1. Advantages of the trellis method
2. How to make a trellis
3. Plant protection
Gardeners, especially summer residents, do not value trellises - they are used to growing low-growing tomato varieties in their beds and believe that there is less fuss with them. This is true, but they also get a disproportionately smaller tomato harvest than with the trellis growing method.
Of course, not everyone can build a trellis for tall varieties over a large area - materials and strength are needed. But every amateur can plant at least 3-4 rows of tomato heroes.
This is a real “festival of the soul” - from July until the frosts, you can admire and enjoy the beauty and variety of fruits, openwork leaves, inhale the phytoncidal aroma, relieve stress, restore strength and energy, forgetting about the bad and dreaming about the beautiful.
A bed of low-growing varieties of tomatoes does not evoke such emotions, although it requires a fair amount of work. Tie each plant to a stake and give it the necessary care. And then you get upset and upset when you see how quickly the tomatoes begin to be affected by diseases, how tightly the soil in the rows becomes compacted after cultivation, watering, etc.
Therefore, today more and more gardeners are switching to the trellis method of growing tomatoes.
Advantages of the trellis method
The trellis method of growing tomatoes has become one of the mandatory agricultural practices, which allows for a stable harvest even under extremely unfavorable weather conditions. Tall tomatoes feel much more comfortable on a trellis: the plants are well ventilated, evenly illuminated by the sun, the fruits are not injured during harvesting, it is easier to root the plants and remove diseased, unnecessary leaves; It is faster and more convenient to collect fruits.
For trellis culture of tomato plants:
Less susceptible to diseases, since the lower leaves and fruits do not come into contact with the soil;
During planting, the gradient (ratio) of daily air temperature fluctuations decreases;
Droplet moisture does not stagnate on the leaves and in the air;
Favorable conditions for the spread of pathogens, including late blight, are not created;
The fruiting period is extended, plant productivity increases and the quality of fruits improves.
In addition, growing tomatoes on a trellis makes it possible to more efficiently use the space of the garden, especially if it is not sufficiently illuminated by the sun.
How to make a trellis
This is not the first season that we have been constructing trellises on our plots, using wooden supports-posts and horizontal wooden slats, which, if properly stored in the off-season period, can serve for quite a long time.
To extend the life of wooden posts and slats, they need to be painted with any paint, even the cheapest.
It is advisable to place rows of tall tomatoes grown on a trellis from north to south. Under no circumstances should plantings be thickened.
The planting pattern depends on the power and height of the bush. The most preferable is double-row strip planting of plants in a checkerboard pattern.
In our plots, we place most varieties according to the scheme (90+50) x 40, i.e. the distance between rows in a tape is 50 cm, between plants in a row is 40 cm, paths between tapes are 90 cm.
Wide paths are not a fad, but an important element of technology. They allow you to increase the feeding area of plants and simplify their care (processing, fertilizing, collecting fruits, etc.).
After planting the seedlings in open ground (approximately May 20), we drive the slats (height 2 m, cross-section 20×40 mm) into the soil with their pointed ends to a depth of 20 cm. To attach the transverse slats, hammer a nail (60 mm) at a distance of 20 cm from the top column. The optimal distance between vertical posts is 2 m.
After the seedlings take root (after 7-10 days), we tie the plants to a horizontal rail using soft synthetic twine. As they grow, we wrap the plants around the twine, tying side shoots and heavy bunches of fruit to it.
We form tall tomato plants with 1-2 stems. By the way, it is imperative to install trellises for medium-sized, but large-fruited and abundantly fruiting tomato varieties. The posts for them can be made lower (1.2-1.5 m). Since the environmental situation has noticeably deteriorated in recent years, it is necessary to reduce the use of pesticides to a minimum and try to grow immune tomato varieties that do not require large expenditures on chemical protection products.
Plant protection
No matter how effective chemical protection is, it cannot always be carried out on time. And then even the most “working” drugs do not have an effect. In these cases, the main method of plant protection is the use of disease-resistant hardy varieties: De-barao (the whole group), hybrids Tarasenko, Chio-Chio-san, Linda, Pink Icicle, etc. They are widely used due to properties such as cold resistance, shade tolerance, high yield, excellent consumer and taste qualities of the fruit.
Most vegetable growers who grew tall, immune, trellis tomato varieties in open ground, used mulching and additional insulation of plant roots, carried out timely preventive treatments with folk remedies, managed to save their tomatoes in the midst of late blight and received a high yield of environmentally friendly products even in the “non-tomato” years.
Experienced summer residents confidently claim that tomato trellises are an indispensable condition for a bountiful, healthy tomato harvest. It will be interesting to find out if this is true.
