Choosing and installing a cucumber trellis

There is no country house or garden where cucumbers would not be grown.Indeed, it is the most beloved and popular vegetable, which is used both fresh and salted, and in pickled form. Each vegetable grower uses a variety of ways to grow it.

A feature of cucumbers as representatives of vines are long shoots creeping along the ground, on which the fruits grow. High soil moisture or, conversely, lack of moisture, sudden changes in temperature have a detrimental effect not only on cucumber lashes, but also on the whole plant. The ability of the cucumber to cling to the support with the antennae and to rise up is effectively used when it is grown. One of the most common methods of cultivating cucumbers, based on this ability of a plant, is the trellis method.

Trellis is a lattice vertical support for growing garden crops, which serves for tying bushes and shoots to it. As a trellis for cucumbers, you can simply use a variety of vertical structures (columns, mesh fence, wall) or a specially made support in the form of a wire or mesh structure.

Shpaler method of growing cucumbers has many advantages:

• allows you to save the area of ​​the garden plot, as well as to use it more rationally: much more cucumber bushes can be kept on a small garden bed;
• the probability of occurrence of diseases (powdery mildew, peronosporosis) is significantly reduced due to the lack of contact of the shoots with the ground where infectious agents can be located;
• the growth process is significantly accelerated, since the vertical growth provides the culture with a sufficient amount of sunlight, heat and air, and the duration of fruiting increases;
• creates a favorable microclimate that does not depend on differences in day and night temperatures;

• The process of plant care is simplified: the irrigation time and the amount of water are reduced, accessibility to the bushes is ensured when soil is loosened, fertilizers are applied, weeds are removed and a bush is formed;
• conditions of a pollination of a plant improve;
• the quality of the fruit increases: cucumbers are not spoiled on the trellis; they grow smooth, evenly colored, without deformation;
• harvest time is reduced, during which damage is not inflicted on cucumbers;
• the amount of harvest increases;
• The trellis not only facilitates the care of vegetables, but also gives a more beautiful view to the summer cottage.

There are practically no drawbacks to this method, if only such can be attributed to some monetary costs for the purchase of materials for tapestries and the fact that their construction requires certain skills and efforts.

Before proceeding to the construction of a trellis, you need to choose the material for it. This may be wood (bars, slats, racks), metal (tubes, mesh), plastic (tubes, mesh). From improvised means also useful branches and even the rim of the bicycle wheel. You can use the material that is available in the farm. The main thing is to make a stable frame of metal, plastic pipes or wooden racks, to which either the net is then attached, or the ropes are tied.

The simplest material available for trellis is mesh. It can be made of metal, plastic or simply of twine. The frame for the grid trellis consists of two pillars fixed in the ground with a crossbar on top to which the grid is attached.

From ordinary long and fairly thick branches can also build a simple trellis. The branches are placed in a circle under the slope, the upper ends are connected and secured with wire or rope. It turns out the design, reminiscent of the Indian wigwam. Between the branches, you can pull the twine or twine over the entire height of the frame.

The stems of plants such as sunflower and corn are used by some resourceful growers as a support for cucumbers. In this case, the plants are planted in three rows - in the middle of corn or sunflower, and on both sides - cucumbers. The middle row is sown a little earlier, so that the plants have time to grow. Grown whip cucumbers will cling to the support-stems.

Another example of the use of vegetation as a support in the dacha is the use of fruit trees. Cucumbers are planted around the tree, ropes are tied to the branches, and later on they are lifted up.

The frame can be portable if it is a small-sized structure and is made of light materials: wood, plastic pipes, and twine is used for the gratings. Also, the tapestries can be permanent, in this case, their framework of large size and made of more durable materials: metal fittings, mesh of plastic or metal.

Proceeding from the material of manufacture, the tapestry can be distinguished:

• from improvised means;
• from a tree;
• metal.

Knowing the principle and sequence of work, install the trellis with your own hands is a snap. The preliminary work consists, first of all, in choosing the place of installation, the shape of the future trellis, drawing up a plan with an indication of the size and preparation of all the materials and tools necessary for the manufacture. Very often help out materials that are always on the farm. Of these, you can build a simple support for cucumbers.

Stages of work:

1. Columns from any material (metal, wood, plastic) need to be fixed in the ground. The number of pillars depends on the length of the bed.
2. Pillars are put in the holes dug in about 30 cm deep, and then they are hammered another 20 centimeters with a heavy hammer.
3. Then the poles are buried and well trampled (or they can be poured with cement).
4. Fix the crossbar or rail with screws or by welding on top of poles.
5. Pegs (also from any material) are driven into the soil along the entire length and on both sides of the structure in 25-30 cm.
6. Then the ropes are tied to the frame, but this must be done correctly. The rope is attached to the extreme peg, pulled up to the transverse bar, fixed, and then goes down to the peg on the opposite side of the bed.

