Nylon Trellising for Climbing Garden Plants

Climbing and vining plants -- cucumbers, cantalopes, pole beans, etc. -- can be a problem when you have limited space.

I had heard of nylon trellising from Mel Bartholomew's book, but I could not find any in my nursery stores here in the Metroplex.

I finally went to Amazon, and found Dalen Gardeneer brand nylon trellising. I bought a 30-foot length to experiment with. As you can see from the picture, there is plenty of room in the trellis open spaces to stick your hand in, and start training your vining plants. I have nailed mine to my backyard fence, and fastened the ties to the nails. The picture shown is my yellow pear tomato plants and my one Better Boy hybrid tomato plant.

Particularly with tomatoes, there is always the newest thing that we hot weather vegetable growers must try. In the south, every gardener has his own method of growing tomatoes -- from tomato cages to the "topsy-turvy" tomato of television ad fame.

I have a feeling that my vines are going to be somewhat unruly, but I'll try anyway. Bartholomew says that the nylon trellising is very strong -- strong enough to support cantalopes and large squashes. But be forewarned. For that kind of crop, you're going to need a tremendous amount of strength and support. That means staking rebar in the ground, and slipping electrical conduit pipes over the exposed rebar to form a supporting structure. I think I'll stick with lightweight vegetables.

Here is a link to the nylon trellising product: