Re: Best and worst trellis netting?

jazzycat 3/12/2013, 10:02 pm

Hoggar wrote:Always overly proud and happy to re-post my tomato trellis! Its 8' long by 10' high I plant 16 plants in the 2' X 8' box. I use Jute twine to string my vines.

I am new to this forum, new (mostly) to gardening, and new to SFG. I just got the book a few days ago, along with a couple of books on vertical gardening. I am SO looking forward to trying out some of these techniques, and having fresh organic vegetables and fruits that I've grown myself.

Hoggar, I have to say, that is about the most awesome tomato trellis structure I've seen yet! I am definitely going to copy that idea. I got 10 different varieties of tomatoes from Wild Boar Farms, and the seedlings are coming along very nicely. They are just starting to form their "true" leaves, so it will time to repot them soon into their own pots, until it's time to plant them.

I'm looking forward to learning from everyone else's experience, so hopefully I won't make too many mistakes! Very Happy

turkeyleg 3/22/2013, 11:00 pm

seriously? I followed the book's guidelines with 5 ft tall conduit and heavy-duty nylon net --plan on sewing an 8 ft box....6 tomatoes, 4 cukes...
should I anticipate trouble?
this is my first year at SFG and I'm certainly a novice at training tomatoes up a trellis!!

CapeCoddess 3/23/2013, 8:24 am

Using the trellis and netting as laid out in the book is so simple you won't even believe it. My only issue was that my trellis wasn't tall enough for my Sungold Cherry tomatoes. But the other tomatoes did fine.

When the season was over I just lifted the trellis off the rebar and hung it in the garage, but only because I can, not because you have to.

That all being said, I am now eyeballing the Nucoar 48 in. x 84 in. Remesh Sheet at Home Depot since I can't get cattle panel in my area. That would give me a 7 ft tall trellis for the Sungolds. Still not tall enough but I'll deal. Smile

CC

H_TX_2 4/4/2013, 11:46 am

gwennifer wrote:
quiltbea wrote:Hoggar....I'm with you. Twine is my favorite tho I use stakes and cages in other places when needed. I just can't see my tomatoes struggling thru trellis wire or netting and having their branches being damaged or bent in the process. Ouch!

I did the stringing method my first year growing an indeterminate tomato, training a single vine along twine that was anchored top and bottom. As the tomato grew, the vine grew thicker and thicker and so the twine ended up cutting into it. Didn't seem to affect the vine though I guess. The next year I put the tomato in my new SFG and still trained a single vine but wound it back and forth through the metal trellis as it grew. Those openings are 7" I think - plenty of room to pull the vine through. If I didn't poke it through the next square before it grew too much and was worried about bending it too far, I'd just poke it through the next square instead. It was easy.

You might be tying your plants too tight. I use twine and make my own netting for my trellis. I weave the plant in and out of this twine netting. Anytime I need to tie a plant to a stake or to netting I use a strip of pantyhose and use a figure eight wrap like in the picture. This allows for movement during wind and storms as well as room for the plant to grow.
Best and worst trellis netting? - Page 2 Figure8tie

Best and worst trellis netting? - Page 2 Figure8tie

quiltbea 4/4/2013, 1:10 pm

H-TX.....Whenever I stake my toms, I also use the figure-8 wrap for them so they don't rub or get strangled. With this little leeway, they don't get broken off by the wind.

Dunkinjean 4/11/2013, 11:27 pm

I did try the tomatoes winding up the trellis 2 yrs ago but apparently I did something wrong and it did not work for me.
Therefore, 2 yrs ago I bought the Burpee tomato cages with the extension cages and that has worked well for me.
I think I also have the "old" mentality of not being able to trim so much.....lol

**gwennifer** 4/12/2013, 3:46 pm

H_TX_2 wrote:
gwennifer wrote:
I did the stringing method my first year growing an indeterminate tomato, training a single vine along twine that was anchored top and bottom. As the tomato grew, the vine grew thicker and thicker and so the twine ended up cutting into it. Didn't seem to affect the vine though I guess.

You might be tying your plants too tight. I use twine and make my own netting for my trellis. I weave the plant in and out of this twine netting. Anytime I need to tie a plant to a stake or to netting I use a strip of pantyhose and use a figure eight wrap like in the picture. This allows for movement during wind and storms as well as room for the plant to grow.

Hmmm... I didn't tie the plant at all, so not sure how I could make it any looser. Hoggar said he didn't anchor the bottom of the string, but my tomato wouldn't stay on it until I anchored it, just kept sliding off and wanting to vine along the ground instead of going up. I just don't get it. Anyway, the metal trellis works for me so I'm not worried about it.

jewlz2121 4/25/2013, 9:13 am

Lindacol wrote:I just use pieces of stock panels and T posts. It's never going to wear out.

Are these panels just 4 ft high and you cut them by the length you need them? I'm using these for my arch and single panel trellis. I was just wondering if the 4 ft height is high enough to grow tomatoes on.
I'm going this weekend to buy the 50in by 16 ft panels and the 6ft t posts. I didn't know if I needed to turn the panel the other way to get some more height to the wall?

Lemonie 4/25/2013, 12:40 pm

turkeyleg wrote: seriously? I followed the book's guidelines with 5 ft tall conduit and heavy-duty nylon net --plan on sewing an 8 ft box....6 tomatoes, 4 cukes...
should I anticipate trouble?
this is my first year at SFG and I'm certainly a novice at training tomatoes up a trellis!!

All I would say is to be wary of the netting they sell at the big box stores as that is the one that just disintegrated on me in about 1-2mo. The one I got online (amazon I believe) was super-sturdy and is still holding strong and ready to go a third season. I haven't even pulled the trellis out to store for winter...but our winters are mild IMHO.
Still, I think I may lean toward the cattle panel idea as my replacement as it would be more long-term and sturdy for my squash and melons. Plus, I like that I can just pull and rip my spent vines off the panel at the end of season instead of worrying about being careful of tugging too hard on the netting.
I know some gardeners choose to tie their plants to the trellis, but I have had luck with just weaving them through as needed (with exception of squash which I loosely secure with strips of old T-shirts).

Lindacol 4/25/2013, 6:37 pm

jewlz2121 wrote:
Lindacol wrote:I just use pieces of stock panels and T posts. It's never going to wear out.

Are these panels just 4 ft high and you cut them by the length you need them? I'm using these for my arch and single panel trellis. I was just wondering if the 4 ft height is high enough to grow tomatoes on.
I'm going this weekend to buy the 50in by 16 ft panels and the 6ft t posts. I didn't know if I needed to turn the panel the other way to get some more height to the wall?

There are 52" and are sitting on top of the blocks. It works for me. The toms do get taller and sort of cascade over. I try to keep them pruned to one or two stems and sometimes trim the tops but by sometime in the fall I lose interest and let them go. I usually have such a long growing season that the toms are still producing til January unless we get a frost (rare before then).I never cover them.
My block bed is 2 blocks high, so the trellis tops out around 6 ft. If it were much taller I would have to climb on something to harvest and this senior citizen doesn't want to do that. The 1st year I took one fall that could have been serious by tripping over some bags of compost, etc and hitting my head on the blocks.

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