I would like to start off by saying thank you to the community. I have started organic gardening vegetables at my home for the past few years (on a very tiny scale), and was looking for a better way of trellising my tomatoes and other veggies that I wanted to somewhat scale up this year. After reading many threads on these forums before I started my seedlings this season, I decided to go with the concrete reinforced mesh and EMT conduit route.

Started with sticking some 4 ft rebar sections into the ground, about 2 feet deep. I then slid 5 foot sections of EMT tubing over the rebar. Used some duck tape around the rebar before sliding the tube on it, so it can be more snug.

Closed off the EMT conduit frame with elbow and T-sections made for EMT.

After I was satisfied with the EMT frame, I zip-tied the concrete reinforcement mesh to it. Each bed has 2 trellises, joined together with mesh to make sure nothing topples over although that last step might not be necessary. I purchased the mesh in a huge roll, appox 5 x 50 foot. It was somewhat of a pain to unroll and straighten (get help from someone!), but once you get that part done, the rest is easier.

Please see the attachment picture. I have some heirloom and cherry tomatoes, as well as cucumbers and buttercup squash growing on the trellis. Here's what I learned about my setup:

Advantage:

Very Sturdy
Easy access to fruits/veggies
Weaving the growing vines is easy
Provides lots of air circulation to plant
Looks very cool!!

Disadvantage:

More expensive at first, but can be re-used for many years.

I wanted to share this information especially for newbie gardeners like me. Also, what does everyone else think? Do you have any comments or suggestions?

Your trellis is nice, but 5 ft. high I think is not high enough.

Especially if you don’t prune your tomatoes… AT ALL.

Also keep in mind that heavy winds might put down your trellis with heavy foliage, and those 2 feet deep into the ground might or might not be enough. The rebar / tubing could also bend.

That concrete reinforced mesh is ok - I use this wire / mesh fence (3 ft. high) - but I’d suggest you to use 2 x 4 lumber to make a frame. Also, 2 x 4 poles are VERY sturdy.

GardenMediatot, what size rebar and EMT do you use ?

> Those are brilliant ideas, GM and Daniel.

Whew, FINALLY somebody like MY trellis too...

Thank you for your comments. Daniel, that is a very interesting horizontal setup, it does look cosmetically more pleasant!

Deeby, thank you for the kind words, if you have the room you could do something similar too :)

To answer some of the questions, EMT conduit was 1/2 inch. For the sturdiness of the setup, please see attached photo, I actually had added side panels to close the walls into a 'box'. Those added shear panels help bring stability to each 'box', so that it will not topple over.

For the 5 ft height, I am quite happy with, except for my cherry tomatoes which would have needed more like 8-9 ft. I did not expect them to get that tall, especially given the shady area where I planted them!

If you lean on the trellis - at 45' - on its weakest points, and it doesn't fall, then it might resist to some strong winds. I would even try to push the trellis. Heavy foliage with lots of tomatoes and strong winds don't mix very well.

In order to make the structure stronger, I would connect opposite poles, UNDER THE GROUND, 1 ft. deep. Each horizontal EMT conduit connection I would secure with 3 Metal Garden Stakes and then cover with soil.

I would also connect the opposite poles ON THE TOP.

Then your structure would be pretty safe.

One more comment: like I wrote in a previous message, I use wire fences I prefer it because the rectangles are smaller than the squares of the concrete reinforcement mesh that you used, and it’s easier to tie the branches. To tie the branches, I use these plastic clips.

--- Was it strong enough ?
--- Was it tall enough ?

I also thought that 5 ft was a bit short for most indeterminants.

On the wire mesh: I though you could use a lighter weight galvanized mesh. Once the steel mesh is tied/secured to the frame, there is no way that is will yield to weight or wind force. CRW is too heavy, I think. Plus it rusts. Light weigh galvanize should be better. Next year I might erect one such trellis as experiment.

Seysonn

I then staple on support netting and wa-la... instant 8' trellis for cheap. The support netting is made of plastic so it really survives the elements well (see link).

Using this setup, for pretty cheap, I have a 12' x 8' trellis structure in which I grow six different cherry varieties on. That being said, at the end of my growing season. the tomato plants totally engulf this trellis, rise over the top and then start growing down the other end. So it could be bigger. On the other hand, if it was bigger, I'd have issues harvesting the tomatoes at the top. Last year I went about topping off the plants when they reached the top and that worked better than letting them go free.

smithmal