A 10' length of rebar would have to be quite thick to stand up to transverse loading. What I mean is that even though iron doesn't stretch or compress easily, it does flex and bend. Generally speaking, a pipe, or a T-shaped pole (relative to the material) will be stronger than a solid pole. This is also relative to the material's thickness - a 2" thick pole is going to have less flex than a 1/2" pole.

I have some 20' lengths of rebar outside and if you pick it up by the center, you have to lift it like 2' - 3' before the ends even raise off the ground. It is very flexible. Shorter pieces are less flexible. So, at 10', you'll need to test out with thickness of rebar to use. Don't assume because it is iron that it won't flex under load... it will.

I ran out of bamboo for my second bean trellis. I had some old galvanized water pipe in the basement. It is working great as the cross member. It's pouring rain right now, when it's done raining later I'll try to post a photo of what I have set up.

the rust is safe since it's just oxidized iron (iron oxide) which is common in soil.
by the time the rebar rust to the point where it's not usable it would have outlived you ;)

Easier to drive? Maybe. But around here a 10' length of rebar 1" - thick enough to not flex too much - costs 3x the cost of a 6' T-post. You can use plastic clothesline (cheap ) to run through the fencing from post to post. But I gotta warn you the plastic deer netting fencing breaks down in the heat and sun so has only a couple of years life in it.

Dave

It's too flexible ... good for short stakes, or making arches, but you need the expensive thick stuff to have rigid fence support.

It's NOT easier to drive than T-posts because there are no commercial diver tools.

I can shove rebar in the ground by hand a foot and a half if the soil is moist.

I pounded my t-posts for ten minutes with a sledgehammer and barely got them ten inches in.

Dave,

I know the deer netting breaks down. It's all I could use that was high enough, unless I used multiple stacked chicken wire, which was a LOT more expensive.

Plus, nothing else I can find is REALLY tall enough...deer netting is seven feet, most tomatoes and pole beans can get easily that high.

T- posts are under five feet once you pound them in.

I guess I am not understanding why the height of the pole beans determines the height of the fence. Is this for a trellis or to keep out deer?

If it is a fence you wouldn't be putting it right up next to the crops anyway. You leave an open area between the fence and the garden or you plant the tall crops away from the fence. So it doesn't matter how tall the beans get the deer still can't get to them. A 100' roll of 6' high 2"x4" galvanized welded wire pasture fence is $80 here at Lowes, Menadrds etc.. 7' T posts are $3 each. It is what I use and with all my deer I have never had one of them jump it. They just cruise the outside.

So depending on the size of your garden you can have a permanent fence structure for less than it would cost you to buy all the heavy-duty rebar and replacing the plastic fence every two years. And it would look worlds better too.

Don't know prices where you are but chicken wire is always much more expensive than WW fencing.

Dave

This what I made out of bamboo and galvanized water pipe...

The one on the left is all bamboo. The one on the right is bamboo supports, and galvanized water pipe cross member. Strings run down for the plants to climb.

I ran out of bamboo, so if you look closely to the right side of the trellis, in the background of the 1st, and 3rd pic, you'll see a pole stuck into the ground. That is a long branch cut out of a tree that is for a 3rd trellis. It will have wood pole supports and water pipe cross beam. Twine holds it all together.

Total cost? Zero dollars... well, the time spent, and some of the twine from a 250' roll of jute bought last year. Everything else is scrounged from nature, and what other people throw away.

hairmetal4ever, my experience with rebar is as follows-- About 25 years ago I bought several lengths of 8' and 10' rebar with 1/2" thickness, back then it was relatively cheap. About 40 pieces in all. I also bought some of 3/8" thick lengths. The 1/2" thick rebar have been used to stake tomato plants over those 25 years and they're still in excellent shape. These 1/2" rebar will support tomatoes up to 6' and 8' height (with 2' in the ground). I've never regretted that investment as they make great stakes for tomato plants and never need replacement..

The 3/8" is too thin to support tomatoes at those heights and will bend over in late season strong storms so I cut these in half to use for smaller plant support and to use with twine to support my bush beans in long rows. They don't rust worth mentioning and are virtually the same after 25 years.

To drive them into the ground I'll wait until a heavy rainy spell and manually shove them about 1.5' down and use a vice grip and 5# hammer to get them down to 2' depth as that's good enough to resist high winds and heavy weight of the matured tomato plants.

For trellising purposes I use 1/2" x 10' rebar to support metal fencing for my spring peas, which are followed with last season cukes. Good stuff rebar, but sorry to see how the price has jumped over the past 3 decades. Hope that helps, glad to follow up.

I have a fence outside, but also put trellising INSIDE the fence. Two separate 'structures'.

Dave,

What I like about the deer netting is it is flexible, and am able to bend it forward along the ground and staple it in, which makes it harder for other critters to get under it. Do you have that issue as well?

Here is a couple of uses for rebar.

Dave - what do you use to make a gate for your t-post and welded wire fence?