Handicapped means can be obsolete wheels from an old bike. From them it turns out not only a good support for cucumbers, but they also decorate the plot in the country. The manufacturing process is simple and will require a minimum of material: 2 wheels from a bicycle, wire and string, metal or plastic fittings (about 2 m long), several stones.

The procedure is as follows:

• In the middle of the bed intended for planting cucumbers, they dig a shallow hole (about 40 cm deep), put reinforcement into it (you can drive a few cm into the ground), fix it well with stones, then pour it with soil and trample it tightly.
• The wheel is put on the armature and lowered to the ground. At the upper end of the armature, the other wheel is securely fixed with wire.
• To the upper spokes of the wheel tie a string. Then you need to tighten and fasten on the lower needles.

It turns out a tapestry in the form of a cylinder, which, after cucumber lashes, will be wrapped around it, will have a very beautiful look.

Wooden trellis very often used due to the availability of material, ease of manufacture. There are various options for trellis made of wood, for example, in the form of a hut. For their construction will require: 9 wooden bars, 4 columns with a height of about a meter, screws for fastening, nails, twine (rope) and wire. The dimensions of this device for the support of cucumbers can be different and depend on the size of the bed. Usually they are very comfortable in small beds.

They are doing this:

1. In the corners of the beds they place 4 columns firmly in the ground. 3 bars fix among themselves with screws in the form of a crossbeam (P).
2. At a distance of 50 cm from the upper transverse bar attach another transverse bar.
3. At the same distance from the bottom edge of the frame attach transverse beam. It turns out the plane of two vertical and three horizontal bars.
4. From the remaining 4 bars, it is necessary to assemble another such plane with one upper bar and a lower transverse bar fixed at a distance of 50 cm from the lower edge.
5. The first plane is fixed with wire to two columns at a certain angle. The second plane, turning the crossbar down, is fastened with screws to the upper crossbar of the first plane at a small angle, and from the bottom with a wire to two columns. It turns out the design in the form of a hut.
6. Nails are nailed to the transverse upper and lower bars at half the length at an equal distance from each other, to which twine or ropes are then tied, which will serve as a support for cucumbers.

There is also another version of the wooden trellis. The following material is required for its installation: bars (3 pieces) with a height of 2.7 m, three slats for slats 70-80 cm long, one slat 5 meters long, nails, wire and twine.

Stages of work:

• In a straight line dig holes (3 pieces) with a depth of 80 cm. The distance between them is 2.5 meters. Bars dropping into the pits, trampled tightly.
• From above, the rails are nailed to all three bars in such a way that the construction in the shape of the letter “T” is obtained.
• The 5-meter bar is attached to all T-shaped supports at a height of 1 m from the ground.
• T-shaped supports need to drive nails 25 centimeters from the transverse bar. These nails are tied with wire and tensioned from one T-bar to the other.
• A wire is fastened to the wire, cucumber bushes are tied at the other end.
• Another way of tying cucumbers on the trellis of this type is this: in the crossbar of the T-shaped supports on both sides of the vertical stand, several nails are driven in, which are then tied with string, and the other end attached to the lashes.

These tapestries are permanent, they cannot be moved to another bed, therefore it is recommended to change the cultivated crop and sow other climbing plants for the next year, for example, beans or peas.

Wooden trellis can be slatted. The principle of its construction is as follows: to the wooden poles fixed in the ground or to the bars with a crossbar, rails are nailed vertically and horizontally at the top to form a grid. The optimal size of the grid cells should be 10 * 20 cm.

Metal constructions are used for permanent trellis. These are more durable and durable devices. Before proceeding with the construction of a metal tapestry, all the necessary material must be treated with anti-corrosion agent to prevent rust formation.

Required material:

• 2 pipes for racks no more than 2 m high;
• pipe of smaller section for the crossbar - its length corresponds to the length of the bed;
• several iron pegs;
• wire or string.

The order and sequence of construction of metal lanes is no different from the installation of wooden, in addition, when attaching the crossbars to the supports, welding is used.Instead of twine tied to the pegs, on the finished frame, you can tension the metal trellis grid, which is attached from the sides and top to the crossbar. There may be several such trellis, the gap between them should be about 3 m, and the optimum height - about 1.8 m.

Metal trellis can also be made in the form of a hut. Required materials - metal pins or thin tubes - 6 pieces, plastic or metal mesh or thick wire. The sizes can be the most different.

