A vine assigned to a living support must be sown after the support is established, when corn is ~6 in
A vine assigned to a living support must be sown after the support is established, when corn is ~6 in (~15 cm) tall, roughly 2-3 weeks in. Sowing both at the same time is too early.
Well established A person has checked it against its sources. If you skip this, you lose real yield. The planner warns you.
How it works
Load. A bean vine on an immature, poorly-anchored stalk pulls it over; extension guides key the delay to the support's height (corn ~6 in) as a proxy for it being rooted enough to bear the climbing load.
What to do about it
Sow the vine 2-3 weeks after the support, once it is about 15 cm tall.
The evidence
Evidence: checked against 2 sources in the research-based literature.
The 2 sources
When the corn plants are about 6 inches high, pole beans and pumpkins can be planted around the corn plants.
Two or three weeks after the corn was planted, the women returned to plant bean seeds in the same hills.
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How this rule has changed
Every change is dated, newest first. The full record, with each reason, is in the data download.
- Sources updated
- Wording made clearer
- Advice on what to do added
- A person read the sources and confirmed it
- Added to the rules
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Cite this page
Milpa Gardens. “A vine assigned to a living support must be sown after the support is established, when corn is ~6 in (~15 cm) tall, roughly 2-3 weeks in. Sowing both at the same time is too early.” Evidence grade: Well established. https://milpa.garden/rules/vine-assigned-living-support-be-sown-after/
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How we grade evidence
- Well established
- The rule names its mechanism and is settled, by sources a person has read and checked or by plain arithmetic and geometry.
- Promising
- The mechanism is named and the literature backs it. A few questions are still open.
- A good hunch
- Plausible by its mechanism, but field studies are thin, so treat it as a lean.
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- The evidence points both ways, or no study has tested it, so the planner does not enforce it.
- Refuted
- The claim did not survive its sources. It is kept so the folklore can be answered.