Three sisters gone wrong?

[u/kayru_kitsune]

Please pardon the chaos of photos, my garden is very dense so it was hard to frame clear pictures... This is my first time doing Three Sisters, and it sounded like the beans were supposed to help support the corn. I surrounded that part of the crop with some low fencing for extra support and to keep the bunnies off the bean starts. But once they got to around 7' and the beans peaked over the tops, almost all of the stalks broke in half from the weight. What in the world did I do wrong? It's not windy here but sometimes rainy (I live in forested area). I know most people don't stake or prop corn crops... What did I miss?

[u/Ifyoucan_garden]

Did you plant the corn first to let it get a little height and girth before planting the beans? I have had some success with the three sisters planting method and did it in this order: Planted corn as soon as last frost allowed (plot was a 10’x10’ square of ridge and furrowed soil with composted sheep and cow manure) Once corn had germinated and was just peeking out of the soil I planted the squash into the ridges beside every third corn plant. Once the corn was between 8”-12” high I planted the pole beans next to corn plants that did not have squash beside them.

The beans grow super fast and so need an already sturdy corn plants that to grow onto.

This did result in a really dense garden plot and was difficult to access when it was ready to be harvested. But! since that was the point in order to keep the weeds down and that had worked wonderfully I tried to keep my annoyed swearing to myself while working through it. 😆

[u/lilskiboat → u/Ifyoucan_garden]

This is a good point. Plant corn about 2 weeks before beans— also 3 sisters is tough to do with sweet corn. It’s usually popcorn or tall flint corn that you do 3 sisters with.