I really can't picture growing pumpkins on a trellis. Unless maybe it was one of the tiny fruit varieties. Only way I have ever grown them is sprawling on mulch. So I would love to see a pic of how you are doing it and how you are supporting the fruit.

Dave

I was wondering the same thing Dave. How does OP support the fruit?

I'm growing several varieties... large to small sizes. I use a sling made of netting for the pie-sized pumpkins (done with success previously) and plan to use a shelf that clips on to my cattle panels for the large ones. Haven't grown the big ones on a trellis before, but am doing so this year to ease mulching/weeding/mowing work. The cattle panels are rigged very solidly... I can climb them if necessary. I'll post a pic once I install one of the shelves...

Thank you, looking forward to seeing the pic. Also 1 of the sling if you don't mind.

Right now I have a trellis.. sort of.

It's really what used to be a three aisle dog run from the previous owners. Six feet tall. The aisles run east west in a thick pad of concrete, and outside the run on the north and west sides are wide beds made mostly of years worth of composted horse manure. On the northmost side and the next two southern sides is chain link fence, and on the west side I've strung up homemade plastic garden twine in 6 inch intervals. The far south side is open, and the east side is gates. Along the top of the runs, a total of 4 top beams, I've put in eye screws and strung clothesline, every 18 inches, running north/south... so my most vigorous climbers can grow up the chain link fence, and along the lines. Or, I can have containers on the south side, and grow them up lines and across.

This year I have hops growing in containers on the south side, and running on the lines going north... succotash beans on the north side growing up the chain link fence and down the lines going south. Eventually a couple tomatoes I have planted in on the north side will be trained down the lines too. Nice part is, in the fall, I can just untie and unstring the lines from the eyes, and remove all vines in a snap.

Now, on the west side I have tiger eye beans, rich sweetness melons, athena melons, and a huge vining volunteer squash that popped up. Those get trained onto the two middle sections of chain link. All of them will get slings tied in as needed- I use old onion and orange mesh bags.

So in the end, my 6 foot vertical trellis grows into 10-12 (depending on the side) of horizontal trellis. For a total of 16-18 feet of trellis. A couple years ago I grew luffa gourds on it, and they did right fine without slings- just grew like mad up the east side and along the center fences and along the top lines.

What I do with the space in the dog runs depends on what I'm growing that year. But typically the north most run gets filled up with nasturtium vines- and that's extra nice for when seed drops because it drops on concrete and is a snap to gather up once the season is done. And nasturtiums are one of my favorite edible companion crops- great to pick and eat, and excellent trap plants, no problem to sacrifice as needed for nasty bugs. And nasturtiums don't care if they get some extra shade from all the overhead growing. This year the center section has a buttercup squash growing in a straw bale- last year was a quartet of potato bags. The southern most aisle is always containers- this year it's dwarf tomatoes and peppers. Last year it was cucumbers and a failed tigger melon crop that just never got it's fruit on.

Next year nothing vining will be planted on the outside- time for crop rotation so garlic is getting planted into those beds this fall after I pull the various tomatoes, squash and beans. So on the inside will get big containers of sweet potatoes to grow up the northmost fence, the hops will get moved to grow east/west along the "ends" of the runs.. and containers of squashes will be getting strung along the lines on the south side.

I agree with Dave... My pumpkins last year grew up, over, and through my fence, they were completely untamable and unrestrainable, and have brittle stems that can break. The Cinnamon Girl variety I planted this year however is thus far much more contained than last year's Small Sugar.

I would also love to see pics of pumpkins on a trellis.

My belief is that any vining plant will be able to hold any fruit it will grow. After all what did Mother Nature do before "we" came along?

Tho for ease of construction, harvesting, etc. I wouldn't go higher than 3ft. for pumpkins.

While my general rule of height for cukes, tomatoes, etc. is no higher than I can reach. After they reach the top they will go down the other side.

Gumby, just as an aside... before humans began cultivating them, pumpkins bore little resemblance to what we see today. For one thing, they were smaller, more like a gourd or crookneck squash. In this case, 'nature' is a relative term.

