How to make a do-it-yourself cucumber trellis
One of the most common and popular vegetables is cucumber. It is them that are grown on their plots by many vegetable growers. There are various ways to grow this vegetable. However, most often, when growing cucumbers, so-called trellises are used. This device is installed on the garden bed and bushes are tied to it. Before growing vegetables, you need to find out how a do-it-yourself cucumber trellis can be made.
Design advantages
A support for cucumbers greatly simplifies their cultivation and improves yields. If the bushes are tied to the structure, then they will practically not contact the ground and will not be able to become infected with infectious spores on the ground.
The cucumber supports can be used outdoors and in greenhouses. The main advantages of using them include the following:
- The use of a trellis for cucumbers saves the used land area several times. A garden bed with cucumber supports takes up much less space. At the same time, sometimes it contains even more bushes than with normal cultivation.
- With the help of such a device, the risk of diseases is reduced. During cultivation, contact of leaves and stems with soil is minimized. It is thanks to this that the likelihood of the appearance of powdery mildew or peronosporosis decreases.
- With the help of a support for cucumbers, you can speed up the growing process. All tied cucumbers receive much more heat and light, thanks to which the bushes develop much faster.
- Using a support for cucumber bushes increases yields. Many gardeners who grow cucumbers using this method claim that they manage to collect more than 50 kg of fruit from 3-4 square meters.
- Tied plants are much easier to care for. When the stem begins to weave, handling and harvesting is greatly simplified.
How to make an iron trellis
Many vegetable growers use metal structures when growing cucumbers. To make a trellis for cucumbers with your own hands, you will have to make drawings with measurements in advance and prepare such tools with materials:
- wire;
- shovel;
- a hammer;
- sharp knife;
- welding machine;
- strong twine or hose;
- roulette;
- several iron stakes;
- two metal racks, the height of which should be about two meters.
To create a support from scrap materials, it is necessary to transfer all prepared tools to a greenhouse or vegetable garden. Then, on the garden bed with the planted cucumbers, iron racks are dug in. They must be dug into the ground 40-50 cm so that in the future the created structure is strong and stable.During the installation of the pillars, pits are made with a depth of 20-30 cm. The pillars are placed in them, which, with the help of a hammer, are driven into the ground by another 20 cm. After that, all the pits are filled with soil and carefully compacted.
When all the cucumber garter columns are installed, a special crossbar can be placed on them. It is fastened with screws or welding. Also, it is necessary to install iron stakes along the beds. They should be located at a distance of 20-30 cm from each other.
At the final stage of creating a trellis, twine is pulled in the country. To do this, you need to tie a string to the last peg and stretch it up. It is tied to the bar and then lowered down to the peg, which is located on the opposite side. This procedure should be repeated with each peg located on the site.
Some growers use iron wire instead of twine to create a garter net. This allows for a more robust design.
When the cucumbers grow and begin to curl, as a result, the trellis will look like a hut or other similar shelter.
How to make a wood trellis correctly
Some gardeners make a mount for cucumber bushes from wood. To make a support for cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse or outdoors, you need to prepare:
- bayonet shovel;
- nails;
- twine;
- wire;
- 3-4 wooden beams at least 90 cm long;
- 3-4 wooden blocks about three meters long;
- a bar 3-4 meters long.
The technology for installing such a trellis for cucumbers is quite simple. First, you need to prepare the area where the frame will be located. At a distance of 2-3 meters from each other, three deep pits are created, into which wooden pillars will be dug. Bars are placed in each of the holes made in a vertical position. They are driven into the ground with a hammer and covered with earth. After that, a crossbar is attached to each bar, so that in the end the support resembles a T-shaped canopy.
The resulting T-shaped structures should be connected. For this, a wide bar is fixed to them with nails. After that, the frame for tying curly cucumbers will be ready. A metal wire must be attached to the horizontal bars. To do this, one part of it is fixed on the most extreme bar and stretches along the row to the extreme bar located on the other side of the garden. Some vegetable growers stretch not one, but several wires at once so that the bushes are better braided. When all the wires are installed, twine is attached to them, with which a lattice is created to tie the bushes.
Bicycle wheel trellis
Sometimes, support structures that resemble a hut or are shaped like a wigwam are created using bicycle tires. To create this structure, you will need the following materials:
- two bicycle rims;
- wire with a cord;
- knife;
- shovel;
- fittings 2-3 meters long;
- 5-10 bricks.
To learn more about the simplest way to create such a support, you need to familiarize yourself with the manufacturing process. First you need to prepare the rims. During their preparation, you should get rid of all the needles, as they will not be needed. After that, a garden bed is made on the site that will be planted with a cucumber in the future. Its width should be 20 cm wider than the wheel diameter.
In the center of the created bed, a small hole is made, the depth of which should be about 40 cm. The reinforcement is dug into it, after which the hole is covered with soil and well compacted. For greater reliability, several bricks can be dug in on the sides of the rod.
After that, the first rim is passed through the reinforcement and lies on the ground.Then, a second rim is attached from above using a wire. The result is a structure that will consist of reinforcement, on the edges of which are bicycle rims. Now you can start attaching the thread. It is passed through the spoke holes in the lower rim and attached to the upper rim.
This procedure is repeated about 20-30 times until there are free holes for the knitting needles.
When the support is in place, young cucumber seedlings can be planted. In summer, adult bushes curl much better and the support overgrown with cucumbers will look very similar to a curbstone.
How to tie cucumbers
Tying greenhouse cucumbers on a trellis is quite simple. For this, it is recommended to use fabric strips 3-5 cm wide. If you tie the stems to the supports with ordinary threads or wire, then the bushes can be accidentally damaged.
Additional lashing ropes are often used when young bushes are not yet braiding on their own. In this case, the stem is tied to the bottom of the trellises with a cloth strip tied under the second or first leaf. Over time, they will begin to fasten on their own and the ropes will no longer be needed.
Conclusion
Quite often, during the cultivation of cucumbers, a pergola or other trellis supports are used. To make such a stand for cucumbers, you need to familiarize yourself in more detail with the features of creating trellises.
