One of the most common and popular vegetables are cucumbers. Many vegetable growers grow them on their plots. There are various ways to grow this vegetable. However, most often, when growing cucumbers, so-called trellises are used. This device is installed in the garden bed and bushes are tied to it. Before growing vegetables, you need to find out how to make a cucumber trellis with your own hands.
Design advantages
Supporting cucumbers greatly simplifies their cultivation and improves yield.If the bushes are tied to the structure, they will have virtually no contact with the ground and will not be able to become infected with infectious spores on the ground.
You can use supports for cucumbers in open ground and in greenhouses. The main advantages of their use include the following:
- The use of a trellis for cucumbers saves the used land area several times. A bed with cucumber supports takes up much less space. At the same time, sometimes it contains even more bushes than during conventional cultivation.
- With the help of such a device, the risk of disease is reduced. During cultivation, contact of leaves and stems with the ground is minimized. It is thanks to this that the likelihood of powdery mildew or peronosporosis is reduced.
- Using a support for cucumbers, you can speed up the growing season. All tied cucumbers receive much more heat and light, thanks to this the bushes develop much faster.
- Using supports for cucumber bushes increases yield. Many gardeners who grow cucumbers using this method claim that they manage to harvest more than 50 kg of fruit from 3-4 square meters.
- Tiled plants are much easier to care for. When the stem begins to weave, processing and harvesting are 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 the following tools and materials:
- wire;
- shovel;
- hammer;
- sharp knife;
- welding machine;
- strong twine or hose;
- roulette;
- several iron stakes;
- two metal stands, the height of which should be about two meters.
To create a support from scrap materials, you need to transfer all the prepared tools to a greenhouse or vegetable garden. Then, iron posts are dug into the bed with planted cucumbers. They must be dug into the ground 40-50 cm so that in the future the created structure will be strong and stable. When installing the pillars, holes are made, 20-30 cm deep. The pillars are placed in them, which are driven into the ground another 20 cm using a hammer. After this, all the holes are filled with soil and thoroughly compacted.
When all the columns for gartering cucumbers are installed, a special crossbar can be placed on them. It is attached using 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 the trellis, twine is stretched at the dacha. To do this, you need to tie a string to the last peg and pull it up. It is tied to the crossbar 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 vegetable growers use iron wire instead of twine to create a garter net. This allows for a more durable structure.
When the cucumbers grow and begin to curl, the resulting trellis will look like a hut or other similar shelter.
How to make a wood trellis correctly
Some gardeners make mounts for cucumber bushes from wood. To make a support for cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse or outside, you need to prepare:
- bayonet shovel;
- nails;
- leg-split;
- wire;
- 3-4 wooden crossbars at least 90 cm long;
- 3-4 wooden blocks about three meters long;
- 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. Three deep holes are created at a distance of 2-3 meters from each other, into which wooden pillars will be dug. In each of the holes made, in a vertical position, bars are placed. They are driven into the ground with a hammer and covered with earth. After this, a crossbar is attached to each block so that the resulting support resembles a T-shaped canopy.
The resulting T-shaped structures should be connected. To do this, a wide strip is attached to them using nails. After this, the frame for tying climbing cucumbers will be ready. A metal wire must be attached to the horizontal bars. To do this, one part of it is fixed to the outermost bar and stretches along the row to the outermost bar, located on the other side of the bed. Some vegetable growers stretch not one, but several wires at once so that the bushes braid better. When all the wires are installed, twine is attached to them, with the help of which a lattice is created for tying the bushes.
Trellis made from bicycle wheels
Sometimes, support structures that resemble a hut or have the shape of a wigwam are created using bicycle tires. To create this design you will need the following materials:
- two bicycle rims;
- wire with 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 process of its manufacture. First you need to prepare the rims.During their preparation, you should get rid of all the knitting needles, as they will not be needed. After this, a garden bed is made in the area that will be planted with cucumbers in the future. Its width should be 20 cm greater than the diameter of the wheel.
A small hole is made in the center of the created bed, the depth of which should be about 40 cm. Rebar is dug into it, after which the hole is filled with soil and compacted well. For greater reliability, you can dig several bricks on the sides of the rod.
After this, the first rim is passed through the reinforcement and lies on the ground. Then, a second rim is attached to the top using wire. The result will be a structure that will consist of reinforcement, at the edges of which there are bicycle rims. Now you can start attaching the thread. It is passed through the holes from the spokes in the lower rim and attached to the upper one.
This procedure is repeated about 20-30 times until there are free holes for the knitting needles.
When the support is created, young cucumber seedlings can be planted. In summer, mature bushes climb much better and a support overgrown with cucumbers will look very similar to a cabinet.
How to tie cucumbers
Tying greenhouse cucumbers to a trellis is quite simple. For this, it is recommended to use fabric strips 3-5 cm wide. If you tie the stems to supports with ordinary threads or wire, the bushes can be accidentally damaged.
Additional fastening ropes are often used when young bushes are not yet weaving on their own. In this case, the stem is tied to the bottom of the trellises using a strip of fabric tied under the second or first leaf. Over time, they will begin to fasten on their own and ropes will no longer be needed.
Conclusion
Quite often, when growing cucumbers, a pergola or other trellis supports are used. To make such a stand for cucumbers, you need to become more familiar with the features of creating trellises.
