[kermit]

Spent last august repairing snapped string on my munty, which was pretty tricky with all the beans on them!  This year Iv put garden wire on it instead but just had a worry that it will be slippy and they wont climb the wire  please say they will - or that's a wasted morning!!

[arugula]

I think they will. If you're concerned though, you could add some string perhaps as something a bit grippy.

[DD.]

They climb up shiney canes OK, that's what they had in the first year on my current plot.

[evie2]

Could you make a frame using chicken wire, we have rather a lot of it at the moment and have to make bean frames.

[JayG]

Spent last august repairing snapped string on my munty, which was pretty tricky with all the beans on them!  This year Iv put garden wire on it instead but just had a worry that it will be slippy and they wont climb the wire  please say they will - or that's a wasted morning!!

Mine is constructed from angle iron and strung with heavy duty galvanised wire (doubles up as a harp in winter!) 

The beans don't seem to have a problem (the ones climbing up the angle iron verticals actually seem more prone to slip down for some strange reason!) 

If you can drill holes in the lower crossmember to thread the vertical wire "strings" through (looped at the top to hold in position, the lower ends stuck 6" into the soil) you have a pretty stable arrangement which is also easy to retrieve at the end of the season (just pull them out to leave the bines high and dry!) 

[kermit]

Thanks folks.  One disaster potentially averted then, hopefully!  Will see how they go.  To be honest, if they make it through this rubbish weather weve been having for 2 weeks straight, then I'll be happy. 

Chicken wire would be good, but its right outside our living room, and the sight of 8 feet high chicken wire would probably prompt the phone call to the divorce lawyers   

[Trillium]

In the section where the string would go into the ground, I put up a cross bar, about 4" above the ground and secure the base wire/string to that. Personally, I find it loads easier than burying string into the ground. I can also get good tension on each string so no sagging or accidents with plants.

the point of using the strings is so that the beans can't scramble in every direction up the frame and clog in one spot. Each string allows the plant space and air. I use nylon baling twine, which is a bit slick but the plants have no problem crawling along it. I bought an almost full box at auction very cheap, and it's been very economical for me. This year I replaced all my strings and still have hundreds of feet of twine left.