Let's see your cucmber trellis

Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:33 pm

I'm going to build some cuke trellis's this year just looking for ideas.

Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:38 pm

They seem to do better with something skinny to hold onto, like string or wire.

Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:14 pm

Sun Mar 21, 2010 12:36 am

applestar wrote:They seem to do better with something skinny to hold onto, like string or wire.

Than maybe I shouldn't have bought all that wood.

Oh well I have a basic plan. They will be used for something, last year I just used an unfolded tomato cage. It had to be supported on the ends with stakes that broke under the weight, than I broke out some copper pipe for supports.

I guess I could wire in between a greater spaced lattice.

Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:15 am

I think you have seen mine. It works for me because the cukes are easy to harvest. It also allows me to grow cool weather crops like lettuce in the shade under the cukes. Total investment, about $32.00. The hog wire fencing I used for the actual trellis material was free because someone threw it out. It is a standard 4' X 8' bed using the landscape timbers. The cost of the timbers may have gone up this year, but you can use any kind of cheap lumber to build it.

Ted

Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:33 am

Ted yes I have seen yours, and i like it.

I have a ton of 2x4's at the house plus I work contruction so I have acces to tons of scrap wood. That is where most of the wood I got for these from. I only spent maybe 15$ on furring strips which i was going to use for the laterals.

Is that just 2x4's with wire stretched between them? That would work just fine I assume.

I already have some ripped down cedar 2x4's that are now about 2x2's that I was going to use for the top support and vertical supports than the furring strips for laterals. I suppose as I said above I could stretch some wire over the grid for more grabbing points. But I overspent my garden funds month's ago so we will see how things play out.

Thanks everyone.

Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:49 am

Yes Dono, I put 8', two by fours top and bottom on both sides and hung the fencing between them. I also took some wire cutters and cut some good sized holes in the fencing so I can reach through to harvest the cukes.

Ted

Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:24 am

tedln wrote:Yes Dono, I put 8', two by fours top and bottom on both sides and hung the fencing between them. I also took some wire cutters and cut some good sized holes in the fencing so I can reach through to harvest the cukes.

Ted

If you don't mind how about some meaurements. I was wondering how high it is the top bar where the uprights intersect and how wide do you have the bottom.

I cut the wood from work at 8 ft. but I was planning on doing 4 ft sections since I don't think I will leave them out permanantely. I also want to somehow hinge the top so they will colappse for storage easier. ANything can change I don't make plans usually just get an idea and start building.

thanks Ted, i do like your design, I also plan on doing shade worthy crops under the trellis which it looks like you did.

Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:42 am

Dono,

I try to do everything as easy and simple as possible. That usually means as little cutting and measuring as possible. It's a little cold and snowy right now to go outside for measurements. All the timbers were 8' long. I cut three of them with a chainsaw to 4' to form the ends. By overlapping the ends, I believe the inside length of the beds is 90" and the inside width is 45". The lag screws I used to bolt the uprights together are 6' above ground level. The 2" X 4" s were left at 8' long. The fencing material (trellis) is 4' tall, but is placed against the crossovers at the top leaving about 9" of space at the bottom between the bottom of the trellis and the top of the bed. That really isn't much trellis space for fast growing cucumbers, but when they reach the top, they either continue climbing the crossovers or start growing down the other side.

You could do all of it with 2" X 4"s by stacking them on edge. Old concrete forms in 2" X 6" or 2" X 8" would be better. You can usually find those around constructions sites because by the time concrete is poured (with the exception of the foundation or slab), most of the framing is finished inside the structure. Since they have cement stuck to them, carpenters don't want to use them for finish work.

Ted

Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:58 am

I don't know if anyone tried this. I read that you can turn one of those conical tomato cages upside down, staple the ring to the ground with weed fabric staple, and tie the legs together with or without a stabilizing stake thru the center. It would function as trellis for vine plants like cucumbers and squashes. Have anyone used this method? how did it work out for you?

Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:07 am

GardenJester wrote:I don't know if anyone tried this. I read that you can turn one of those conical tomato cages upside down, staple the ring to the ground with weed fabric staple, and tie the legs together with or without a stabilizing stake thru the center. It would function as trellis for vine plants like cucumbers and squashes. Have anyone used this method? how did it work out for you?

I've used them for cucumber trellis, but a single cage is normally not tall enough. I would stick one into the soil normally, then invert another on top of the first. When you wire the rings together, it doubles the height of the cage/trellis. Since they are so tall, you need to either tie them to something or drive some stakes into the ground and tie them to the stakes. If you don't, the wind will blow them over.

Ted

Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:13 am

how high are the cages you use? I have a lot of them 4ft(after stuck in the ground) tall ones, were those the kind you used?

Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:53 am

GardenJester wrote:how high are the cages you use? I have a lot of them 4ft(after stuck in the ground) tall ones, were those the kind you used?

It has been a few years since I used them, but I don't think they were that tall when the legs were stuck in the ground. I think they make them in a couple of sizes and I probably was using the smaller size. I typically used them in 15 gallon containers growing tomatoes inside the cages with cucumbers growing up the cages on the outside. I typically would wire the second or third ring to the edge of the containers in four positions around the containers. With fifteen gallons of moist soil in the containers, the wind couldn't blow them over.

Ted

Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:13 pm

Thanks ted I was think roughly 5-6 ft height and a 4' spread. Never fear on the lumber. I am a bricklayer so I can get wood. I just finished the exterior walls of my basement with free wood from a big job (2.5 mill$ house) they were going to put it all in a dumpster because they had nails in them. I just pull the nails and I had several hundred dollars of free wood. SCORE! I still have a bunch left.

Garden jester in a pinch last year I used a square tomato cage that you could get at Lowe's I just unfolded it so that it was in a straight line. It was 4 foot high and not tall enough I will tell you that.

Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:29 pm

I will also grow some heirloom tomatoes this year in an eight foot bed. My plans are to drive three T posts (see the steel fence posts in my cucumber trellis photo with white tops) in line, into the ground. I will stretch good tough string between the posts and space the lines of string about ten inches apart from bottom to top. The posts have little notches which will keep the string from slipping down. I don't plan on weaving the string like the "Florida weave" or anything else. I think I can simply weave the plants into the string as they grow. It should work well as a tomato trellis. Something like that would also work as a cucumber trellis. The posts are sold in different lengths.

Ted