Pros and Cons of Planting the Three Sisters

There is a lot of buzz about planting corn, squash and beans in a method called the three sisters method of planting. Here are the pros and cons we found by growing in this method. The three sisters method of growing is an old Native American method of planting whereas corn, green beans, and squash are planted in succession. All three plants are companions in the garden and work well growing together. They provide optimal nutrients to your soil naturally. It is a tried and true method of growing.

However, when deciding whether or not you want to plant in this method think about a few things. Is the three sisters method the best way to plant? What are the pros and cons? How do you know if this is the best way to grow for you? Why are these three vegetables grown together?

Advantages of the Three Sisters Method

The three sisters method of planting possibly dates back to the early settlers as a proven way of growing corn, beans and squash. The Native Americans are credited for this method as they used this method often. When planted together, all three plants serve a purpose towards the other. The corn stalks become a natural trellis for the green beans, pole beans, to climb. The squash becomes a ground cover to prevent weeds from entering the garden. Then, the green beans provide extra nitrogen to the soil, as beans are rich in nitrogen. The combination of these three companion plants create balance in the garden.

Growing these three vegetables together provide an optimal growing experience. The flowers on the squash attract all the wanted pollinators you need. The bean flowers do this as well. There is not too much maintenance required when growing. It is a very beautiful way to grow as everything takes on its own life in the garden. As you watch the corn stalk grow tall the beans begin to wrap around the stalks. It is pretty impressive! The three sisters method proves to be a good way to plant. You don’t have to build trellis for your beans saving money on materials.

Downsides of the Three Sisters Method

When planting the seeds for all three plants you need to be sure that you wait for the corn to get started before planting the zucchini and beans in this method. The main reason is before the beans begin to climb the stalk needs to be stable enough to be a natural trellis. However, one thing that you will find is later when everything is more mature, and beginning to produce, your bean vines will be wrapped around where your corn grows out. It may be difficult to harvest the corn without breaking the green bean vines in the process.

The vines continue to grow tightly around the corn and it is highly likely you could break the vine harvesting your corn. We know, we did it! You could sacrifice your chance of producing green beans in order to get your corn harvested safely. It becomes a sticky situation at times and you have to be very careful.

Could this predicament be avoided? Well maybe. You could closely monitor the climbing process and guide the bean vines around the corn husk. If you are like me, you have a ton of other things going on and as fast as they grow that can be difficult. Plus, the timing would have to be exact, almost perfect to have the corn come up way sooner than the beans climbing to that height.

Could you avoid the bean from wrapping around your corn husk by planting beans earlier? It seems unlikely. We waited to plant the green beans after the stalk was stable as directed. Later, the green bean vines were still growing up the stalks after the corn began to produce. There is the risk that when the corn forms it will stretch the vine and break it as it grows larger. If you planted the beans earlier, they would still be wrapped around the area the corn grew. It doesn’t seem the bean planting time would make a difference.

Another Consideration

One thing to think about is beans typically are planted earlier than corn when planted separate. Planting time is determined by your zone. You can usually read these planting time instructions on the back of your seed packets for reference. Nevertheless, all beans are recommended to be planted earlier in the season after the last frost in early spring. Beans are better planted early to avoid the scalding hot sun in late spring of hotter zones. If you live in a warmer zone this may be a factor. Corn, on the other hand, can handle the hotter days. Squash also can handle the hotter days and seem to thrive in most conditions. You really don’t have to worry too much about getting squash to grow.

Can you Grow any Squash in the 3 Sisters Method?

We grew both green zucchini and yellow squash in our three sisters method. Any variety of squash will work as they all have very large leaves that create a ground cover keeping the soil cooler and shaded. This helps holds moisture in the soil. It is suggested to remove any dead leaves on your zucchini as they are draining the plants energy into putting grown into the fruit. We removed several leaves, and still there were plenty leaves for ground coverage.

One thing to also consider, these large squash leaves are also shading the small bean seedlings as they begin the grow. If your zucchini has grown a lot before your beans have, it’s possible this shade is affecting the beans growth negatively, as sunlight isn’t really getting down to those tiny beans. Timing is so important, however, there are so many other variables to consider in the growing process for each individual plants needs.

Consider Your Growing Space

Another factor to think about when growing with the three sisters method is the total space you have for growing. We have a large ground garden and planted them in two long, wide rows that were 20 foot long and 2 feet wide. They were grown in repeated patterns of squash, then bean, then corn. This gave us room for approximately 7-Sets per row. We planted extra squashes on the ends for even more ground cover and for more zucchini and squash harvests. What a lot of squash that was! Remember, the squash flowers are the main attractor of your pollinators in the three sisters method. Think about your overall space and how many plants you will be able to grow.

Best Method for Pollination

Is the three sisters method best for corn pollinating? Corn needs to be fairly near each other in order for it to be naturally pollinated. When planting the three sisters you can bunch the corn closer if you have a more square shaped garden space. If the corn is planted too far apart it could be more difficult for the corn to self pollinate. You may have seen people hand pollinating their corn.

This year we will be planting corn in square shapes so the corn is in close proximity to each other. It is often recommended to have at least three rows of corn for best pollination. We did not have an issue with the corn pollinating in the three sisters method, but the question came to mind. Also, we planted two different kinds of corn last year and they more than likely cross pollinated. We may have created a hybrid corn without intention. Either way, both we sweet corn and all were good eating!

How Much You Want to Harvest

When deciding if you are planting in the three sisters method you need to also think about how much corn you are wanting. Each corn plant will produce between 2-3 corn. We had 14 corn plants which results to about 28-42 corn. This was a good amount of corn to eat a few times. We also had enough to cut and freeze in portions. There was definitely not enough to can much and store for the winter. We would like to harvest much more corn for these reasons and to have extra to share with friends and family.

If you are growing green beans to have a large harvest, this may not be the method you want to grow. Now, you can grow more than one bean plant around each stalk. I foresee that being more of a way to make it difficult to harvest your corn. We grew another half row of beans to add more green beans to the garden. We harvested mostly off this row, rather than in the three sisters patch. It was harder to get your person inside all of the squash to retrieve the beans. It was easier to harvest beans off of the bean trellis.

Final Thoughts

All in all the three sisters method is a great method to grow and learn. It can be very engaging for children to learn how beans climb and how plants can help other plants grow. It is very interesting to watch the process in the garden as well. This method does not require adding many additional nutrients to your garden either. It sure is pretty to watch!

This year we are growing our corn, squash, and beans all separate. We will miss the beauty of the three sisters method and respect the historical aspect of this method. We are adding an extra row of corn so we can reach the amount of corn we desire. We also will continue to grow beans in their own space and are increasing the size of them, too. We hope to have our shelves stocked with an abundance of canned corn and beans for winter use. We love making mixed vegetables for soup and ready to eat meals. The extra corn and beans will help add these items to our stock.

We hope this helps as far as deciding if the three sisters method for growing is for you. We are glad we did it. It took a while to get this post together, as we were not dissatisfied with the results. However, now that we finished planning this years garden it is obvious which way we are planning on growing this year. The biggest thing we will miss is the way the green beans wrapped around the stalks. It is just amazing to watch!

Check out Rainy Day Deals for helpful products for the home and garden! And always, a few things we just love. Forever Country Home will continue to let you know what we find thats works well. Thank you for reading and check back often for more garden tips and updates on the garden. One thing we know for sure, we can’t wait for all those fresh garden vegetables out of the garden. Happy Gardening!