I make long stakes - 8' tall - out of branches, sink them down solid into the ground, and run twine across the tops. Then, at each plant, I run a length of twine down to the ground. When the plants are about 6" - 10" tall, I start to wrap the twine around the stem, and continue as the plant grows. The beans will usually wrap themselves, and cukes sometimes need a few side strings added on as the season progresses. The cost is a large roll of twine ($10 - $15 will get you enough for 3 - 5 years for a backyard garden,) and the time it takes to cut and sharpen a few long tree branches.

If your rows need to be greater than 10', I suggest a center support, or at least 1 branch every 8' -10'. The plants can get weighty as the season progresses.

Agree that a pole and string teepee is likely the cheapest, easiest to build, and works. 3,4, or 5 sticks or stakes or poles of some kind as tall as possible (I prefer the 10-12' ones so you can sink the legs deep into the ground). Good tight and strong double half hitch knots to join the poles about 4-6" down from the top. You can then run the string vertically down to the ground or horizontally around the posts.

Lots of photos of bean/cuke teepees and how to build

Dave

Ahh thanks! Can use those for my cucumbers as well - should work! Unfortunately I have no branches to use :( 10-12' poles aren't cheap - what material do you suggest... or rather what material for poles should I avoid. Obviously they have to be a bit sturdy.

Thanks!!

Garden suppliers have all sorts for sale from bamboo to the plastic covered metal poles like the green ones Walmart sells in bundles or individually for $3-5 each

Bamboo in 12' 3/4" diameter cost me about $3 each down here. Lowe's and Home Depot sells bundles of wood 6' stakes that you can just band 2 together to make as long as you wish. Rebar if you buy at least 3/4" or better works great. If you have a good power saw you can just buy one 2x6 or 2x8 and cut your own.

PVC can work as long as you don't buy thin wall but it is slippery and difficult to tie strings to or for the plants to climb on their own.

Just go to the local home improvement center and wander around and you'll find all sorts of things that can be used. Wood tends to last just 1 or 2 seasons before rotting but metal lasts forever.

And there is always a cattle panel arch too. Have you read through any of the many past discussions here about trellis? Tons of ideas and suggestions.

Dave

PS: cukes don't need nearly as tall as pole beans do.

Chicken wire/poultry netting threaded through PVC tubing is cheap, long lasting, and provides good support. Make the frame with PVC tees and elbows. I use this kind of trellis routinely on my cherry tomatoes and peas. 1/2-inch PVC (sched 40) works fine for 6 foot tall, 4 foot wide trellises, but 3/4-inch would be a little less tippy.

I finally gave in and bought netting.... So worth it.

Hubby attached netting.to very tall rebar. But I got to admit most vines will attach to the garden fence(which are poultry wire covered cattle panels and T posts regular lenght T post)

. But if had to do over would have bought more of those 8 ft t posts

Some netting taken down and carefully rolled up onto a pvc pipe. others left in garden.. two years now.

Second years netting was on clearance priced from previous season at the STORE>

just a chiming in

Okay... so I can do the netting - I think it's a more expensive option - but I'm definitely still interested in it

So let's tease the teepee for now. I found PVC pipes 10 ft for $1.66 at Homedepot (the wood options are MUCH more expensive - at least when I called they were about 10x the price). 190ft thread is $2.44.

So 5 rods for the PVC pipes to make a Teepee... I have a small concern. So for cucumbers and beans - perhaps I lack imagination. I THINK I may need 2 Teepees - which is fine... but my vegetable space is more "narrow" and long. How to describe it.... It's long and it's a West -> East Lot. So if I have two teepees it will be next to each other instead of side by side. How will that impact the sun expose? How would you suggest I separate them by? Other vegetables I plan on planting are peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and MAYBE water melon

Thanks!

mystearica, if you go the route of the PVC, keep in mind what Dave said about them being slippery. It can be difficult to get the plants to climb such a slippery surface. However, climbing plants have no problem with twine. The PVC could make a good support from which to hang the twine. You could make a notch, or simply drill a hole at the top and tie your string.

It seems you're forming a plan.

