IMHO: I would think that having a very solid trellis would be needed just to hold the weight of the gourds and luffas as they get larger and heavier.

You can also make slings for the fruit to grow into out of pantyhose

I've seen bird house gourds climb trees without encouragement. Makes harvesting a little tricky!

Thanks all. I have a birdhouse gourd that has grown 12 inches vertically in the past 36 hours, so I'm running out of time to give it somewhere to go! :) I appreciate the help.

I did luffas on a rope trellis several years ago. Cotton blend clothesline. Luffas went up 6' "rope ladder wall" with ropes spaced around 4", then across another 10' or so of "rope ladder ceiling" of a garden structure- what used to be a dog kennel. They also happily climbed up and across the 6'x12' chain link panels on two sides of the kennel. They probably would have grown across the kennel floor too if I hadn't gotten them up on trellis early.

The dang things grew like mad, I think I harvested 30-40 luffas by the time the frosts hit. It was a LOT of prepping and cleaning them after! I still have a few whole ones in a cabinet- and this is after using them for years and giving some to my sister for soap making.

I didn't do any fruit supports, they just hung down like overgrown zukes or cukes- short ones were maybe 8" long, the longest several around 14". Most were 10-12" long.

Thanks, beesneeds! My plan sounds similar to the structure you had. I guess I was mostly concerned rope wouldn't be strong enough to hold them, or they wouldn't grasp to the rope.

They will grasp the rope, but you gotta keep an eye on them if you want them to keep climbing nice- mine sometimes wanted to wander off to "follow the sun" and I would need to re-tuck that vine back to the trellis. I was growing against the sun though.

I use a trellis they sell at big box stores and attachEd that to my fence at the top. I haven’t had any trouble with that type in the past. I used two side by side for cucumbers and baby pumpkins 🎃. They held all the fruit just fine. They did grow beyond the top and I would just train the vine to go down in a different area on the trellis. It was great for keeping the cucumbers and pumpkins off the ground and being damaged. Good luck.

I have two trellises that are just 8' x 4' 'sheets'/pieces (?) of concrete reinforcing wire grid. I got them at the hardware store.