Experienced summer residents confidently claim that tomato trellises are an indispensable condition for a bountiful, healthy tomato harvest.
Indeed, bushes raised on a support are better supplied with oxygen, the ovaries and fruits are opened to access the sunlight necessary for the timely ripening of tomatoes. In addition, contact of foliage with wet soil is excluded. This allows you to avoid such misfortunes as late blight, gray rot, blackleg, and other diseases common among crops grown in a greenhouse. As the bush develops, first the main stem is tied up, then the side shoots and clusters with heavy fruits, which reduces the load on the main trunk.
Tomatoes on a trellis in open ground also do better, producing higher yields and exhibiting significant resistance to adverse climatic conditions. The fruiting period of tomatoes also increases due to the creation of favorable conditions for the ripening of the ovaries at the top of the plant.
It is convenient to harvest from bushes arranged in this way, pinching and removing dry and damaged leaves. Due to good ventilation, moisture does not stagnate on the greenery. In addition, the area of the site is effectively used - plants can be tied to one horizontally stretched rope in a checkerboard pattern on both sides. This is the most convenient way to grow low-growing, highly branching varieties of tomatoes, when 1-2 lower stepsons are left. By tying them to the same support, but at some distance from each other, you can successfully avoid thickening of the greens, which usually affects vegetable crops the most.
Indeed, bushes raised on a support are better supplied with oxygen, the ovaries and fruits are opened to access the sunlight necessary for the timely ripening of tomatoes
Gallery: trellises for tomatoes (25 photos)
Types of supports
A trellis is a special support for tomato bushes, designed to support stems and heavy fruits. It can be made of rope, wire or coarse mesh stretched between dug posts. Thin wooden slats, rods or poles can be used as crossbars.
Hardware stores offer for sale ready-made trellis structures for growing vegetables in a polycarbonate greenhouse. There are also options for open ground with the possibility of covering the bushes in cool weather.
Many summer residents prefer to make trellises for tomatoes with their own hands; the photo shows examples of such structures. By showing some imagination, you can not only make a useful device for growing vegetables, but also decorate your plot in this way.
Self-production
Considering the simplicity of constructing such supports, as well as the fact that available materials can easily be found in almost any household plot, this idea is not without meaning. In addition, such designs can significantly save space in the garden and are suitable for growing not only tomatoes, but also other vegetable and flower crops.
The simplest version of a trellis, which is suitable for growing low-growing, highly branching varieties, is a regular rope or twine stretched between vertical supports at a level of 0.5-1.5 m above the bed in 2-3 tiers. It allows you to tie up bushes as they grow, facilitates timely pinching, and frees up the passage between rows.
A trellis is a special support for tomato bushes, designed to support stems and heavy fruits
When growing tall varieties of tomatoes, the length of the trellis must be at least 2 m, which is necessary for the correct formation of the bush. In this case, twine or thick wire is stretched from above between the vertical supports, and from there ropes are lowered down to each bush to tie the stems. Since tomato shoots are quite fragile and break easily, soft pieces of rags or pieces of plastic bags should be used for this purpose. In this case, it is necessary to leave a gap for the growth and thickening of the stem.
A remarkable discovery is the idea of using a large mesh polymer network. It is also attached between standing supports without touching the ground. The advantage of the mesh is its suitability for tying any varieties of tomatoes: both low-growing and tall. In addition, it is excellent as a bed for vegetables in a polycarbonate greenhouse. It is enough to attach it to the top of the greenhouse and leave it hanging freely, tying branches and fruiting brushes to it at the desired height.
The design of a trellis in the shape of the letter X is of practical interest. Several wooden poles are stuck at an angle into the ground near the bed, opposite each other, crossed and tied in pairs with twine or wire at the point of contact. A long horizontal crossbar is placed and secured on top of a kind of hut. Ropes are already hung on it, with the help of which the shoots are fixed.
Vertical supports (poles, pipes or metal poles) should be dug in every 2-3 m to a depth of at least 60 cm. The soil around them can be compacted with broken bricks, crushed stone or concreted. Wooden parts must be treated with an antiseptic and coated with paint, stain or varnish to protect them from exposure to dampness, insects, and adverse weather conditions. Metal parts must be primed.
With the onset of spring, planning for vegetable beds begins, and many gardeners are again faced with the problem of lack of space in their summer cottage. I want to plant a lot of healthy and tasty things, but it can be difficult to allocate space for a new crop.
A trellis allows you to significantly save space on which you can grow not only cucumbers, but also indeterminate (climbing) tomato varieties.
