My first trellis for tomatoes and other vegetables

9 years ago

Hello everyone!

I would like to start off by saying thank you to the community. I have started organic gardening vegetables at my home for the past few years (on a very tiny scale), and was looking for a better way of trellising my tomatoes and other veggies that I wanted to somewhat scale up this year. After reading many threads on these forums before I started my seedlings this season, I decided to go with the concrete reinforced mesh and EMT conduit route.

Started with sticking some 4 ft rebar sections into the ground, about 2 feet deep. I then slid 5 foot sections of EMT tubing over the rebar. Used some duck tape around the rebar before sliding the tube on it, so it can be more snug.

Closed off the EMT conduit frame with elbow and T-sections made for EMT.

After I was satisfied with the EMT frame, I zip-tied the concrete reinforcement mesh to it. Each bed has 2 trellises, joined together with mesh to make sure nothing topples over although that last step might not be necessary. I purchased the mesh in a huge roll, appox 5 x 50 foot. It was somewhat of a pain to unroll and straighten (get help from someone!), but once you get that part done, the rest is easier.

Please see the attachment picture. I have some heirloom and cherry tomatoes, as well as cucumbers and buttercup squash growing on the trellis. Here's what I learned about my setup:

Advantage:

Very Sturdy
Easy access to fruits/veggies
Weaving the growing vines is easy
Provides lots of air circulation to plant
Looks very cool!!

Disadvantage:

More expensive at first, but can be re-used for many years.

I wanted to share this information especially for newbie gardeners like me. Also, what does everyone else think? Do you have any comments or suggestions?

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Comments (26)

Deeby
9 years ago
I'm so jealous I could scream ! : )
daniel_nyc
9 years ago
For cucumbers, I built a horizontal frame with mesh net.

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 19:53
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10 x 10 seems very small, so I would say this would be one of your biggest factors in choosing what to grow. You mean 10 x 10 feet, right? Given your small gardening space, I would say stick with things that really taste much better when they're home grown. A lot of gardenwebbers may disagree with me, but I find a lot of veggies at the supermarket to be sufficient - I can't see how carrots or celery or onions or broccoli etc. could be so much better when home grown (unless you wait for them to sweeten after the first frost, which some vegetables do - you'll learn about that as you read about gardening) On the same note, you could also focus on things that are overpriced at the supermarket compared to how easy they are to grow. Furthermore, you live in a pretty cold part of the country, so you'll be happy to know that there are a few vegetables that laugh heartily in the face father winter. In the taste department, the big ones are tomatoes. Nothing compares to a real ripened garden tomato; the tomatoes at the supermarket are little red lies - they're picked green to be able to ship well and then made red with ethylene (the ripening hormone). Ethylene ripening works well for most (botanic) fruits, but it's pointless if the fruit (the tomato, in this case) hasn't even MATURED yet! Tomatoes are definitely the one thing that all gardeners and even most of the general populace would agree taste so much better when you grow them yourself. I also find that peppers (capsicum) that I grow are much tastier than the supermarket kind. They're much sweeter and more flavorful. But I can get good peppers because it regularly gets pretty hot and humid here in NJ in the summers, and peppers need that to be really tasty. In the price department you've got shallots and leeks. Definitely overpriced at the supermarket. With shallots, you grow them like garlic, plant the "cloves" during very cool whether when the spring is starting and the days are lengthening (alliums are instigated to grow their bulbs by increasing daylengths). With leeks, you'll need to shore up the dirt or provide some kind of cover to blanch the stalks, but otherwise similarly easy to grow like other alliums. And leeks are one of the cold-hardiest crops. You can leave them in the ground throughout the beginning of the winter and harvest as needed. You plant them in the summer to mature in the autumn/winter, just remember they take a long time to mature, about 4 months. And that increasing daylengths rule doesn't apply since the leek is a stalk, not a storage bulb. All aliums have the added benefit that wildlife don't generally eat them. For cole crops/brassicas, I would recommend you start with collards and/or kale. 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Sammi, Box looks nice. I trellis. I use 6 inch square concrete mesh. The mesh is quite strong and ridged and the 6 inch holes allow me to reach through to get at tomatoes and branches. I mostly weave, and tie what I miss if it gets too big/stiff. I just tie loosely with nylon twine. I find that tomato branches are quite flexible when they need to be watered and much more breakable when they are full of water, so if you weave, do it right before watering. If you miss one and it gets too big to weave just tie it and weave the next square. There's a whole religion about pruning toms. Different sects, holidays, the whole bit. Some even come out with funny hats and robes and burn incense while pruning. You can prune for max lbs, max size, shape, space requirements. Lots of posting on different pruning methods too, so I won't espouse a specific method here. The tomato Gods are pretty good about making tomatoes produce no matter which way we decide to screw them up. I'm a bit confused about what direction your sun is though. I'm looking at the shadow on the picture and it seems that you've got the trellis on the south-west side. If this is the case I'd strongly suggest moving it to the north so as not to shade other squares. I know that's a hassle, but it would be worth it. Good luck whichever way you go and enjoy your tomatoes. David
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daniel_nyc
9 years ago
The cucumbers spread very fast
daniel_nyc
9 years ago
The cucumbers can either sit on the net
daniel_nyc
9 years ago
Or hang...
daniel_nyc
9 years ago
For tomatoes I made something similar but vertical. Of course I thought about vertical trellis for the cucumbers, but the only place where I can plant the cucumbers isÃ¢ÂÂ¦ in front of my house, and the village might not like a 6 ft. high trellis there.

