What can you use to make a tomato trellis? Growing tomatoes on a trellis. Making a frame for a trellis

» Tomatoes

This is the name of a specially made vertical support intended for plants in the garden or garden. Structurally, it can consist of wood or metal posts dug into the beds, between which a plastic or metal mesh is stretched. It is allowed to replace the mesh with stuffed wooden planks. Today, such supports can be purchased in stores or made independently using available materials. In this review we will talk about making tomato trellises with your own hands and their design features.

Indeed, tomatoes mounted on supports receive more oxygen and are illuminated by sunlight, which is necessary for the formation of the ovary and ripening of the crop. At the same time, contact of leaves with moist soil is completely excluded, which helps prevent many diseases. During the formation period, the stem is tied up, then it is the turn of the branches with vegetables. Thus, the load on the main trunk of the bush is reduced.

Tomato plants on a trellis, grown in an open bed, feel better, increase yield, and can withstand unfavorable climate conditions. Their fruiting season is becoming longer.

In addition, the use of trellises provides its advantages in caring for tomato crops:

• you can freely move between rows;
• plants well ventilated, they are easier to step-on;
• relieved harvest, the fruits are not injured.

Design options

A trellis is a support for tomato plants that supports the stems and heavy tomatoes. It can be constructed from ropes, wire or mesh with large cells stretched over columns.

Hardware stores present to gardeners ready-made trellis structures designed for installation in polycarbonate greenhouses. There are options for unprotected soil with the ability to cover plants in cold weather.

Most gardeners prefer to make trellises themselves, showing great imagination.

How to make a trellis with your own hands

Taking into account the simplicity of the design and the fact that available materials for its manufacture can always be found in any household, a homemade trellis is not without meaning. At the same time, there is an opportunity to save money, space in the beds, install supports not only for tomatoes, but also for other plants.

Preparation of materials

The simplest version of a trellis, suitable for cultivating not very tall and highly branching tomato varieties, is a rope or wire stretched in several tiers between the posts. The structure should rise up to one and a half meters above the garden bed so that it is possible to tie up the plants as they grow. To install such a support you will need:

• supports made of metal or wood;
• wire or twine.

In addition, for more serious structures you may need:

• rags;
• polyethylene;
• polymer mesh;
• fastening material.

Manufacturing instructions

If you decide to grow tall tomato varieties, The height of the trellis should reach two meters so that the bushes can be formed correctly. In this case, a thick wire is stretched along the pillars, from which ropes intended for gartering are lowered to each plant. They can be made from soft rags or plastic film so as not to damage plant branches.

An excellent solution is to use a polymer mesh with large cells. To install such a trellis you need:

• install support posts;
• secure a network between them so that it does not touch the ground.

The advantage of such a trellis is that you can tie tomatoes of any variety to it - tall and short.

It should be added that such a mesh can be successfully used as a bed for plants in a polycarbonate greenhouse. You just need to attach it to the top of the greenhouse and hang it freely. Now you can tie branches and clusters of fruits to it at any height.

Another practical option is a design shaped like the letter “X”. Wooden poles are stuck into the beds at a certain angle, crossed, tied in pairs with twine or wire at the points of contact. A long crossbar is placed and fixed on top of such a hut. Ropes are hung on it to hold the plants.

Vertical support columns are dug in after two to three meters to a depth of fifty to sixty centimeters. If a significant load is expected, the soil around the pillars should be reinforced with broken bricks, crushed stone or concrete. Wooden posts are treated with an antiseptic compound, painted or stained. This measure helps protect them from dampness and insects. Supports made of metal material must be primed.

Wooden elements are fastened with nails or self-tapping screws. Metal parts are connected with wire or welded. Twine can be stretched over the top to protect the plants with covering material in bad weather.

There are craftsmen who make three-dimensional structures from thin metal rods. This is very convenient for small areas. This trellis will help save space and will last a long time.

Do not forget to comply with crop rotation requirements, change vegetable crops under the trellis structures or move the supports to other places.

Methods for gartering tomatoes

To tie tomato bushes, you must use thick and soft material. It is best to prepare it from rags. Rigid twine and wire are not recommended.

Tying can be done in several ways:

• fix branches on transverse supports as they grow;
• from the top rope lower the garters to “pick up” the plants.

The branches of the bushes should not be pulled together - the plant should develop freely.

As you can see, everything is quite simple. With a little ingenuity, You can always organize support structures from scrap materials so that your plants are well formed and bear fruit well.

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, black leg, 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 branched 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.

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 venture - 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:

1. The structure must be stable enough to withstand the various vagaries of nature - rain and wind.
2. 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.
3. 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.

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 supporting 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:

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

With the onset of spring, planning begins large beds, and many gardeners are once 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.

Foldable portable vegetable stands

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, it will have to be changed after a season, 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 sufficiently 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 exist for many options for trellis construction.