbing on binder twine strings.

My reason for doing it that way was that short steel stakes are easier to drive than long wood poles and lashing doesn't require precise alignment of holes as screws would.

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The beans are Fortex on the right and Tarbais on the left.

Jim

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I notice that just about everybody has a separate raised bed/raised area for the beans. Is there some reason why they are not in the garden with all the other veggies.

The beans start out humble enough, but then bush out. They will easily 'eat' a 1-2' wide area with dense foliage and 3-4' of area with side shoots that start looking for something to climb on. They will find and climb all over anything near them.

You can keep them pruned back to make them mind their manners, but it's just another chore ;)

My bean bed is 3' wide and I plant the beans 6" from one edge and then on the other edge put a row of peppers also 6" in from the edge. As the beans are growing to the top of the trellis they are only taking up 1' of depth. Before it's all over though I will have bean foliage/vines hanging outside the bed as well as some vines trying to grow on the peppers.

No beans in this particular photo, but this is how I'm growing beans, squash, tomatoes, etc:

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So far, I'd say it works *wonderfully* except for one huge mistake I made: I left the bottom of the strings free-hanging. I've lost several plants from the wind that way -- the wind tries to blow the plants around, but they're constrained, so the wind breaks or partly uproots the stem. This wouldn't happen if I had staked down the base of the strings.

Beyond that, the plants all stay well under control and I can shape their growth as I please. Once plants reach the support wires that the lines you see are suspended from, I loop them over top and they form a shade canopy. I'm definitely using this growth method again in the future.

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Mine is totally different from everyone else's, and this is only my 1st time growing beans so I hope it works!!

You can see them growing up behind the gianormous yellow squash on the left (which I trimmed after taking this pic on Tues). The bigger plant on the right edge of the trellis is cucumber.

I got the trellis on sale really cheap at Ikea.

Maybe I should add that if you click on the pic in my post above, it gives you a bigger picture so you can really see it.

I used the same type of trellis last year for cukes and peas and it worked well. I didn't even take it in for the winter and it looks good as new.

Aubade,

Your setup seems fine, but if you haven't already anchored the trellis to the fence I encourage you to do so. One good storm with high winds will otherwise topple the trellis and come morning you find a hopelessly tangled mess of pole beans.

Thanks justaguy2. It is anchored to the fence, and the ones I used last year stayed up nicely so it should be ok.

I have a picture. How do I post it?

Use the following code, and replace the ( with . Then replace your url with the random one:

(img src="http://www.hithere.com";)

Err... replace the random one with your URL, that is.

kstatefan...........could you possibly take a picture of that trellis to the right of your wooden bean pole? I'm thinking of doing something like that next year for my cucs.
Is it a cattle panel? I think you have a panel on each side. I'm thinking of just having one panel, but supporting it on the other side somehow, so I can just walk behind it and pick the cucs.

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I'm having trouble posting the actual picture, so here's a link to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: pole bean teepee

Like Justaguy, I use tall T-posts, spaced 5 feet apart, as support for trellises. I then top each pole with a 1 & 1/4" PVC "T" fitting, through which I run a 3/8" rebar rod between the poles as a top wire. I tie a second rebar rod about 12" from the bottom, and tie vertical strings between the two rods as necessary. The rebar not only prevents sagging at the top, but keeps the strings from sliding together in strong winds. You can see the construction in the photo below:
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"Pole 191" beans

The trellis is about 6 & 1/2 feet tall. I usually run a few horizontal lines of plastic baler twine between the poles as well, and wrap the vertical strings around them as I run them down. The vertical strings are sisal baling twine; beans prefer to climb organic materials. The whole system reinforces itself - I have never lost one of these trellises to strong winds. You can even grow squashes & melons on them... but to do so, use a stronger top support, and a sturdier mesh than string (such as clothes line, or concrete reinforcing wire).

Baler twine is very economical for string trellises; it comes in very large rolls, and is highly weather-proof. You can find it at Farm & Fleet stores, or at farm coops.

Most of the beans in the photo above were eaten by rabbits, so the spacing was much wider than normal... but it allowed me to show the structure. This is what the trellises look like when fully covered:
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"Tucomares Chocolate" runner bean (left), "Blue Marbutt" snap bean (right)

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Yardlong beans

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"Insuk's Wang Kong" runner beans

The reason pole beans are often in their own area is that they create a lot of shade... plus, you need room around them to harvest. If you run trellises only on the north side of the garden (or of each plot), then you can plant other veggies much closer, so the leaf canopies touch at the base. I've done this with tomatoes, and both plants seemed quite happy with the arrangement.

Wow! Thanks everyone for the great ideas!!!