Trellising cucumbers

[halleone]

I have always let my cucumbers run on the ground, but would like to try trellising them next year. Any thoughts or ideas about materials to use, tricks, do's, don'ts, how-to's would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[Masbustelo]

I trellised them this year using bird netting and metal conduit wired together. I would recommend nylon netting with 4x4 or 6x6 openings. The smaller holes didn't let the plants meander through like they wanted. Also have it rain more than once in three months.

[Worth1]

Mine this year are self trellising.
They are growing on the outside of my raised beds on the 8 foot tall Texas Tomato Cages.

Right now they are about 10 feet off of the ground, quite the site to see.

You can grow then on anything chicken wire, net made from string, anything they can get a hold on.
One year they took over a tree in my yard it looked like a cucumber tree.
Once you have started this you will never go back to growing them on the ground.

Cucumbers were made for trellising, start yours today.

Worth

[FILMNET]

I tried this year with the useless tomato 4' tall tomato wire circles, put pieces of 48" by 4" of chicken wire inside to the ground up the sides. 3 pieces then added another set on top, the plants loved this. As they grow outside I just put them into the circle, perfect. I just had my first Armenian cuke' with my first P Robeson tomato some S/P, vinegar and nice olive oil. I am in heaven, another tough year for me with diseased dirt which kills some of my plants. My Stump of the World is in the middle of sick plants growing like crazy still, huge fruits on bottom and a new set above and a new set of flowers on top, 3 crops.

[jerryinfla]

I built this 8 foot high trellis with 2X4s and 1" X 2" X 48" fence wire, buried the feet in the bed about 18" then attached it to my 2X6 bed borders with 6 wood screws. It's easy to set up, take down and store when not in use. I expect I'll be using it for years in spring and fall -- we have two cucumber growing seasons in Florida each year. The three cucumbers I planted under it this spring grew over the top and we ate all the cucumbers we wanted for several weeks.

[halleone]

Originally Posted by jerryinfla

I built this 8 foot high trellis with 2X4s and 1" X 2" X 48" fence wire, buried the feet in the bed about 18" then attached it to my 2X6 bed borders with 6 wood screws. It's easy to set up, take down and store when not in use. I expect I'll be using it for years in spring and fall -- we have two cucumber growing seasons in Florida each year. The three cucumbers I planted under it this spring grew over the top and we ate all the cucumbers we wanted for several weeks.

I forgot to mention, Jerry, that is one beautiful garden you have!

[jerryinfla]

Thanks, halleone. It's a work in progress, but I suppose all gardens are. I'm still trying to learn how to grow veggies successfully here in Florida. Things are different from other places we've lived that's for sure -- poor soil, legions of bugs, excessive heat, and frequent rain with high humidity all make for challenges. One thing we do have going for us is that we can grow stuff all year long -- it's just learning what does well and when to plant it. With some things like tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash we have two growing seasons. I'm starting a fall crop of tomatoes now -- six new plants in the ground yesterday and six more in the next couple of days. Returning to your original question about trellising cucumbers -- I'll never let my cucumbers sprawl on the ground again. I highly recommend that you grow them on some sort of trellis and any of the methods mentioned above should work well for you.

[mdvpc]

Jerry-very professional trellis!

[recruiterg]

I use tomato cages made out of CRW. The work great.

[Zeedman]

The trellis I use is iron T-posts, with 1/2" rebar top bar run through 1.25" PVC T's. I run several lines of plastic baling twine horizontally between the poles, with vertical strings of sisal twine every 12" or so. The sisal verticals are wrapped around the horizontals on the way down. I usually (but not always) use a bottom bar as well, and run the verticals between the two bars. Plants seem to grip the sisal more easily, which is the reason I use it for the verticals... but it tends to sag under weight if used on the horizontal runs.


This is a universal trellis setup. I use the same trellis setup above for tying up tomatoes. For trellising squash & heavier gourds, I use taller posts & overlap/tie together the rebar top bars for added streng. I am trellising Tromboncino that way this year (no photos yet). For pole beans, I use 7.5' posts with a lighter top & bottom bar (3/8" rebar); you can just see some of those trellises on the left side of the photo.

[tjg911]

i used metal pipes from scaffolding you could use pvc pipe and made an A frame. i put a length of crw on both sides. one isde is pole beans the other cukes. it'll last for decades.

tom

[halleone]

Originally Posted by tjg911

i used metal pipes from scaffolding you could use pvc pipe and made an A frame. i put a length of crw on both sides. one isde is pole beans the other cukes. it'll last for decades.

tom

Tom, I wondered about CRW - we get temps up to 110 in the summer and I wondered if it ever burned the plant tendrils? Wire would be nice to use, then I wouldn't have to make a mesh myself out of twine, seeing as how I am a lazy gardener...

[Cole_Robbie]

I used nylon netting, but I had greenhouse rafters to attach it to, so it was easy. The nylon would have lasted longer than that one crop, but I think those cukes had disease, so I didn't want to re-use it. It could in theory have been soaked in bleach and re-used, but the stuff is cheap anyway.

[b54red]

I make trellises similar to Jerry's except I just use metal conduit and whatever wire fencing I can find and hold it together with wire ties. I have never noticed the metal heating up enough to bother the cucumbers. I also make mine 7 feet tall with the wire stopping about a foot off the ground and even with this height they still will grow over the top. You just have to give them a little direction by sticking the growing tips through the fence wire openings to force them where you want them to grow.

[Longlake]

Originally Posted by halleone

Tom, I wondered about CRW - we get temps up to 110 in the summer and I wondered if it ever burned the plant tendrils? Wire would be nice to use, then I wouldn't have to make a mesh myself out of twine, seeing as how I am a lazy gardener...

Cukes grow on the fencing that surrounds my raised gardens, and it works out great! No stooping over to hunt for and pick the fruit and no worries about the wire getting too hot, either...the cukes put on enough foliage that the sun rarely hits bare metal. Only drawback for me is that this approach also puts the cukes at a perfect height for any passing deer. Most of that damage can be avoided by tucking the baby cukes back inside the mesh, but some are invariably 'shared' with the critters.