Your trellis is nice, but 5 ft. high I think is not high enough.

Especially if you donÃ¢ÂÂt prune your tomatoesÃ¢ÂÂ¦ AT ALL.

Also keep in mind that heavy winds might put down your trellis with heavy foliage, and those 2 feet deep into the ground might or might not be enough. The rebar / tubing could also bend.

That concrete reinforced mesh is ok - I use this wire / mesh fence (3 ft. high) - but IÃ¢ÂÂd suggest you to use 2 x 4 lumber to make a frame. Also, 2 x 4 poles are VERY sturdy.

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 20:00
Deeby
9 years ago
Still screaming !
sheltieche
9 years ago
marvelous!
catherinet
9 years ago
Gardenmediator...........Very nice!! Looks good and sturdy.
I love using concrete reinforcing mesh for my pole beans and cucumbers, and I make round cages out of it for the tomatoes.
I also use galvanized electrical conduit pipes for the vertical frames.
Great job!!
seysonn
9 years ago
Those are brilliant ideas, GM and Daniel.

GardenMediatot, what size rebar and EMT do you use ?
daniel_nyc
9 years ago
seysonn wrote:

> Those are brilliant ideas, GM and Daniel.

Whew, FINALLY somebody like MY trellis too...
GardenMeditator
Original Author
9 years ago
All,

Thank you for your comments. Daniel, that is a very interesting horizontal setup, it does look cosmetically more pleasant!

Deeby, thank you for the kind words, if you have the room you could do something similar too :)

To answer some of the questions, EMT conduit was 1/2 inch. For the sturdiness of the setup, please see attached photo, I actually had added side panels to close the walls into a 'box'. Those added shear panels help bring stability to each 'box', so that it will not topple over.

For the 5 ft height, I am quite happy with, except for my cherry tomatoes which would have needed more like 8-9 ft. I did not expect them to get that tall, especially given the shady area where I planted them!
daniel_nyc
9 years ago
GardenMeditator, you can always train the cherries vines HORIZONTALLY, back and forth at different levels. Or even train them AROUND the trellis at different levels - in a kind of spiral way. Start lower - at least 1 foot high, to avoid rain water splashing - and slowly go up till the 5 ft. Don't forget to mulch: I use both Fabric and
. Here is a explanation why you should use mulch. Also remove the lower leaves close to the ground.

If you lean on the trellis - at 45' - on its weakest points, and it doesn't fall, then it might resist to some strong winds. I would even try to push the trellis. Heavy foliage with lots of tomatoes and strong winds don't mix very well.

In order to make the structure stronger, I would connect opposite poles, UNDER THE GROUND, 1 ft. deep. Each horizontal EMT conduit connection I would secure with 3 Metal Garden Stakes and then cover with soil.

I would also connect the opposite poles ON THE TOP.

Then your structure would be pretty safe.

One more comment: like I wrote in a previous message, I use wire fences I prefer it because the rectangles are smaller than the squares of the concrete reinforcement mesh that you used, and itÃ¢ÂÂs easier to tie the branches. To tie the branches, I use these plastic clips.

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Mon, Sep 1, 14 at 15:58
GardenMeditator
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for the comments, I will keep that in mind for next season :)
seysonn
9 years ago
@ GM
Now that 2014 season is over, you should be a better judge and have a pretty good evaluation about your system:

--- Was it strong enough ?
--- Was it tall enough ?

I also thought that 5 ft was a bit short for most indeterminants.

On the wire mesh: I though you could use a lighter weight galvanized mesh. Once the steel mesh is tied/secured to the frame, there is no way that is will yield to weight or wind force. CRW is too heavy, I think. Plus it rusts. Light weigh galvanize should be better. Next year I might erect one such trellis as experiment.

