Building a trellis

Has anyone used anything besides conduit and rebar for their trellis? I found some free conduit but can't find rebar, atleast for free.

Little Thumb

I believe it was Choksaw who built his trellises from wood... see this page:
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/showcase-of-gardens-f6/my-garden-pictures-t269-15.htm?highlight=trellis

I'm getting ready to build trellises too, and I think I may use wood, as well.

I didn't use rebar because I have ledge 4 inches under the soil surface. I used a 3' steel U fence post and ran the conduit in the channel, then lashed them together.

ive used wood, pvc, u post, crib side rails, will also use a foldable tomato cage (home depot) opened up.

You could make the whole trellis out of wood. Or, you could use the outer most vertical pieces in this picture to support your conduit. I used a couple screws in each one to attach them; be sure to pre-drill the screw holes to avoid splitting.

Wow, thanks for all of the ideas. I'm sure I can find something around here to use.

Little Thumb

Here's another idea for an A-frame type trellis:
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/general-sfg-talk-f5/bush-buttercup-squash-t1644.htm#11194



The above is a smaller version of this one from Organic Gardening:
http://www.organicgardening.com/slideshows/squash_trellis/index.html

Pattipan

Just use the conduit since you can get it for free. Hammer the end to flatten it and stick it as far in the ground as you can, then fasten it to your box either with conduit fasteners or a self-tapping screw. I had some conduit I put about 8" into the ground like this for a "temporary" fence. Twoyears later when I took the fence down, the conduit underground had rusted, but not all the way through. Figured I could have made it four years before it rusted through.

I smell a weekend project or two...

I purchased a 'cattle panel' - 4ft wide, 16 ft long. I have it arched over 2 sfg beds and train plants up both sides. I have it secured with T-posts although any sturdy metal stake would do, and zip tie it in place. it forms an arch between the two gardens for easy harvesting. The one draw back is it limits access to the garden on the other side of the trellis, but it seems to me that once my (cukes/squash/beans) start climbing, I don't need to get to the other side for anything other than harvesting, and if there is anything that gets stuck on the outside the holes are big enough for my hand to fit through. Other draw back is transportation - I rolled it and transported in a bed of the truck, but rolling is no mean feat all by itself.

Lowes or HD doesn't carry them, but farm supplys stores (like southern states) carry them - mine was $16 for each pannel I think - and about $4 for each t post - much sturdier than a u post that I got from lowes for holding up my critter fence...

this is the forum that I used for my idea - I don't have pics to share right now - but I am sure you will see how it would work in our situation.

I also took a separate panel and cut it to the length of another garden and am using it as a 4 ft tall trellis for my peas to grow up... working fabulous

You could also drive a wooden stake halfway into the ground and lash your conduit to it.

The garden center cashier gave me a neat idea for a trellis
She buys those bamboo poles and makes teepees out of them so when they are ready to harvest she lets her grandkids run in and out harvesting them

Anything will do....I used the rebar, however, I got the 18" and should have gotten much longer if I want it to REALLY be stable. It's stable, but mostly because I also ended up shoving the rebar into the dirt along with the rebar. I put my beds over my existing "row" type garden, and I did a nice job of turning it, so, it's nice and soft and every time I go out there, it's damp and soft and moist, so, there was no hope of NOT driving the rebar into the dirt.

I just made a, sheesh, I dunno, maybe 8' trellis out of found stuff around my yard/house. The previous owners of our house, did an addition to the attic, making a modern master suite/bath. Anyway, they left the leftover lumber, so, I had those 2x2's I think they are, and just staple gunned my old chicken wire from last years row garden onto the two 8' lengths of lumber, and put the "legs" of the trellis around my big planter/pot, and then propped it and lashed it to my kid's swing/play set. Now, she'll have pie pumpkins growing along side her swing set, and up over it if I'm lucky.

I'd never thought about actually pounding the conduit itself into the ground until I recently shared my trellis pictures on a thread/forum elsewhere. Someone suggested I would have serious issues if high winds came by; he said I should've put the conduit into the ground because its stronger than rebar! Does this make sense to anyone else? ((I read about the rusting problem above . . .wish I'd had that ammo earlier ))

I didn't mention: I followed the directions from Mel's book and used the rebar for stakes and slid the conduit over that. We even put braces on the box over the conduit just to make it even more stable. We have 3 trellises: a 4X4, a 4X3, and a 8X4.

Has anyone EVER had problems with Mel's design and high winds???

-Amber

Overhead support trellis! I am so going to make one or two of these!
A-Frame Tomato Trellis plan

www.vegetablegardener.com/item/3367/build-an-a-frame-tomato-trellis

Hi,
I use free bamboo for tepee trellises. So far mine have lasted 3 or 4 years outside all the time. I zip tied the top and a few of the legs to my boxes. Works great and was mostly free.

Patty in Yorktown

kiwirose wrote:I purchased a 'cattle panel' - 4ft wide, 16 ft long. I have it arched over 2 sfg beds and train plants up both sides. I have it secured with T-posts although any sturdy metal stake would do, and zip tie it in place. it forms an arch between the two gardens for easy harvesting. The one draw back is it limits access to the garden on the other side of the trellis, but it seems to me that once my (cukes/squash/beans) start climbing, I don't need to get to the other side for anything other than harvesting, and if there is anything that gets stuck on the outside the holes are big enough for my hand to fit through. Other draw back is transportation - I rolled it and transported in a bed of the truck, but rolling is no mean feat all by itself.

Lowes or HD doesn't carry them, but farm supplys stores (like southern states) carry them - mine was $16 for each pannel I think - and about $4 for each t post - much sturdier than a u post that I got from lowes for holding up my critter fence...

this is the forum that I used for my idea - I don't have pics to share right now - but I am sure you will see how it would work in our situation.

I also took a separate panel and cut it to the length of another garden and am using it as a 4 ft tall trellis for my peas to grow up... working fabulous

That sounds just about what I did, it works great!!! The watermelons didn't grow well on the trellis. Squash, pumpkins, and cukes loved it!! Here's some of my pics from last year (I still haven't secured the trellis to the t-posts but never had a problem even in high winds.) Will be making a second trellis this year. I was lucky as the panels were already on my property when I bought it. I never thought of cutting it, I sust may do that for my beanpeas next year... or should I say this year

The other trellis in the background is three sides of a faulty baby crib. I'm going to saw off the legs and make it more secure this year.

Hmmm...I've got a faulty baby crib in my garage...got me thinking!