Manufacturing process:

• 4 metal pins (tubes) are connected by welding or screws in the form of a square or rectangle;
• either the finished mesh is attached to the horizontal and vertical pins of the resulting square (rectangle), or they are made of wire, stretching it horizontally and vertically between the sides of the square (rectangle) at an equal distance;
• to the resulting lattice are fixed at some angle, the two remaining pins.

Such a metal tapestry will be light and can be easily transferred to any place. Fix the cucumbers on the trellis, too, must be correct. In order not to harm the lashes, a narrow strip of fabric is best suited. They are used when cucumber bushes have not yet allowed long shoots. The cucumber stalk must be tied to the bottom of the trellis, and as the lash grows, they themselves will begin to cling to the lattice.

A large number of summer residents grow cucumbers not in open ground, but in greenhouses made of polycarbonate, a material that transmits sunlight by almost 90%. The microclimate in such greenhouses is conducive to obtaining a large crop. This necessitates the installation of trellis in greenhouses. Of course, you can purchase finished trellis, corresponding to the size of the greenhouse, and you can make them yourself according to your taste.

In greenhouses use two types of constructive solutions trellis - with vertical supports and inclined. They can be general as well as individual. The construction of common lanes is simple: between two supports fixed at different ends of the bed, they pull several even rows of wire or twine, to which the cucumbers are fastened. The method of constructing vertical individual trellis is somewhat different.

On top of the supports strengthen the crossbar, and to it with a small gap (about 30 cm) tie a string or thin wire, the lower end of which is attached to the pegs in the ground. The principle of construction of the tapestry with individual inclined supports is characterized in that the twine attached to the upper crossbar is lowered and fixed on both sides of the bed to the stakes, the distance between which is about 50 cm.

As well as for open ground, the trellis for the greenhouse can be made of wood or metal. Since the load on them in the greenhouse is quite large, the material must be durable: metal reinforcement - not less than 14 mm, and pipes or timber for the supports - with a cross section of at least 5 cm. It is recommended to use hardwood, treated with linseed, and metallic material should be treated with an anti-corrosion agent.

For the construction of wooden trellis for the greenhouse will need material:

• Bars (length depends on the size of the greenhouse) with a cross section of at least 50 cm for extreme supports and bars with a cross section of about 40 cm for additional supports (if necessary). Their number corresponds to the size of the greenhouse, the interval between the supports - no more than 2 meters.
• Several bars for crossbars.
• Metal brackets (corners) for fastening crossbars, pegs.

Working process:

1. Install and firmly fix the main supports on opposite ends of the bed.Put additional support for strength, if the length of the bed is more than two meters.
2. Attach the crossbar to the supports using the corners or brackets.
3. Pegs to drive into the soil on both sides of the beds at a distance of 20 cm from each other.
4. The string, attached to the extreme peg, is attached on top of the crossbar, then lowers to the peg on the opposite side of the bed, where it is also fixed. Similarly, the string is stretched along the entire length of the trellis.

In greenhouses, cucumbers can also be grown on a grid.

There are two types of grids for greenhouses:

• plastic mesh that can withstand quite a large load;
• trellis mesh, which can be used several times.

The use of a trellis net is supported by the fact that most often it is not necessary to tie cunt cucumbers with cucumbers, because cucumber lashes cling to the net with antennae, and those that are not hooked must be sent to it in time.

The use of the grid in greenhouses has its own characteristics. As supports for its tensioning, besides specially installed ones, supports and arcs of the greenhouse itself can serve. If the grid covers the entire length of the bed, then it is stretched between the supports, and in this case it is necessary to begin to fix the grid from the bottom, moving upwards step by step. To facilitate the process of stretching, use twine. It is necessary to fasten the grid as firmly as possible in the middle of the trellis, since it is here that the greatest load is on it.

Tapestries provide an opportunity to use such a method as step cultivation, which consists in the fact that after a while new cucumber bushes are planted.

Some tips to summer residents:

• When installing a wooden trellis to protect it from rotting wood, treating it with such a solution helps: 200 g of salt and one liter of gasoline. Parts of the frame above the ground are recommended to be treated with 5% solution of copper sulphate.
• When choosing an installation site, the tapestry must be remembered that it is not recommended to put it on blown and shady areas.
• Moisture on the leaves poorly tolerated cucumbers. A film stretched over a trellis or a covering material will protect cucumbers from excessive rain and from the scorching sun.
• With the trellis cultivation method, mulching will replace soil loosening.

With such a variety of trellis for cucumbers, everyone will be able to choose and design a support to his own taste, which will not only help in the cultivation of cucumbers, but will also be well suited to the landscape and decorate the dacha.

How to make a trellis with your own hands, see the next video.