doesn't matter. Put the trellis where it fits.

EG is the trellis guy, but I built mine in the middle. However, I agree it probably doesn't matter.

Good luck and enjoy your garden. Hope the snow melts soon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

IMHO you should put them on the far north side of the bed so as to avoid shading of other plants, unless you want to shade other plants, then place them accordingly.

Dan

EG will be here...mark my word!

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Showoff.

;o)

Dan

Told ya.

;-)

Granny

Dan, Granny - it's a trellis thing....you wouldn't understand. Heh.

EG

I was just wondering what took him so darn long. And seriously, two pictures only? No link to the trellis volume on your blog? You're slacking, EG.

Seriously,allene. The man knows what he's talking about.

Harumph. I'm going to take pictures of mine, 1/7 the price, 2/3 load bearing capacity, 5x the elegance... [/tightwad]

Seriously, didn't think of the 12" bit...

;o)

Dan

EG I think you're slacking. Did you take ill after the blizzard? It took you 4 hours to respond!! To a trellis question!! It saddens me :(

Kym

Thanks so much! And I especially thank you EG for your response and photos. I plan on beans, peas, cucumbers, and maybe, just maybe, a honeydew for the trellises.

I remember seeing EG's melons in his little slings from another thread and being very impressed. They are serious trellises.

Allene

Serious trellises for a serious addiction. That's our EG. Gotta love him!

But I split my SF with my trellis, with the same thing on both sides. I'll do it again. However, I agree that shade doesn't matter on the back side. My beans grew fine on both sides. They get light from the front no problem.

Good luck!

Ribbit, daves girl - Hey...I tried my best...

Allene - you're welcome! I'm growing some bigun's this year! I'm hoping to have some melons around 50 lbs. to try out. Most people need more cowbell, I need more trellises. My 48 running feet of them might be enough...just maybe...

EG

EG, you're rubbing it in and I'm getting jealous ;o) . What sort of contraption will you use to hold a 50# melon?!

Dan

Dan, I'm gonna probably double some bird netting, and support the large fruit from the top brace. The new trellises I built a while back have 2x6's for the top, and they should hold the weight with ease, at a minimal amount of deflection. My trellises are very strong, and I feel if a person is going through the trouble to construct one, they shouldn't limit themselves to just having enough weight capacity to grow beans and cucumbers.

EG

I have mine, EG, in 1/2 in conduit bent with a pipe bender, and I'm waiting for 3/4 to go on sale to construct two more trellises (trellisi? trellisii?) for the melons, as I had a little too much sagging on the 1/2 in last year. Of course no one else in the fam thought it was a problem and I'm being accused of making up a project...

Dan

Yeah EG, your trellises need more cowbell. Other than that, they're great, hehe.

Wow, 50 lbs. I gotta see that. Whew. I thought only pumpkins could get that big. No way mine could hold that, but I will never need them too, so I'll just let EG think I'm a slacker, hehe.

Dan, if you have any electrical contractors in your area, you might be able to get your hands on some of their scrap conduit, at scrap prices....Right now, that would probably be 10-15 cents/lb.

sinfonian - 2 varieties of watermelon i'm growing ( congo and moon & stars ) will be somewhere around 30 -50 lbs. Oh, you'll see it!

EG

I never thought of the 12 inch thing either. I put my trellis right up at the edge of the box and grow my pole beans in the first 6" or so of the first row of squares. Gives me an extra 6" for big stuff though in those first two rows. I don't know how you could possibly grow things up both sides anyway. My beans take over both sides, just by growing through. I pick more off the north side of the trellis than I do the south.

These have been extremely helpful posts and lead to me revising my layout somewhat.

One of my trellis will actually be an arch made of cattle panels leading into my garden. One either side will be a 1'w x 4'L x 12"D box. One side I plan to grow cukes and the other will be sugar baby melons. I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Happy gardening everyone!
Stacey

EG,

What did you use inside the support columns for the plants, is that Cow panel, CRM, or something else?

I got the nylon netting, is that strong enough for butternut?

Hello all,

I've been following this thread and would like to ask a followup question. I've read in a few places that cucumber vines have trouble holding on to trellis netting, and that wire may be a better option. What has been your experience?

Thanks,
Kirk

This is not from my own experience, but seems like I read somewhere that if you use wire to trellis your tender plants, they will suffer freeze damage much faster in the fall. The wire transfers the cold.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

Posted by kaptainkr 4a (My Page) on Thu, Mar 5, 09 at 12:20

Hello all,
I've been following this thread and would like to ask a followup question. I've read in a few places that cucumber vines have trouble holding on to trellis netting, and that wire may be a better option. What has been your experience?

