My cuke trellis is like fireman's. I just made it the square foot garden way (with metal electrical conduit, cut to be 5x5x5) and hung with nylon mesh. For the most part cukes are willing to go directly vertical and dont need a slant. All I had to do was wander by the garden once or twice a week and if any offshoots from the vine got rogue ideas I would just poke them back into the trellis. By growing directly vertical instead of at a slant, you save yourself tons of garden space and you can give them a little more vertical room. I grew three cukes on my 5x5x5 trellis with no trouble, but one of them was pretty gimpy because it got a late start, so I'd say 2-3 per a trellis of that size is good. If you want the price estimate, the conduit is like $2 for 10' to figure $4 there with some left over. If you use the nice metal corner joints they are $4.50 each ($9 total) plus $1.50 for each of the rebar stakes, so about $16 for a crazy sturdy trellis that is in its 3rd year (and I leave it up year round in the indiana winter cause i"m lazy) and not showing any signs of wear. It seems determined to last forever.

i have been trellising for over ten years now. i like the net thing for somethings however for me the top bar has to be something more solid. i am a electrician so for the top bar i use 1/2 inch what we electricians call hard pipe. it is called ridged conduit. the first year i used thin wall (electrical metal tubing) and it was ok except the the butternut squash. i got a 20 butternut squash that hung about 4 feet about the ground. with all the other fruit on that conduit it bowed down about 2 feet. bent pipe. even with the hard pipe one year i grew some crenshaw melons and i put one pipe for two 40 foot row with four vert. supports. there were 80 plus melons at about 10 pounds each and that bent even the hard pipe. you could use old water pipe or maybe the top bar for chain link fence. i could see this net working for peas or climbing flowers like nasties or sweet peas. i think i will try the netting things with my english peas this year. i have strung each plant and that is a lot of work. one year i use some of that orange netting you see on construction sight. and once i used chicken wire. the construction was expensive but reusable as is the chicken wire. however you can't put your hand through to pick the pees on the other side. i think the the home make netting is a very good idea with better top support. also i thing it would work great for cucumbers. they are hard to keep growing up they want to wander to the side and with the netting i think it will be easier to keep them tamed. i go the the local feed store and get the twine they use for the big round bails of hay. you get 20,000 feet for under $30 dollars. if it grows on a vine and it is not to big, (IE. watermelon) i grow it vertically. it is more work up front but easier to harvest. Also, last year most of the tomatoes around me got nipped in a frost as did the one i did not gotten strung up but my trellised ones did ok. Dean

I always buy a cheap Christmas tree in December so we can make baskets, sways and wreaths for gifts. After all of the limbs are cut off I bury the base in the ground where I plan on growing a vining plant. Wont help this year but its an idea. Also check your shed or garage. I have used pvc pieces, scrap wood. anything I can find and bury them and wrap cheap twine around them. My sons art easel is gonna become a trells if he doesnt use it soon. :) See if anyone is getting rid of old wooden ladders. I just got one off of freecycle for my cukes. Carey

I'm using netting this season for tomatoes and itÂs plenty strong. Two trellis are 4' wide by 7' tall with four plants total and they are very crowded. The cherry has turned into a monster and is crowding the beefsteak and roma. The rest of the tomatoes are on netting that is 15' wide, 5' tall with metal stakes every 4 feet. I spaced the plants every 4-5 feet and these plants are not crowded. Although they're getting taller than the trellis, it's easy to "weave" new growth to the side. The exceptions are the Brandywine that aren't as flexible as the others. I've supported these with an additional bamboo stick here and there. Tomato spacing really depends on what kind you want to grow. Cherry need LOTS of space. Some, like Black Krim, are short and squat. I think my Brandywine could have been put closer together because they didnÂt branch out but are very tall.