I have pieces of lattice that I nail on to 2x4s. I use post hole diggers to set the space for them, then I bury them about 10-12" down. They stand up to wind really well, and make a sturdy support for everything (cucumbers, peas, pole beans, melons, etc....) The cost savings alone are worth it to me also. The garden centers and catalogs will try to sell you on some over-the-top fancy support system running upwards of $30 or $40, but w. a little DIY ingenuity, you can come w. something cheaper and better

You can use metal or heavy pvc piping, attached to the ground with rebar. That's easy to pull out and move. Use two 4-6' tall pipes for the side with one on the top (however wide you want it). They can hook together with elbow ?? brackets found in the plumbing section.

I attached a nylon net to the frame. This is for my snap peas. I used a more flexible pvc but I will be going with the heavy duty kind for my cantaloupe and heavier items.

The nylon net will not take squash or watermelon, it is suitable for beans only. For watermelon, you have to have a double cattle panel fixture with square posts. They will climb 9 feet easily. Trellis that are suitable for pole beans are also tall (my pole beans go 10 ft easily), and not perfect for tomatoes. I solved my problem by having fixed metal conduit+ nylon net trellises for beans, and fixed cattle panels for squash. So no rotation. If I get a soil disease, I am in trouble, but I never had any with these crops.

I use 1/2" or 3/4" EMT conduit - cheap at HD - bent and connected in the middle with a straight coupler. I then use either remesh or cattle panel for the lattice, remesh rusts:

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Here you can see cukes foreground and toms background (toms on one nylon parachute cord):
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You can have fun with it too, this is our daughter's garden, its painted now but this is all I have on-line:
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Dan

I put a stake at each plant to tie the main stem to. I then build a trellis around the stakes. Then I provide supports for the vines. I tie the vines that are not in good places to rest on the supports and train them to the supports. This trellis is not complete. There are still two more levels of supports to build but I think you will get the idea.

These pictures were taken about a week ago. I've added another level of horizontal supports since these were taken.

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Admirable work, both of you. Now I will never post my own scrappy little things.

I have cattle panels also, but I am with glib's post You guys make mine look trashy. They do work great. I do not put mine up for winter using one for a hoop house

Curt

I can't believe how many enablers there are on this site!

Here is a link that might be useful: Trellis Search

Galvanized fencing. The kind you get at a Feed Store. I had it cut to 7 ft tall, it is 3 ft wide. It has 4-5" openings so I put my hand thru. I stand it tall for the cukes and horizontal for other things, like peas.

It's permanant, easy to move around, easy to store. Any kind of poles or fence posts will do. I secure the fencing to the poles with twist ties.

Taz, I'd already searched, both here and on the web. It's not that I don't know what's out there--it's that I'm torn by indecision, especially since my garden will be expanding dramatically to the north next year. (Right now, the main thing that's making me trellis on the north side is that I need to keep it inside the current fence so it doesn't get eaten. :-( )

I think I'm going to give cattle panels a shot, with an inverted V shape in front for more the to climb but out of local (free!) bamboo.

Awesome photos, everyone! Thanks for the inspiration!

(I've been in GardenWeb for some time. I just haven't posted in the veggie forums because most everything got eaten by the local deer and groundhogs until I invested in a fence this year. Before this year, I've only successfully grown peppers and herbs! )

Dan - I assume you painted the EMT red? I just bought some 10ft lengths of UV-resistant EMT to use as fence posts to hold up 7ft bird netting as a deer fence. The stuff also works great for caterpillar tunnels. But what is the lattice material you have in those pix (not remesh?) and how is it attached? Will it support heirloom tomatoes?

I was going to have DH cut some cedar trees and sink 4 of them into the ground 25ft apart, then top each pair with 2x10s and run wire across like an old-fashioned clothesline, use baling twine to train the vines (tomatoes and cukes) but the EMT/mesh looks easier. I appreciate the help - we've got about 60-70 tomato plants (that includes Speckled Roman pastes and Gardeners' Delight cherries, not all the big slicers, maybe only 20 Brandywines, 6 German Johnson, 4 Cherokee Purples) ready to be transplanted in the next 2-3 weeks (not to mention the peppers, and have to plant the cucurbits and herbs too!).

Dan

Holy Moly is that ever hi class.
I wish you would expand your 'how-to' details a little, how deep does the pipe need to go down, details about attaching the lattice.

mama, the EMT is spray-painted to blend with the brick, then the cattle panel is spray painted to blend with the mortar (and be cooler). I used cut and bent pieces of cattle panel to hang from top of trellis. This will support ~75# easy across a 6ft span. My tomatoes are twisted around nylon parachute cord, not the cattle panel.

Dan

Cross-posted above.

I use rebar to secure the conduit, pounded in at least 18". You'd have to stick your trellis quite far in the ground to secure them, especially in windy areas, so it is easier to just use rebar. You'll need bolt cutters to cut the cattle panel. I got 2 trellises out of one 16' panel, and I use the leftover to secure my peppers (like a Florida weave idea), as it is very windy here and a stake won't do. I use the extra from the remesh for bush peas to climb on.

HTH

Dan

Thanks Dan - any way you can post a closeup of the parachute cord attachment (you probably don't have maters right now, but I think you probably just have 2 strands, like I was planning with the baling twine). Just wondering how verticals support the tomatoes, I was going to string wire horizontally and then run baling twine vertically. Thanks

(I have 6ft vinyl-coated steel stakes to support the 10ft EMT used for deer fence, don't know if we need that long or could use shorter for trellises?)

I don't have any pix of those, mama, & BHs has the good camera today. I simply have vinyl-coated wire across the bottom and I the the parachute cord to the wire and then to the top of the trellis, using a clove hitch and a doubled and slipped half-hitch. I find carabiners don't work the way I want so I just tie knots. I also need to affix the wire non-permanently, as it is in the way in the spring - I use Walls O Water until frost danger is past (any day now). Since I rotate all crops the cattle panel is not permanently affixed either (as the tomatoes may need that trellis next year).

Dan

Thanks Dan. Gotta love your cold frames too - and are those caterpillar tunnels?

I gotta figure out something easy to put up/take down for all these maters b/c I want to rotate crops (and seed a cover crop), the "clothesline" type posts would be in the way.

You're welcome mama. We call them 'low tunnels' here and they are standard in these parts - hail/bug/wind protection, season extension; nurseries are selling a package with everything put together already - open, unfold, stick in ground - wire hoops and Remay.

BTW, daughter's trellis is a lovely purple and pink and she has a vining pea going up it now and morning glory going in soon.

Dan

Oh, you're going to have to post pix of that now that it's painted. Where are you located - don't know all the abbreviations.

(BTW, you don't have to call me mama - my kids AJ#1 and AJ#2 call me that, you can call me Shelly.)