Anyone used concrete reenforcing grid...

[RichieC]

... as a trellis for growing vine crops on? How'd it work?

[Farmer Dave]

I personally haven't but several neighbors have and it works very well. Most of them grow their tomato's inside them, others grow beans and squash on them.

[ericjeeper]

Buy the 6x6x6x6 panels and not the rolls.. The rolls will fall apart pretty easy not held in concrete, Plus one slip while unrolling them and they will eat you up.. Honestly. Hog panels are a little heavier than #6 wire.and more readily available

[seedspreader]

I second using hog/combo/cattle panel (whatever is cheapest).

Those rolls of concrete wire are VERY hard to deal with, unless you are cutting off sections to straighten out.

[huisjen]

I use the rolled stuff. It works great. I haven't had any trouble with it falling apart. I cut 5' sections off the 5' wide roll, roll them up into 18" cylinders, and grow tomatoes in them. I also use them for cukes with a stock pannel laid on top of my double row of well spaced columns. Cukes grow up through and then hang down like some kind of tree fruit. I cut the wire with a small pair of bolt cutters. (plural, like scissors and pliers, for no particular reason.)

[RichieC]

Thanks.

[giddy]

I'm putting in raised beds and using a cattle panel arched between the ends of two beds. I've seen this used before and it makes great trellis for beans or whatever.

[freegal]

I made the garden arches with hog panels for the pole beans, sugar snap peas, melons... Lesson learned: don't use treated lumber to staple the arch ends to. Mine are okay now (after several years weathering) but nothing would grow near the ends at first.

I garbage-picked my concrete-reinforcing grid tomato cages. I have to admit that I didn't always take great care of them but they are still in good shape and I have used them for 15 years.

[vegascowgirl]

Freegal, for your garden arches, do you also grow underneath the arches? Or do peas, beans, etc. on the arches shade the area too much?

P.S. sorry for the thread drift.

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

I've used chicken wire, concrete mesh, chainlink fencing, and plastic snow fencing with holes. They all work. The main thing is to use some sort of pipe framework and to tie mesh well with wire,twine,etc. Beans will even grow up a single strand of wire or twine. Cucs and zuchinni need sturdy support because of the fruit weight.

RF

[Rocky Fields]

PS: You can use a wood framework, but I like pipe because it lasts longer. My uncle used iron water pipe and after 30 years it looks like it's good for another 30. You can run vines sideways, but I prefer to go up 10 feet. I'm leary of treated posts around veggies.

[Shinsan]

I use horizontal panels of 3" mesh placed 15" apart, like a triple bunk bed, for tomatoes. Plant my seedlings, then when they grow to about 18", put down the first layer of mesh and train the plants through. As the plants grow upward, the second, then third panels are put in place. The space between the garden bed and the first panel is well mulched, with dripper hose laid out under the mulch. The leaders from each plant then grow out along the panels, the fruit grows clear of the ground and is easy to harvest.
I also use vertical panels for peas, placing them down one side of the bed used to grow bush beans.

Next season I'll have 50% shadecloth covering them, as I just lost a very large part of this year's crop to fruit fly.

[Quint]

I like hog panels for that sort of thing. I've used concrete wire before though. In fact, when I was a little kid the guy doing a job for the neighbor had a roll of wire left and he said I could have it. I dragged it home in my wagon and took to making and selling tomato cages to sell. Sold them for a dollar a piece if I remember right. They sold really well. My dad didn't think anyone would buy them but I sold all I had. Sore fingers and lots of scratches for my effort though.

[Shrek]

Hogwire works beter for my luffa, tomatoes and cukes and is both less expensive and easier to work with. Been using the same rings for 17 years and moved them from my parents house 2 miles away in my truck and trailer after buying this patch of ground in 1996.

A few welds have broken over the years, but using a $3 roll craftwire to cross knot wrap the broke weld points retains the integrity fine and I figure to get at least 10 years more service out of them.

Still got about a 3/4 of the craftwire I bought in 2002 left too.

I check the joints each fall when I strip the clingers off to compost for worm feed and wrap any joints needing it.

[freegal]

Originally Posted by vegascowgirl

Freegal, for your garden arches, do you also grow underneath the arches? Or do peas, beans, etc. on the arches shade the area too much?

P.S. sorry for the thread drift.

I lay an old metal fence post on the ground underneath in the middle and tie baling twine from the top & middle of the arch down to the fence post for a trellis on the inside of the arch. I plant along the fence post and the vines grow up the baling twine and cover the arch. It seems to work best that way. Then I plant lettuce and beets underneath in the remaing space. I get lettuce (a mix) all summer long then because it gets a little shade. Vining cucumbers do well on the arches too.

[Thoughthound]

I've cut rolls for tomato cages. They work well, but have a lot of spring--meaning if you don't keep them under control they will snap back and get you with rusty spikes.

[Farmer Dave]

Originally Posted by Thoughthound

I've cut rolls for tomato cages. They work well, but have a lot of spring--meaning if you don't keep them under control they will snap back and get you with rusty spikes.

You definitely need eye protection and gloves working with the rolls!

[giddy]

cowgirl, I'm using my arches as the walkway between raised beds. It will be 12' bed, then arch from that bed over 4' to the next 12' bed. In other words, it will be bed, arch, and another raised bed.

[Nancy]

We used the roll and I helped DH, he cut and I held the roll from unwinding. Your're right about the gloves, wear them We use them for tomatoes and also cucumbers. They are nice and heavy and have held up for many years now. We just stand them up along one of our sheds, use a rope across the front of them to keep them in place over the winter. We do use t-posts with them to keep them upright in the garden. Use a bit of wire to secure the post to the fencing.

[vegascowgirl]

Thanks for the responses Freegal and Giddy. Two great ideas...there is always something new to learn in gardening.