Trellising cucumbers

[Farmette]

Am using CRW with great success and have built this trellis system for cukes, melons and squash. Cukes on the far right. Eggplant, peppers and herbs in the middle oval. 2nd picture is close up of two of the Uncle Dave's winter squash, which has climbed to the top of the trellis. That was taken over a week ago and both have now grown considerably.

[halleone]

Originally Posted by Farmette

Am using CRW with great success and have built this trellis system for cukes, melons and squash. Cukes on the far right. Eggplant, peppers and herbs in the middle oval. 2nd picture is close up of two of the Uncle Dave's winter squash, which has climbed to the top of the trellis. That was taken over a week ago and both have now grown considerably.

Picture 1 - about 6 or 7 foot T-posts? I can see I may need to buy taller posts. I'm just 5'5'', so it gets to be lots of fun trying to pound in those taller-than-me posts. I have to get out the 8' orchard ladder and climb up it to pound them in!

[tjg911]

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...

i'm in ct and it never gets as hot as 110. it seldom gets to 100 but has a few times. i've been using crw for tomato cages and on the trellis for beans and cukes and it never has bothered the plants. try it, you can always go back to nylon netting. the point is don't let anything ramble on the ground, it's dirty, hard to find and pick, diseases in the soil always in contact with the plants, too damp all night, floods in heavy rains, i'm sure are many more reasons.

tom

[JimM_SC]

I use a 4 ft diameter CRW cage. I plant a handfulf seeds in the center and the vines cover the cage. I've grown them on a regular fence before with great success.
Jim

[Farmette]

Originally Posted by halleone

Picture 1 - about 6 or 7 foot T-posts? I can see I may need to buy taller posts. I'm just 5'5'', so it gets to be lots of fun trying to pound in those taller-than-me posts. I have to get out the 8' orchard ladder and climb up it to pound them in!

Yes, those are 7 footers. The trellis is in sort of a semi-circle, with it at a 1 ft. depth inside up against the trellis and slopes down to normal ground level, creating a slope with the idea being that there will be great exposure to the sun in the south. So far, so good.

[jerryinfla]

Originally Posted by mhjr5500

jerry, when do you plant cukes in the fall? i live in southwest florida and want to plant some

Last fall I started some in pots then transplanted them and direct sewed others in the garden -- both on August 20. The direct sewn seeds germinated just fine and the plants produced as well or better then the transplanted ones. So this year I'll be direct sewing seeds in the next few days.

[kevn357]

Cukes will climb most everything but not chain link fencing. Really odd.

[Zeedman]

Originally Posted by kevn357

Cukes will climb most everything but not chain link fencing. Really odd.

I've observed that climbing plants often are reluctant to climb galvanized metal. Which is not really surprising, if you do a search for 'zinc toxicity".

[HiPoha]

Originally Posted by Zeedman

I've observed that climbing plants often are reluctant to climb galvanized metal. Which is not really surprising, if you do a search for 'zinc toxicity".

Interesting. Maybe plants get some kind of electrical shock touching galvanized metal, just like how slugs gets shocked touching copper. I am forcing my plants to climb galvanized fencing with ties.

[tjg911]

i never knew that! no galvanized fencing here.

tom

[jerryinfla]

The fence wire I used in making the trellis pictured above is galvanized and cucs had no problem at all climbing and clinging to it -- they grew to the top and spilled over.

[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.

[Worth1]

Here is a picture of my cucumbers crawling all over the tomatoes they are on galvanized tomato cages .

Worth
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