Ah , cucumber — a staple in many gardens , but their sprawling vines can sprawl out and absorb precious square footage in your garden . That ’s where vertical growing comes into play . Trellising cucumbers not only maximizes your garden space but offer a cornucopia of other advantage that conduct to a more fruitful harvest home and healthier cuke plant .
grow cucumber vertically on a treillage not only serve you keep your garden organized , but it also ensures that your cucumbers are cleaner , more uniformly shaped , and comfortable to pluck . After all , when Cucumis sativus are lift , they do n’t bear on the soil , thin the chances of disease and plague infestations . trellis can even enhance pollination , give you more bang for your horticulture vaulting horse .
If you ’re raw to the trellising game , fear not ; it ’s fairly aboveboard once you get the bent of the bedrock .
So connect us as we explore the many benefit of growing cucumbers vertically , along with some of the most practical and advanced DIY cucumber vine trellis idea that can extend your cucumber the support they deserve this season .
6 Reasons To Grow Cucumbers on Trellises
Growing cucumber vertically can cut back the hardship associated with growing these refreshing summertime fruits , and it is becoming more vulgar to trellis climb cucumber vine rather of letting them lie on the background . Here ’s why :
You Will Have More Space To Plant Other Crops
The most obvious and popular reason to mature cucumbers upwards is that it opens up way more space on the terra firma level to grow other plants . Cucumber vine can become very long and tangled , and when they are left to mature out horizontally they will cover and waste huge patches of valuable dirt space . Vertical plants take up very little way at the ground level and can have other cucumber plants or crops grow just a couple feet away !
Plants Are Easier To Water
Cucumber plant life are susceptible to a number of fungous disease and should only be water at the al-Qaida of the plant to avoid leaf sustain blind drunk . Vertically grown cucumbers can be easy and quickly watered at the ground level compare to sprawl works that lie flat on the undercoat , whose main stems can often be hard to locate .
Better Air Circulation Means Reduced Likelihood Of Diseases
Trellised plants have fantastic air flow between the foliage , and any piddle from rainfall that does get on the leafage of your cucumber vine plant will quickly dry . Air circulation generally contributes to healthier plants because it shorten the likeliness of humid , dampish space developing in the leaf which can result in fungal ontogenesis .
The Cucumbers Are Easier To Harvest
Trellised plants mean you do n’t have to break your back bending over to harvest fruits off the ground ! You have easy entree to the hang cucumbers , and they are much easy to blob when walking in a circle around the trellis plant as compared to those that would lie buried under foliation on the soil .
Fruit Is Cleaner And Doesn’t Need To Be Washed
Unless you use chemical on your cucumber plants ( not recommended ) , you wo n’t need to wash the fruit that you glean when they are trellis . They hang in open air and have no contact with the soil or anything else , think of you have ready - to - eat clean cucumbers on the day of harvest . The only affair you call for to watch out for is bird muck .
Fruit Is More Aesthetic And Uniform
Cucumbers that are develop vertically will grow flat and will the fruit develop an even people of color with no yellow fleck . icteric patch formulate on the underside of cucumbers that raise flat on the ground , which receive no sunlight and little air flow , and they are also usually bent or ill-shapen .
Most home - gardeners do n’t care too much about yield aesthetics , but it can be a little extra bonus to harvest picture show - perfect cucumbers from your plants .
6 DIY Cucumber Trellis Ideas For a Better Harvest
Since many vegetables like tomato , squash , bean , or peas benefit from trellises just like cucumbers , there is a huge diversity in types of treillage to choose from .
They each have their own unique benefits that are suited to particular garden and vegetables , and they also vary in price , repose of use , and height .
dissimilar case of vine Cucumis sativus grow to different heights , so you should break how improbable your specific variety gets at maturity .
Vine cucumbers typically grow around 4 -5 feet tall but can get through 6 feet .
Here are 6 character of treillage you could use on your cuke plants .
1:A-Frame Trellis
A - Frames are in all likelihood the most democratic eccentric of trellis for cucumbers , as they provide stout structures that are unremarkably around 5 feet marvelous .
They can be made out of wooden or alloy legs that poke into the land at an slant and forgather at the maximal height power point create an A shape that bet like a teepee .
Buying them new can be expensive but they are quite simple to make yourself out of repurposed wooden beams or bamboo .
The main drawback is the amount of infinite they take up around the cucumber plant , but many people pick out to grow green like spinach or arugula around the bottom of the frame to work around this job .
2:Metal Arches
Cucumber arch are a large option for those gardeners look to bring an aesthetic feature to their garden , as they create a leafy archway over your bed that give off a cottage garden vibration .
unremarkably made out of some sort of alloy fencing that has been bend into a shallow arch , this is a good price - saving choice for nurseryman who need something beautiful and effective .