Trellis growing or gartering tomatoes and cucumbers has three more advantages: good phytosanitary condition of the beds due to air circulation (low degree of development of late blight and powdery mildew), high yield due to better lighting conditions, and ease of harvesting clean, leveled fruits.
Thus, the trellis is a means to solve several problems at once, both in the open ground and in the greenhouse. There are several options for constructing supports for vegetables, differing in complexity of manufacture and durability.
The structure consists of a metal or wooden frame and mesh, which can be made of wire, twine, plastic and wooden planks. You can also make a trellis with your own hands from available materials.
Making a frame for a trellis
The frame for attaching the trellis net for vegetable crops must be strong enough to withstand the load of heavy shoots and fruits. As a rule, metal stakes or thick wooden beams are used, which are buried in the ground.
To prevent the pegs from becoming askew over time, they need to be deepened well. The number of pegs depends on the length of the bed. For structural strength, pegs are driven in every 2 m. The length of the pegs should be such that after deepening (approximately 0.8 - 0.9 m) they protrude another 2 - 2.5 m. The optimal diameter of the edge metal stakes is 5 cm , for intermediate ones a smaller diameter is allowed. It is better to take wooden blocks from durable species, for example, oak or ash. Before installation, they should be treated with hot drying oil.
When all the pegs are driven in, they are connected at the top and bottom with horizontal metal strips or wooden slats, to which the trellis mesh will later be attached. The lower bar is fixed at a height of 20 cm from the ground. For additional stability of the structure, a central horizontal bar is attached.
Supports for cucumbers and tomatoes can be made in the form of a rectangle, cabinet or tent. The first option is the easiest to implement and convenient for caring for plants. The location of the trellis at an angle on both sides to the common upper horizontal bar allows you to save on support pegs.
Folding Portable Vegetable Supports
A trellis in the form of a single inclined plane is convenient to use when the wall of a house or outbuilding acts as a support. In this case, the top bar is attached directly to the wall and the trellis mesh is pulled towards it at an angle, while the lower edge of the mesh is secured to the bar on low pegs.
Options for trellis construction for vegetables in open ground
After installing the frame, you can begin making direct support for the “movement” of the shoots towards the sun.
The following requirements apply to trellis netting for vegetable crops:
- the optimal cell size is 10x10 or 15x15 cm;
- the material must be sufficiently strong and rigid;
- the cells should maintain their shape and not move to the side;
- resistance to sunlight and precipitation;
- environmental Safety.
The easiest and fastest way to make a trellis is to purchase a ready-made PVC mesh from a gardening store and attach it to an installed frame.
However, such a support will only last a few seasons. The mesh is prone to sagging, especially if the thickness is incorrect, which complicates harvesting. At the same time, making a reliable and durable trellis with your own hands is not so difficult.
Trellis made of construction twine
The use of twine in gardening is very common. Of course, after a season it will have to be changed, but this will not take much time and money.
A simple, but at the same time original support for cucumbers
To make a full-fledged trellis, you will need minimal construction skills. First, low pegs are dug in next to the seedling bushes. If the frame is wooden, then nails are driven into the top bar opposite the pegs installed below, bending the heads so as to form hooks. For a metal frame it is convenient to use pieces of rigid wire. Cut the twine 2.5 m long. Then tie one end of the twine to the hook and the other to the peg. The grown plants are then guided along the twine.
Another option: cut the twine into 5 m lengths, fold it in half and wrap the central part around a peg, and tie the two ends to adjacent nails. The result is a cross trellis with better conditions for shoot growth. In the fall, the twine can simply be cut off along with the withered lashes.
Trellis made of wooden slats
A trellis in the form of a wooden lattice is a very fast and low-cost way to make a support for tomatoes or cucumbers. The grille is assembled from slats 2-3 cm thick using screws or nails.
First, vertical slats are attached to the frame, and then horizontal ones, which divide the structure into cells. The result is a rather decorative and durable support.
Metal wire trellis
You can also make a strong and durable trellis from wire. Horizontal rows are made of steel wire with a thickness of 2 mm. It will serve as the main support to which the vertical threads will be screwed. For these purposes, aluminum or copper wire, which is corrosion-resistant and quite flexible, is better suited.
At the first stage of manufacturing, staples are made from nails on horizontal strips and vertical posts. The distance between the staples will correspond to the selected cell size. The prepared pieces of wire are first stretched horizontally and then vertically. To secure the cells, vertical threads need to be twisted around each horizontal wire. As an alternative, you can use ready-made metal mesh from an old fence.
