I can't stop researching this stuff.... I have more and more ideas to build! Posted lateste link I discovered below. his electrical conduit trellis aren't pretty but very functional @tn_gardening - I like the last picture in your post! i'm assuming that's your garden. It's functional, sturdy and very nice looking. I had no idea I could use a true trellis design rather than the vericl string method. I already made a string trellis for cucumbers. My latest cucumber trellis, has 6" legs that slide into sleaves on back of raised bed, so i can move it each year. Here is a link that might be useful: future farms trellising pumpkins

As i posted on another thread of yours IF Bacterial Wilt is what you have - and there are ways to get a definitive diagnosis - then what you can grow in that area without first treating the soil will be severely limited. BW has at least two or three different bacteria that cause the disease and that allows it to affect many different crops depending on which of the bacteria is in your soil. It can infect all of the cucurbit family, many of the squash varieties, all of the solanaceous crops, and even many grasses. So once the diagnosis is confirmed extensive treatment that includes intensive long-term solarization, beneficial nematodes, and acidification of the soil is recommended before planting anything there. Lots of info with both making the diagnosis and treating the soil is available from your local county ag extension and online too. Dave

Talking abt. Spinosad, Dr. Manners @ FSC posted info. abt. it becoming less effective w/use, and he says it needs to be rotated w/other insecticides, to combat chilli-thrips... this is mainly for roses, but does apply to food crops also...he recommends IMIDACLOPRID,which comes in many forms---- it is a systemic, and foliar spray works best.... Merit 75, merit 2F, premise, bonide, dominion 2L..... orthene, tristar, safari, conserve & precise, avid, Bayer advanced 3-in-1 rose & flower, ortho & orthenex.... I swore off all these 3 years ago but am reconsidering that what with these chili-thrips decimating my roses.... and reading abt. them on Google, there are some are recommended for food-crops.... yikes.... some are spinosad, some are imidacloprid based... but it sounds like the key is, to rotate them..... sally

I havent pruned anything up to this point. I actually just got back from the store and finished putting up the trellis frame, so i'm committed to trellis at this point. All thats missing is the netting part. Is it too late to "prune suckers" since the suckers are full blown limbs growing all over the rest of my garden? Thanks, JD