Trellis Material / Design

[heliotropicmoth]

Hi all,

What does everyone use for trellising tomatoes, beans etc...? I use a very cheap and easy method. I put 1x1 posts in the corners of my beds with eye crews ever foot or so. You could use nails the same way. In fact I switched to using nails half way into the process. I then wrap hemp or twine around the posts creating a trellis for the plants to grow into:



Here is a blog post from last year showing my trellising adventures.
http://www.littlecountryhouse.blogspot.com/2011/07/trellising.html

Post your designs!

[Brian Gallimore]

After trying several things, I finally went with heavy cattle panels, cut to about 4' wide x 6' tall.

[Ethan]

For tomatoes I use standard cages. They work well for maters and peppers. For beans and peas I have two 5 foot PVC pipes and plant them on the ends of where the containers are, then between them I run string and tie them together... kind of a homemade trellis. Store bought string trellis' are ok, but with a couple of T-posts or PVC pipe and string you can make it as high and long as you want.

[adam]

I'm fortunate that I have a seemingly endless supply of bamboo growing on my property. I just built a teepee trellis for one of my tomato plants. I'll probably do more. The only problem with those is they are a little time consuming. I have a lot of tomatoes to plant!

[bacpacker]

I've been using concrete wire I cut up into cages for years. They are getting in bad shape and most need replacing. I'm gonna keep an eye here for ideas. That wire is over $100 a roll now.

[Jim]

Just put up the pea trellises in a couple of beds this week.  Small bed has a 4-ft one, other is 7ft.  I tend to make L-shaped setups.  I do the similar 4-post method as you for tomatoes.  Btw, love your design ideas on your site!

I have a lot of left over 2x10 rough cedar from raised beds, and I rip it into 2x2's.  I then use a pocket hole jig to do the joints and run cheap sisal to make the grids.  Use zip-ties to bring them together and if needed run rebar into the corners and zip-tie those.  They store pretty good in the shop from season to season, but I have to repair or replace them every few years or so.

[Brian Gallimore]

In the Citizen Gardener classes, we build them out of bamboo.  They wind up looking pretty nice:

[wenchlala]

The first is my tomato cages 4.5 ft long by 3 deep by 5 tall with three shelves.  I will attach pictures in two posts. 

The second is my cucumber climber creation for this year.  It has four 8 foot cattle panel wings coming out of the support frame.  The plants will be zip tied as they go up.   I will post more as the season goes on and we see if these things work. 

[wenchlala]

Here is the climber structure.

[Jim]

wenchlala, hoping you still check in here from time-to-time.... how are the tomato trellises doing this year?

[wenchlala]

Thanks Jim.  The tomatoes have done OK but not terrific.  I never seem to have the best productivity with tomatoes.  Not sure why.  I think I need to consider soil issues or just luck on the tomato.   Interestingly enough the vine squash has loved those tomato areas and are going nuts on that.   I am going to wrap those tomato structures in the fall and see if I can make them mini green houses. 


The cucumber trellis is out of this world. I have had unbelievable cucumbers, melons and beans on that one.  Made little melon slings with old nylons to keep the weight off the vines and on the cattle panels.   The original cucumbers are done and I am now planting snow peas to go up one side and am going to try some more cucumbers on the other side.   I went on vacation and the squash bugs went to down on the original cucumbers, however frankly I was getting between 5 and 10 a day. so definitely a success.