Installing a trellis for cucumbers and tomatoes in a greenhouse
Growing vegetables in a greenhouse in a limited area and in conditions of competition for solar energy is unthinkable without a trellis. The greenhouse design itself can serve as a frame for a trellis mesh, which greatly facilitates the preparatory work and gives the right to many options for trellis construction.
A budget option is to install a vertical trellis made of wood twigs - long, even branches of medium thickness. In this case, the lower end of the rod is simply stuck into the ground, and the upper end is secured to the frame of the greenhouse with wire.
It's quite easy to make a support out of twine. To do this, it is enough to tie the cut pieces to the upper profile of the greenhouse. The lower ends hang freely and shoots are tied to them as they grow.
A tomato, unlike a cucumber, does not have special tendrils for attaching to a vertical surface, which must be taken into account when constructing a support. A good one should be in the form of a grid of wooden slats or plastic. When using twine, you will need to regularly tie the shoots to the support.
A tomato trellis, built with your own hands from inexpensive scrap materials, is a convenient and useful structure on a summer cottage. The function of a bush support is not only to hold the stems upright. A well-made trellis can serve as both a basis for temporary shelter in case of frost, and a decorative element in the design of the site.
Before you make a tomato trellis with your own hands, you need to determine the strength requirements for this structure. The green mass of 1 bush can reach 3 kg. The total weight of the fruits, which simultaneously fill and ripen on the stem, often adds about the same amount to this.
When calculating, you need to multiply the number of bushes that will be planted along the support by the approximate weight of each (5-6 kg). The material for a homemade support must be selected taking into account this load.
Permanent structures are most often made of wood or metal pipes. A temporary trellis (for 1 season) can be made from simple poles or thin bars. If the calculated load (total weight of the bushes) on a long ridge turns out to be very large, then it would be rational to divide the planting into short sections of 2-3 m.
Temporary trellis made of poles
Depending on the material used, supports for trellises are made in different ways. For the simplest support made of poles, an X-shaped design is suitable:
- 2 long poles are placed obliquely on the sides of the bed, deepening their ends into the soil by 50 cm;
- the upper ends are crossed at a distance of 20-30 cm from the cut;
- The intersection is tightly wrapped with cord or wire.
The strength of such a support is low, so the span between the supports should not exceed 2 m.
Place horizontal poles in the forks on the top of the support structures. The trellis will be stronger if these parts are tied to supporting elements. Attach cords to the horizontal beam for tying up the bushes that will be planted under the trellis.
Stationary structures for gartering vegetables
In a small garden, it is advisable to install trellises that can be used for many years. If you follow crop rotation and move vegetable crops from place to place every season, you can use a trellis to tie up cucumbers and peas, pumpkins and other plants that require support. The poles do not interfere with low-growing crops and, if necessary, can be used to stretch film or lutrasil.
To install supports for stationary trellises, use a block of 5x5 cm or thicker, as well as a metal pipe with a diameter of 5-7 cm. In addition, you will need:
- shovel;
- cord or wire;
- crushed stone and cement;
- construction level;
- fastening materials.
Install vertical posts at the opposite ends of each ridge. For reliability, they need to be dug to a depth of about 70 cm, and the hole around the support should be filled with crushed stone mixed with dry cement in a ratio of 4:1. Compact the backfill. When installing supports, you need to check the verticality using a building level.
If the length of the ridge exceeds 3 m, then the installation of additional supports will be required. The distance between the trellis posts should be 2-3 m. They are installed according to the same principle as the outer elements.
After this, horizontal parts are attached to the trellis. The simplest thing is to strengthen a crossbar on top of the posts, to which you can tie garter cords or attach a large mesh plastic mesh. But tomatoes on a trellis in open ground can also be grown using more complex and beautiful structures:
- Attach short pieces of timber or pipe to the vertical posts, placing them perpendicular to the axis of the bed. In this case, as the tomatoes grow, horizontal cords are stretched between the ends of the bars, on which the tied stems rest. Depending on your own ideas about ease of care, the bars can be made the same length (the stems are tied vertically, as in the photo), or with a decrease in the height of the column up or down (the tomatoes will be tilted inward or outward from the center of the ridge).
- An interesting variant of the above-described support for tomatoes. When planting, the bushes are positioned so that they are inside a rectangle formed by horizontal bars and cords. In the northern regions, such a trellis allows you to quickly protect young plants from spring cold snaps or hail. To do this, just throw a film or lutrasil over a tier of cords stretched above the tops of the seedlings and secure it with clothespins. In the fall, such a shelter will help the last tomatoes ripen.