Thanks,
Kirk

The cucumber was the only thing on my trellis that did not have any problem, as a matter of fact I had the total opposite problem. The cucumber was too well intertwined in the netting, and I just cut the netting out and threw it away.

My pole beans froze on their chain link trellis, while the ones right next to them on garden twine didn't suffer a bit. I also nearly killed a young tree by using an aluminum ladder, covered with a blanket, as a tepee. Where the metal touched the tree the branches were severely frost bitten and never recovered. Where the metal was not touching it had no damage.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I use vinyl-coated wire or cheap hempen twine, as I found I didn't like cutting expensive netting and the better half doesn't like stuff hanging on waiting to be dry enough to break off and store the netting (picky picky). Anyway, hempen twine is cheap enough and lasts a season no problem, not strong enough for melons, but plenty for peas-beans-cukes. As long as there is friction, the tendrils will hold.

Dan

I had the same experience with my cukes.

Good thought on the metal, I'll stick with what I got and save the cash.

Hello, I just came across this forum from another link on the seeds exchange. I'm sooo happy that it's here! I am planning a square foot garden with a trellis. I'm going to use part of my fence as my trellis (with the boards knocked out). Has anyone grown the little melons on a regular wooden fence? After I knock out the boards, should I add netting or wire to help support the plant as it climbs? And what is the best way to attach it? Thanks!

I haven't used an old fence, there's but no reason it wouldn't work. If it is sturdy and you provide the mellons good support, you should be fine. Attach the mellons with netting or pantyhoes or something to support it (like EG did). Good luck.

eaglesgarden - Sorry for the late reply, but I've been out of town for 4 days. Anyway, I use wire mesh, with 2" x 3" openings. I think the wire is 16 gauge. I can't answer the butternut question, because I've never used nylon netting...

EG

EG, I, too, am a budding trellis addict. I'm trying to do melons this year up a trellis. Can you tell me how many melon plants that is on the trellis? (I think it's a 4' panel.) I'm trying to get a sense of how much foliage 1 plant will create. I'm thinking of doing 2-3 plants on a 4' trellis.

Thanks!
-kmama

I plan on planting 3 cantaloupe in a 31 gallon SWC and trellis it on a 5 foot by 7 foot trellis. I also likely will let a tomato SWC share that trellis.

Hope that helps.

kristimama - So....you're a budding enthusiast? I have a full-blown addiction. Ha! If you're referring to the cantaloupes, then there were 2 plants on the backside, and 2 on the frontside. If you pinch off most of the little branching runners that develop along the vine, then 3 could be managed. I let mine grow wild last year, and the harvest suffered because of it. This year, I won't let more than 5 fruit develop on each vine.

Sinfonian - is the trellis 5 feet wide, or 7?

EG

Another question from a beginning trellis-er... Would vinyl coated chicken wire (hex shaped stuff) be a good materiel for a trellis? Are the plants that picky?

Thanks :)

Most plants aren't that picky but to be as flexible and efficient as possible, you want to be able to get your hands through. Tying off plants thru chicken wire is much harder than a larger mesh.

Dan

One problem with smaller hole fencing is sometimes a cuke or melon or such will start inside the hole. By the time you realize it, it may have outgrown the hole and be stuck and the only way to pick it is to break it.

Ask me how I know this... :-)

I use strings to trellis up to a crossbeam (described in link below) so nothing grows in any holes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vertical Supports

I just spent yesterday putting my garden in, and I want to put trellises on some of the boxes. I have 3/4" conduit in 10-foot lengths and my boxes are 3 feet wide (as I'm short, and can't reach across a 4-footer). About how deep should I sink the conduit into the ground to prevent things from falling over? I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of 1-2 feet, but I could be wrong. Also, where do you connect the pieces of conduit, and what do you use to connect them? Just regular conduit connectors?

Thanks!

Tracy

I finally got my conduit yesterday and was wondering how to "tie" the netting on. Just tie it or zip tie it on? How does it attach at the very bottom? This perplexes me and I'd like to do it this weekend.

Jwahlton, I just attached it on the top & sides with zip ties. I didn't attach the bottom of the netting to anything. Worked fine last year.

For my beans and peas, I used tomato cages placed at the intersection of four squares. Bird netting around the base got the up to the first rung, and now the plants seem to be able to handle it on their own. (I'm not doing anything heavier, though.)