Ideas for Trellises for a Small Greenhouse?

I now have a 6'x6' greenhouse with a sloping roof.  

I'm trying to figure out what type of raised beds or planters will work best, and what type of trellises I should use.  

Any suggestions or ideas?

Do you have a photo from the store box or as set up? I had a 4' x 4' set up a year ago and pots seemed about the only thing that would fit and still let me in.

Here's a link to the specs page:

http://www.palramapplications.com/mythos-twinwall-glazing/

It's about 7' tall at the center; the sides are about 4'.  

Ideally, I'd like self-watering beds or planters, since my seedlings dry out so fast.  

The plan is to grow two early-season tomatoes as usual outside on a 5' trellis, with the other four, plus a pepper, cantaloupe, and cukes in the greenhouse.

Look at this site - http://www.agardenpatch.com/ the boxes are a little over 1x2 so you get 2 SqFt per box. You can also make your own in this style to fit your space. Do a search for DIY grow box.

My wife has a dozen or so of them and they work pretty well. Another option is a big water container and a pump on a timer. A cheap tote will last a year or two for less than $10, pump and timer from HF would $20 - $30. 

George

George,

I think I'm in love with these planters!  The optional colors are great, too, but I'm not sure I want to spend and extra $8 per box!

Now, if I could just find a trellising system that would work with these....

Use your imagination. I can think of a bunch of ways to MAKE trellises for these. PVC, EMT, or wood. That company also sells a setup for them. PVC lattice panels would also work. If you are not handy, think about getting someone to put a bar across your greenhouse and using string coming down from it, you can tie the plants loosely to them.
As far as the price of the boxes, get what you will be happy with. You are only going to buy (and fill) them once. Wifey has had hers (12 of them) for 9 or 10 years and they are still going strong. They haven't spent the winter stored indoors in years. We just are just starting SFG, so I will be filling hers for the last time this year.

George

I greenhouse is bolted to my wooden deck.  

These grow boxes appear to be plastic, so I don't think I could bolt anything to them.

Hmmm....Thinking about the design of those flimsy trellises on the link you provided, George, there might be a way to create a stronger frame and bolt it to the deck.

Thanks.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

I found these purple self-watering boxes on closeout at Lowe's at the end of the season.  They are 2x1 with four slots for stakes--the small ones you get at lowe's on the cheap.

It comes with enough coconut coir to fill the box, but of course, for us, we will take only 1/3 of the coir and mix it with vermiculite and compost (and Azomite).  Each box also comes with seed starting pellets and a neat little plate with slots for the seedlings.  They come with their own seed packet, but I did not use them, since we use organic seeds and mostly organic heirloom seeds.

I believe they retailed for a price in the 30's, but we bought ours for less than 10 bucks each on closeout.  Keep an eye on your Lowe's if they carry these.  Once the season is over, they need to clear space for winter, and they will close them out again.  I went to 4 Lowe's to purchase 17 total.

Disclaimer: I only discovered this great deal due to John Kohler at Growing Your Greens.

Thanks for the tip!  I'll check out my local Lowes.

Get some ideas here. http://www.pvcplans.com/pvc-pipe.htm

The plants you are planning to trellis will determine the type of trellis sytem. Indeterminate tomatoes, for instance, can be supported on an overhead wire or string attached to the hoop frame or other overhead structure.

My first greenhouse was 6 x 8.  I built a U shaped box for it that was 2' wide all around.  That one was built from arched cattle panels so it was easy to tie strings to where ever needed to support plants.  Now I have a larger greenhouse built on an aluminum frame with some wooden uprights to stabalize the frame.  I attached fencing wire mesh to the ceiling and tie string to that for the various trellising.
Tomatoes~


Beans and cucumbers

Thanks, everyone, for some excellent ideas!

Turan, since my greenhouse is attached to the deck, and, if I get plastic planters, how would I attach the string or wire at the bottom?

Don't forget, I'm just NOT handy.  

The wire mesh fencing is only attached to the roof. The aluminum frame had some convenient holes at corners and roof peak that I attached it too.
For the beans I have a free floating pole just heavy enough to hold the strings tight. Once they attach they really do not need any anchor, the plant provides that. What the plants need is support at the top to hang from.
I give each tomato an extra long string that is tied very loosely around the stem below the bottom leaves. The excess string is at the top and I use for the inevitable second stem. I twist the tomatoes as they grow up the strings. You can also use clips or separate ties. I just like the convenience of pulling tomatoes and string and out they go to compost in one armful. (Thanks to Camprn )

Hope that helps

PS. I think I have the same greenhouse kit as you have, just a larger size.
My only complaint has been that wind causes the panels to flex until they slip out of their groves and blow away. Thus we put a wood frame inside it and have screwed the worst offenders direct to the wood so they can not leave. Wind proofing is an on going problem for us but it is still with us starting its third season.

My next-door neighbors have a similar greenhouse, the same size as yours, which is also bolted to their wooden deck.

It's survived the wind so far, and the only damage has been to a few of the panels when we had a bad hailstorm last July.  

Mine is sandwiched between a 6' fence and a south wall of the house.

For the mechanically challenged - overhead tomato support using existing overhead frame and 1" green stretchy garden tape.
Tie the 1" tape securely, but gently, around the main stem and any suckers you want to train.

Since I started this reply, I see others have replied.

Turan wrote:For the beans I have a free floating pole just heavy enough to hold the strings tight.  Once they attach they really do not need any anchor, the plant provides that.  What the plants need is support at the top to hang from.  

That sounds interesting.  So you hang strings from the top that go down near the ground and attach to a free floating pole. What kind of pole - EMT, PVC, wood??.   I have found I do not like the nylon trellises too much.  They are pain to attach to the sides and top of the trellis and they always sag no matter how tight I attach them.  Your method, for the beans, sounds kinda different and maybe easier.  I think that would be easier than attaching a gazillion electric ties from the nylon trellis to the frame.  Anyway, I was looking at my pole beans before leaving for work today, and every bean shoot was following a straight upward path so strings seems like it would work just as well but a lot easier and cheaper.

T- bars come in all different sizes and will hold just about any kind of trellising material - ropes, netting, screening, wire, etc.

Whoops, nevermind. I just read that your green house is on a deck.
CC

yolos wrote:
That sounds interesting.  So you hang strings from the top that go down near the ground and attach to a free floating pole. What kind of pole - EMT, PVC, wood??. 

You saw how the string is attached to the wire mesh on the ceiling in my other picture? It is just a single length zigzagged between the bottom pole and the mesh. I used an approbriatily sized stick last year. WHat it is does not matter as long as it is not take up too much space and is heavy enough to hold the strings straight. Once the beans are attached it could be pulled out if you want.

Here is the bottom where the twine goes around the stick and the beans catch hold.

sanderson wrote:For the mechanically challenged - overhead tomato support using existing overhead frame and 1" green stretchy garden tape.
Tie the 1" tape securely, but gently, around the main stem and any suckers you want to train.

Since I started this reply, I see others have replied.

+1

This is essentially what I do using the roof of the greenhouse. I like the biodigradeble jute twine though because I can compost it with the tomatoes. But I do not know if it lasts long enough in long season places?

Regarding the green stretchy tape, in the fall I remove them, wash and dry, then store them by size in zip lock bags. I do the same with the 1/2" tape used for tying plants to stakes, cages, etc. I'm retired so I have the time.

Now I'm thinking about building a PVC frame with elbow joints and a PVC base, which could then be bolted to the floor of the greenhouse.  I suppose that could be combined with some of the other ideas presented here to get more height (albeit at an angle).  I'm thinking of twine or gardening tape.