Best trellis for growing vertical?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,

I am still deciding on how I am going to trellis up my cucumbers and cantaloupe. I am going to be growing some pickling cukes; either boston pickling cukes or double yield. The cantaloupe I am going to grow is Minnesota midget. I think the melons grow to around a pound each.


Well for the cucumbers, I have 3 options. Either I can take some chicken wire and just staple or nail it to a wood fence in my backyard, I could make a trellis out of electrical conduit and some trellis netting, or I could just buy a trellis. My goal is to do this the easiest and cheapest way. If the chicken wire method would not work well, then I don't mind spending money on the other 2 options, however, if making one is about the same cost as buying then I would rather buy a trellis.

I think I estimated making a trellis with the electrical conduit to be around $20. I could make one for even cheaper just using wood and screws but I don;t have access to the tools required for the job.


Would an electrical conduit trellis work well for small melons? I don't think a chicken wire trellis would work, probably would not be strong enough.

[greenstubbs]

Hey Punk- I use 1/2" electrical conduit and fencing for my trellises, and I've never had a problem with it. You could use the 3/4" if you want, just how strong do you want it? I just tie the fence to the conduit and take it all apart in the off season. I still have a bunch of fencing left, I bought a 100' roll and been using it for the last 10 years and even though I have to walk on it to flatten it out every year before putting it together is no big deal for me. As for using wooden stakes, I have used them but I find with the harsh sun and dryness out here that they only last a couple years, plus the end that's buried winds up rotting and decomposing. That's when I switched to conduit. I buy the 10' long conduit and cut them in half. I also have 2, 3, and 4 foot sections and if I need a longer section I have the connectors to join 2 together for however long I need.
Depending on the size of the fencing wire you'll have a good trellis, I have used this with Cantalopes and Honeydew's with no problem, also on beans, mater's, cucks, and whatever else. Good Luck

[jal_ut]

Years ago I bought some fencing that was 3 feet tall and had 2 inch x 4 inch net. It was quite robust. I used it to make circular protectors for some small trees. This stuff is durable. I still have a few pieces of it and used with some T posts to hold it erect, it makes a good trellis for whatever. I seem to remember that roll of fencing being rather expensive, but considering how long it lasts, perhaps it was a good buy?

[dustyrivergardens]

https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/hunt-john/gardening/IMG_1703.jpg
I just use concrete wire for everything my tomatoes green beans cucumbers.[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/hunt-john/gardening/IMG_1666.jpg[/img]

[soil]

depends on what your growing. a trellis for beans is going to be different than a trellis for grape, kiwi, watermelon, etc...

[PunkRotten]

https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/hunt-john/gardening/IMG_1703.jpg
I just use concrete wire for everything my tomatoes green beans cucumbers.[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/hunt-john/gardening/IMG_1666.jpg[/img]

So with the wire you just sandwich the tomato plants between to sheets of it?

[rkunsaw]

I use 16 ft. long cattle panels.They are heavier than concrete wire. A T-post ant each end and in the middle.
Larry

[dustyrivergardens]

Yep basically thats what I did. I staggered the plants in a four foot bed. I put a sheet of concrete wire on one side and as the plants grew I started tying them up on that side I usually grow from 2 stems on the tomato and pinch off the rest of the suckers. If I can keep up with the growth but I try.lol then I do the same on the other side. It is fast to put up take down and its simple I need simple. [img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/hunt-john/gardening/IMG_1593.jpg[/img][img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/hunt-john/gardening/IMG_1662.jpg[/img]

[dustyrivergardens]

if I would have had the money at the time I bought the concrete wire I would have bought the cattle panels they would be my first choice. lol I will need some more panels this year and I will probably go with the cattle panels.

I use 16 ft. long cattle panels.They are heavier than concrete wire. A T-post ant each end and in the middle.
Larry

[nedwina]

Cattle panels are nice, I just have no way to get 'em home. The places that carry 'em around here don't deliver. So I flatten concrete reinforcing wire and wire it to T posts for the beans.

I use T posts & twine for peas, (snip & compost) and T posts & regular metal garden fence for cukes & trombocinos. I have a few huge cylindrical trellises that I made for the gourds out of CRW that work really well with a few sticks threaded inbetween them.

Cukes don't need a super high trellis. 4 feet do fine for me most seasons. If you have the room, it's nice to lay the trellis on an angle, so the cukes hang down. Makes seeing them & picking easier.

Whatever you decide to use, keep in mind that if you're going to reuse them, you have to figure out how to get last year's vines off of them. Chicken wire is tough, unless you take a torch to it and burn the old vines off~ with CRW you can just take a razor blade or sharp knife to it.

[richard64]

I just use the left over tomato cages I have for peas, beans and cucumbers, I'm just not sure how the cantaloupes would work on them?

This is a pic of some peas that I had growing last year with the tomato cage!

[img]https://img831.imageshack.us/img831/5885/2011veggiegarden006.jpg[/img]