Yes, the only reason the things we grow in our gardens exist is because of decades to millennia of human intervention. :)

<After all what did Mother Nature do before "we" came along?>

She didn't build trellises. :)

But I like the idea so went exploring.

Look at all these pumpkins growing on various trellis set-ups. https://www.google.com/search?q=trellis+pumpkins&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CB4QsARqFQoTCLTinsz22sYCFdd_kgodkmwFjQ&biw=1637&bih=925

Dave

digdirt2 said: "She didn't build trellises. :)"

I wonder if she grew a tree?

Many of the vines I see in the wild are climbing trees or fences. Another point would be she didn't make slings for anything either. Well not til the lawyers got involved anyway.

rgreen48 said: "Gumby, just as an aside... before humans began cultivating them,
pumpkins bore little resemblance to what we see today. For one thing,
they were smaller, more like a gourd or crookneck squash. In this case,
'nature' is a relative term."

I wonder what they did look like?

I wonder where you got that information?

Dave, those images are dangerous to a guy with my moniker... I'm inspired! Might have to remove the "formerly" shortly.

gumby - this is one believed ancestor of cucurbita pepo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita_texana

See also - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita_pepo

Dave - wow.... that second picture doesn't look real. :)

IF you are gonna have people walk "under" your hanging pumpkins as pictured above - your lawyers will tell you to sling them. Which is why I said 3ft high should be no problem.


From the link posted above
http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/wp-content/uploads/DSC007032013_JuneJuly9.jpg

Gumby, perhaps a simple "Enter at your own risk... complainants will be composted" sign would suffice...

Give it a go and do let us know.

gumby... actually, I really thought it was common knowledge that nearly every cultivated crop grown in today's modern gardens have undergone centuries, even millennia of selection and breeding.

However, before I posted, in order to be more specific and to not unintentionally spread misinformation, I looked up the History of Pumpkins.

I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but I hope it's not considered 'wrong' to fact check.

.

So without ever trying it are you saying my belief is rwong?

gumby_ct said: "My belief is that any vining plant will be able to hold any fruit it
will grow. After all what did Mother Nature do before "we" came along?"

Are you saying that the fruits of plants developed over the year but the roots, stems, tendrils, etc never caught up? Kinda like Microsoft eh?

Just as an aside the last time I harvested a pumpkin - I had to use a pair of loppers to get it off the vine. Do yours just fall off?

You think 3ft up w/o a sling is just too high? Like a high wire act?

btw - History of Pumpkins. showed nothing to the contrary.

I'm saying that a naturally evolved pumpkin (wild, and bred by 'mother nature' without intervention by the 'we' in your original comment ) had no semblance to today's varieties. In fact, if pumpkins are the subject, then - unlike the large vines supporting only a few large fruits that human pumpkin growers encourage - natural selection favored many, smaller fruits easily supported by the vines instead of just a few large ones.

That site (along with many others) simply reinforced that today's pumpkins were likely crooknecks originally, and probably the size of small gourds.

In case you forgot the topic is

how high do you build your trellis for pumpkins?

I say 3ft

Whether in reality it would work or not would depend on the size of the pumpkin, and the distance between the supports of the trellis. It is the vine itself that would break, not the pumpkin stem.

There would be no reason for the pumpkin to evolve stronger supports for itself.... it evolved to be supported by human beings (i.e. giving them clear ground to ramble on), not in the wild. It would be a waste of the plant's energy to make vines structurally strong enough to hang pumpkins.

The true reality is - those who won't try will never know. We could be w/o a phone or electricity today (never mind internet) IF the logic displayed was followed.

This is from Dave's earlier link...

Hanging Pumpkins · More Info

<So without ever trying it are you saying my belief is rwong?>

As I said above I have always grown my pumpkins sprawled along the ground, supported by the ground, on hay or straw mulch. Even then I have had some broken stems just from a large pumpkin growing off-balance and rolling over. I have had birdhouse gourds break their stem when hanging from a trellis (an arched cattle panel), had honeydew's stems break before I can get a sling under them, Even the weight of a tomato on a branch can cause it to break.

So yeah, I wouldn't count on any vining plant to support the weight of its fruit in many situations.

dave