Seysonn
smithmal
9 years ago
When I use a trellis for my cherry tomatoes, mine a 8' tall. I have a fence line and I tack on 8' x 3" boards in horizontal positions and also as cross braces (BTW, cross braces are extremely important as tomato plants grow huge and can be very heavy).

I then staple on support netting and wa-la... instant 8' trellis for cheap. The support netting is made of plastic so it really survives the elements well (see link).

Using this setup, for pretty cheap, I have a 12' x 8' trellis structure in which I grow six different cherry varieties on. That being said, at the end of my growing season. the tomato plants totally engulf this trellis, rise over the top and then start growing down the other end. So it could be bigger. On the other hand, if it was bigger, I'd have issues harvesting the tomatoes at the top. Last year I went about topping off the plants when they reached the top and that worked better than letting them go free.

smithmal

Here is a link that might be useful: Support Netting
GardenMeditator
Original Author
9 years ago
@seysonn

Was it strong enough?
Actually, this thing was extremely solid! I will be doing the exact same setup as far as reinforcements, because for my perticular area it works. I do have a small suburban backyard which is fenced by 14 ft conifers, so they cut down on the wind quite a bit I suppose.

Was it tall enough?
It was just the right height for my Brandywines, but the cherries ended up going over, so I made a 'roof' between the rows to create some kind of an arch. This was my first run with these cherries, next year I will try to top them and grow them laterally instead.

The CRW did not rust though, it is galvanized.

@smithmal

Thanks for the input, I need to build another trellis for next season (expanding the garden more!!), so I will keep it in mind when designing the next rig.

Cheers!
seysonn
9 years ago
GS, thanks for the report. So you've got a working system. I might copycat your design next year, with your permission.
I might try to make it a bit taller
If the wire was/is galvanized then probably is not CRW. As far as I know CRW is not galvanized.

Seysonn
GardenMeditator
Original Author
9 years ago
Seysonn, of course you can copycat it! That is why I put it up here. The community helped me put together a design that I was inspired from reading tons of posts on these forums. I wanted to give back by showing my own version of this type of trellis.

One thing I can tell you is that it is definitely galvanized; it has the signature coating on it. After one season, the only signs of rust is on the edge of the wire where I had made cuts. Check it out in the link below, it is also mentioned in the specifications:

Here is a link that might be useful: Galvanized CRW
seysonn
9 years ago
GM, You are right. The specs says Galvanized CRW (for durability). That sounds good. I have only seen non galvanized CRW in sheets at HD ( 48" x 82" ?). I think they have them in rolls too. I have to recheck.

Seysonn
yardenman
9 years ago
The absolute best tomato cages I've ever used are made of 6" mesh concrete wire. They are easy to reach though for harvesting and nearly indestructible. Mine have lasted 20 years and don't show signs of falling apart.
seysonn
9 years ago
I checked wit my HD store. Thy have nothing taller than 5 ft of anything in CRW category. They have 42" by 84" sheets at $7.20, not galvanized. I have made few cages out of those before. They are sturdy for sure but not tall enough. That is why I want to experiment with trellis.

Seysonn
yardenman
9 years ago
Well, I lived with 5' cages for decades. I generally slowly bend the vines above the cage back down around the sides carefully. But there are 2 options. The first is that you don't have to bend the cages the natural curve of the CRM. You can cut them the other direction, any length, and curve them to 5' in diameter rather than height. That only gives 16.5" in diameter (5' divided by pi) but that might work for you. The second is that you could make standard 5' high cages and add more to the top. Takes more cutting and shaping, but it might be what you want to spend one day at doing. After all, the CRM lasts nearly forever.

I'm planning to do that second idea my self.
seysonn
9 years ago
Thanks Yardenman
I have already thought about various options.

Actually when 5' is used as base, (with a 6" overlap) you can make a cage with over 17" diameter. Then if I make them 7ft tall , each cage will cost me about $9 plus all the struggling with bending, tying. Another MINUS of cage is winter storage.
For the above reasoning, I can use a lighter gauge galvanized material and make trellis with 1/2" EMT. So that is what I am going to try on one of my raised beds this year.

Seysonn.
yardenman
9 years ago
Well, if you go with the 5' high, you can make them as large around as you have CRM. I made mine 2' diameter.

But the CRM cages I made 25 years ago are still fine, so consider it a one-time cost and forget about it.

I simply store my cages behind the shed each winter. But what's wrong with just leaving them in place if you don't have a place to hide them?

The lighter cages don't stand the test of time or the demand of each season, in my opinion.
daniel_nyc
8 years ago
What support - if any - did you use this year for your tomatoes ?

My first trellis for tomatoes and other vegetables

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