- For garter, you can use a plastic mesh (it is usually used to fence an area). In this case, a horizontal beam is attached on top of the pillars along the entire ridge. The mesh is tied to this part, securing its lower edge with wire hooks stuck into the ground. To secure the lower edge, you can also make an additional bar at a height of 15-20 cm from the soil. Tie the tomatoes directly to the cells.
- You can attach cords to a horizontal beam, to which you can tie tomatoes, like on a trellis made of poles.
To ensure that stationary trellises last a long time and look aesthetically pleasing, the wood is painted or varnished, and metal pipes are primed with special compounds to protect against corrosion.
When growing tomatoes indoors, indeterminate varieties are most often used. They have unlimited growth and produce higher yields per unit area. But the height of the greenhouse rarely exceeds 2 m. Some gardeners arrange in the greenhouse a simple trellis made of wire stretched between posts, on which vertical cords are suspended for garter. When the bush reaches the wire, it is thrown over the support and is no longer tied up.
With prolonged fruiting, this method leads to breaking of the stem under the load of new ovaries. But experienced summer residents have improved the greenhouse trellis:
- At a height of 50-70 cm above the ground, a mesh tape is pulled between the pillars so that it forms a shelf. Tomatoes are planted along the trellis.
- When the seedlings need a garter, measure the cord. Its length is the height of the trellis (for example, 180 cm) and the additional length that a tomato bush can grow beyond this measurement. The excess cord must be wound onto a hand-made hook made of stiff wire.
- The hooks are hung on the trellis wire, the free ends of the cords are secured to the ground. Until the tomatoes reach the upper border of the trellis, they are tied up in the usual way. When the tops of the bushes begin to outgrow the height of the trellis, the rope, previously wound on a hook, is released 20-25 cm. The tomato stem is lowered onto a mesh stretched below, and the hook is moved along the wire. Do the same with the rest of the bushes.
The advantage of the method is that the stems of tall tomatoes do not break under the weight of the fruit, and the gardener can continue to harvest until the onset of a persistent cold snap. In heated greenhouses, this method can significantly increase the tomato growing season.
How to tie tomatoes to a support?
Tomatoes on a ridge equipped with a trellis can be planted in 1 or 2 parallel rows. In the latter case, the distance between them should not be less than 40 cm. The bushes begin to be tied to cords when the seedlings reach 20-25 cm in height.
It is not advisable to attach the cord to the tomato stem; it would be correct to drive a separate peg to which to attach the lower end. Tie the bush with soft material (rags, washcloth, strip from a used bag), placing a loop under the base of the leaf. Cross the ends of the garter material and then tie it to the trellis cord. In this case, the stem will be enclosed in a free ring of soft material. It will not be broken or damaged even in strong wind.
The next garter is carried out when a brush with ovaries forms on the plant. The loop should support the bush just below this brush. The loop is made in the same way as the previous one. As the stem grows, it is tied under each newly formed inflorescence, and if necessary, also under the leaves between the racemes.
Growing tomatoes on a trellis allows you to increase air permeability and illumination of the lower planting zone. This protects tomatoes from fungal diseases and helps to obtain a higher yield.
Many gardeners don’t even think about how beneficial tall trees are just because they don’t want to bother with arranging special structures for gartering - trellises. In fact, making trellises for tomatoes with your own hands is not difficult even for a person with minimal skills. And there will be a lot of advantages from this idea - the minimally used area of the dacha plot, fairly high yields and less labor costs for caring for the beds. Our article will tell you how to make trellises for tomatoes with your own hands.
Types of trellises for tomatoes in open ground
When thinking about what to use to build a trellis for tomatoes, and even those growing in open ground, you should consider the following points:
- The structure must be stable enough to withstand the various vagaries of nature - rain and wind.
- The structure must have a sufficient margin of safety to withstand the load in the form of heavy tomato vines and the harvest ripening on them.
- If the dacha plot is not guarded or remains unattended for a long time, the structure should not arouse interest among those who like to profit from scrap metal.
The best fit for this description is an A-shaped support made of wooden beams with a cross-section of at least 40x40 mm. Its height must be at least 2 meters.
A design made of the same wooden beams driven in at a distance of at least 1 meter from each other, with slats packed on them at different heights, will also be convenient.
For those who are accustomed to using resources to maximum benefit, we advise you to build a greenhouse trellis. It will require two pieces of metal pipe, each about 2-2.5 meters high. On each of them it is necessary to attach three transverse strips at equal intervals, on which the wire will then be stretched. Pipes must be concreted at a distance of 2 to 5 meters from each other. Thanks to its convenient design, such a trellis can be covered with film at any time, turning it into a greenhouse or greenhouse.