The plants will require to be attached and check to the meshing as they grow to ensure they accompany the spark of the arch . Like the A - Frame , nerveless season greens can grow in the shade of the cucumbers on the archway .
3:String Trellis: Hanging & Horizontal
The drawstring trellis scheme is a homemade treillage which can take two dissimilar forms : hanging string trellises or horizontal chain trellis . Both involve 6 understructure magniloquent wooden or metal posts be staked in at each ending of the bed , and work well for Cucumis sativus works grow in rows
4:Chicken Wire or Mesh Grids
Similar to the arch , you’re able to use Gallus gallus wire or a sluttish weave mesh to trellis your cucumbers vertically . The wire or meshing can be stapled against stake so it stands like an upright sheet for the plants to grow , and is a very cost - efficacious and promiscuous trellising tool- but not so aesthetic . It also acts as a wind roadblock for other flora in the garden .
You may already have a interlocking or conducting wire garden fencing , in which face you could plant your cucumbers alongside it , but be aware that you may have to climb over to the other side of the fence to harvest fruits that grow through the break .
ensure the gaps in the mesh topology or control grid are not too small , as this can create deformed cuke that get squeeze as they seek to match through tiny spaces .
5:Cucumber Cages or Tomato Cages
Similar to tomato cages , there are cucumber batting cage available for purchase that are usually square shape and made out of metal pole .
These are very well-situated to use and install and are typically low sustenance once the cucumbers are engraft inside , but are dear .
you’re able to also apply metal Lycopersicon esculentum cages if you already have some to dispense with , but they probably wo n’t be tall enough for vining cucumbers and you may need to attach one on top of another to get enough height to keep going your plant life .
You should make certain to instal them by pierce them into the soil before you engraft your seedlings to deflect shake up the origin system of make industrial plant .
How to Trellis Cucumbers While They Grow
Once you have decided what kind of treillage is better suited to your garden and your budget , you will need to take some steps to verify your cucumber vine grows along with it and does n’t become damaged . Since every treillage is slightly dissimilar , this guide lists the basic steps universal to all the above trellis .
Stage 1:Install your trellis before planting your cucumbers.
Stage 2:Seed or transplant your cucumbers at the base of the trellis.
Stage 3:Train the vines around the trellis as they grow.
Stage 4:Care for the cucumber plant as usual.
Stage 5:Care for the cucumber plant as usual.
5 Best Varieties of Cucumbers to Grow Vertically
Most vine Cucumis sativus will gain from some kind of trellis , but there are some cultivar that are particularly well suited to a vertical garden .
1:‘Sweet Slice’
A hybrid diversity of slicing cucumber that produces 10 in foresighted slim yield . This cultivar is known for being resistant to many diseases , and is a with child give early manufacturer .
2:‘Lemon’
This strange heirloom variety grow fruit that wait like lemons with their orotund frame and yellow-bellied skin , but rest assured they taste just like cucumber and the yield are sweet and tender .
3:‘Marketmore 76’
A heirloom variety that produces long and slender slicing cucumber vine that has set the standard for how cuke should look . fruit usually originate to 9 - 10 inches long .
4:‘Dasher 11’
These dark fleeceable cucumbers are on the shorter side at around 8 inches , and are another variety that is repellent to many types of fungous disease . Vigorous producers .
5:‘Sweet Success’
Produces large cucumber that can be a whopping 14 inch recollective and uprise on ambitious vines that benefit from a sturdy trellis . They are seedless and have a substantial compaction to them .
Frequently Asked Questions
you’re able to let your cucumbers grow across the ground if you do n’t palpate the benefit of trellis are deserving your time . You will still get lots of fruits and non - trellised vines wo n’t inevitably be less respectable . However , it is deserving at least one time of year trying out a cheap trellis just to experience for yourself the benefit trellising can provide .
Any homemade treillage out of materials you already have will always be the cheapest , and if you have a conducting wire fencing or another type of fence suited for trellising- use it to your advantage ! Otherwise , buying a roll of chicken wire and a twosome of wooden stake to staple it to is a toll - effective trellising solution that works well .
Do I need to trellis bush cucumbers?
Bush cucumbers do not ask to be trellis , as they usually max out at around 2 – 3 feet . They can still have trailing offshoot , but will do just ticket on the edge of a raised bed where they can just flow off the side a lilliputian .
Written By
Amber Noyes was conduct and raised in a suburban California town , San Mateo . She bind a superior ’s grade in gardening from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco . With experience run on an constituent farm , water preservation inquiry , farmers ’ marketplace , and plant glasshouse , she understands what makes flora flourish and how we can better understand the connectedness between microclimate and plant life wellness . When she ’s not on the land , Amber loves inform people of new idea / things related to horticulture , especially organic gardening , houseplants , and growing plant in a pocket-size infinite .