I got bamboo from a neighbor who was thinning out her patch (wicked stuff, no one should plant it) and wove it into a lattice, tied with twine. Two lattices then made an A frame, one side beans, the other side squash. You can made the lattice as narrow or as wide as you like, height depends on the length of your bamboo canes.

Plants don't climb the PVC. They climb the netting that you have attached to it. Again, poultry netting can be threaded across PVC pipe. You just take the pipe like a needle and go in-and-out and in-and-out as your thread it through the netting. Metal netting threaded that way will actually help support the trellis. String netting, or just lengths of string, will not.

Heya,

I understand it will be hard to tie them together as it would be slippery - makes sense. I will give it a shot - if that doesn't work I'll try the netting option. I did see a couple of successful Teepees made from PVC - but I won't kid myself I know it will be hard.

Yeah I definitely plan on using the twine in the Teepee to allow the plants to climb up. I plan on "training" the plants for that.

I got the idea from the following picture:

http://cf.happinessishomemade.net/wp-content/uploads/blogger/-rJV3G6Okn8I/UVPXXehmPEI/AAAAAAAAOWY/XlURQ8Fn2sE/s1600/How-to-build-construct-a-bean-tepee-teepee-tipi.jpg

That being said @Daninthedirt are you saying I can't use twine but need to use metal netting? I'm getting 10 feet PVC pipes so I plan on pushing at least 1-2 feet into the ground - won't that provide enough stability?

Any thoughts on the sun issue - see my previous post

Again thanks and any advice is appreciated!!

Twine is fine for climbing. I'm just saying that the twine won't help support the structure. Metal netting will. Yes, pushing the PVC pipes into the ground is exactly right, but the 1/2 inch PVC will tend to bend a bit when covered with foliage and fruit. The the heavier gauge PVC won't. In fact, I have my trellises next to a wall, and I anchor the tops of the 1/2 inch trellises on that wall to reduce their flexure.

Re sunlight, not sure I understand your proposed geometry, but I have several E-W trellises adjacent to each other on a N-S line. The plants on the northernmost trellis don't get as much sun as those on the southernmost trellis, but at least with with cherry tomatoes, I frankly don't see any difference in growth or health.

Here's an old thread from over on the Bean, Pea, & Legume Forum that you might like to read through. It's unfortunate but since it is older and was from the pre-Houzz days of GardenWeb some of the photos are no longer viewable. However, it still has a ton of information.

Show Me Your Trellis

Rodney

Instead of PVC I have used 3/4 inch EMT. Much sturdier.

@theforgottenone - thanks for the link!! Will check it out in a bit (when I get more time at work or when I get home)

@yolos - that's an interesting idea - I didn't know what EMT is until I checked it out on homedepot. The 1/2 inch is $2.6/tube and 3/4 is $4.1 - it's a lot more pricier... if I were to go for the EMT I may consider the 1/2... I think an EMT tube might be easier to hammer into the ground (since I'm still trying to wrap my head around how I can possibly push these 'stakes" 1-2 feet into the ground... I'm not very strong even for a woman.

Anyway - I'm thinking if I do make a 2 Teepees = I may avoid planting anything on the north side since that side gets no light and the wood fence is on that side too - so no sun. How much should I separate the teepees by so the "back-to-back" sides get sufficient light?

EMT, when in contact with soil, generally requires some kind of corrosion protection. I think it can be used bare underground, but not where the soil is regularly moist. It'll still have a good lifetime, but nowhere near that of PVC.

One strategy for "planting" long PVC stakes into the ground is to pound in a few foot length (such that you can get the hammer on the end of it), and then connect the rest of the structure to that piece with a cheap socket coupling glued in place. If you don't use glue on the top end, it's trivial to remove the whole structure when you want to clean and manage the bed. That's what I do. At the end of the season, the trellises get lifted out, so the soil can be tilled and amended with no obstacles.

@theforgottenone

From the link you gave me - I kinda really LOVE this

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2195762/built-my-first-cattle-panel-arch-trellis-today

So I think I'm gonna try this particular contraption!

Thanks everyone!

Is the fence close enough to your garden that you can tie twine to the top of the fence, and then stake the twine into the ground? This is what I do each year - very cheap and effective!