Cucumbers are one of my favorite crops to grow in my vegetable garden each year but if you aren’t careful your cucumber vines can get out of control very quickly. That’s where using a cucumber trellis comes in!
Using a cucumber trellis can help improve your plants and keep them healthy and productive.
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Here are 11 different cucumber trellis ideas- most of which are inexpensive and easy to construct.
Why Should You Trellis Cucumbers?
Vertical Gardening is good for a lot of plants and can improve your garden’s health and decrease the space that it takes for you to grow your food. But here are a couple of reasons why you should use a cucumber trellis.
1- There is less chance of disease. By growing cucumbers on a trellis you can more easily water the roots, and not the leaves. The plants can dry better and aren’t on top of each other. The plants can dry better and aren’t on top of each other. There is also better air circulation which means your plants won’t succumb to bacterial or fungal diseases (like powdery mildew!)
2- Your cucumber fruits will grow straighter when grown on a trellis.
3- Have you ever waded through a jungle of cucumber vines? Using a cucumber trellis makes harvesting SO much easier.
4- You will have less problems with pests on cucumbers grown up a trellis since they aren’t on the ground where things like slugs and other bugs can hide.
5- Of course, your cucumber plants will take up less space in your garden
Plus with less disease and less pests, you’ll also get higher yields!
11 Easy Cucumber Trellis Ideas
Cattle Panel Cucumber Trellis
Cattle panels make a great cucumber trellis because they are made of strong wire that won’t bend and give as much as thinner fencing or string.
Another plus for a cattle panels is that they can be bent into arches and attached at the ground to raised beds or frames so that they can grow vertically above walkways.
Imagine walking through a tunnel of cucumbers to harvest!
Cattle panels also make a good trellis for larger vegetables such as many varieties of winter squash.
The cons of using cattle panels as a cucumber trellis is that they are a little more expensive- $20 or so for a 16 ft section. They will last a long time tough!
Posts and Twine Cucumber Trellis
This is probably the most economical choice for a cucumber trellis.
All you need is stakes- either wooden tomato stakes or metal t-posts- and some twine. I use tomato twine.
You can wind the twine around your wooden posts before staring your plants- essentially building a ladder of string for the cucumbers to climb up. This also makes a great pea trellis!
Or you can use twine to do the Florida weave, like I talked about in, my article on 5 Ways to Stake Tomatoes
Below you can see a picture of a commercial cucumber field that trellises their cucumber purely with wooden tomato stakes and twine.
Related Reading: 10 Delicious Ways to Preserve Cucumbers
Fencing Cucumber Trellis
Fencing is another option for a cucumber trellis. Similar to a cattle panel, fencing is strong and supportive and gives lots of places for cucumber vines to grab on to.
This is a particularly good trellis option if your garden is fenced. Simply plant your cucumber plants along the perimeter and let them grow up your existing fences.
You can also stretch a section between t-posts in your garden. I’ve done this a number of times and use it for peas in the early season and plant cucumbers as the peas are dying out.
A chicken wire cucumber trellis is very cost effective since chicken wire is very inexpensive. Just be sure to pull the wire tight when you secure it to your posts.
Bamboo Tee-Pee Cucumber Trellis
If you only have a few cucumber plants to grow, a bamboo tee-pee is the perfect trellis to grow your cucumbers up.
You will need 4 bamboo poles and some twine to tie them together at the top. Then plant one cucumber plant at the base of each of the 4 poles.
When we had a smaller garden- 2 tee-pees gave us a harvest of over 20 cucumbers a day!
You can also use long, sturdy branches or limbs as an alternative to bamboo stakes.
A-Frame Cucumber Trellis
Constructing a free standing A-frame cucumber trellis is a quick garden project that will look great in your garden. They are easy to move from year to year.
Usually these are made out of wood. You simply construct a wooden frame in the shape of an A.
An A-frame trellis can either be made to look like a ladder- with wooden rungs up its length or they can be made to be used with twine.
You could probably even build one for free using branches and limbs from around your homestead.
Tomato Cage Cucumber Trellis
If you don’t want to make your own cucumber trellis, a tomato cage is perfect! I hate using tomato cages for tomatoes, but they are very helpful for vining plants like cucumbers. All you have to do is place the cage around the cucumber plants and it will naturally climb up, though you may have to weave the vines in and out of the cage at first.
I would use 1 tomato cage for a maximum of 2 cucumber plants. This is a simple cucumber trellis that is cheap and easy!
Recycled Pallet Cucumber Trellis
I love using recycled wooden pallets around the homestead. Usually I use them in the goat yard instead of the garden, but they can make good cucumber trellises as well.
When choosing a pallet to use as a trellis be sure to choose one that has slats that are placed far apart. This gives the cucumber plant a place to vine in and out of.
Since pallets are heavy, you might have to place it vertical (use a t-post to secure it to the ground) or place it at a lower angle to the ground. You could also place 2 pallets together in an A-frame.
Also, be sure to double check that your pallet has not been treated with chemicals before using it in the garden. If it has been chemically treated use it for building instead. Here’s how to tell if your pallet is safe to use.
Recycled Ladder Trellis
Another simple trellis idea is using an old ladder. This could be a tall ladder or even just an old step ladder. Simply set up the ladder over the plants and let them climb.
You might need to add some string or twine at first to help the vines climb since ladder rungs are pretty wide and the tendrils won’t be able to grip as well.
Wooden Lattice Trellis
Do you have wooden lattice around your deck or have extra from a home improvement project? It can also work really well as a cucumber trellis. You can secure it between 2 fence posts, or, if your garden is around your deck, simply grow up the lattice that’s already in place.
Again, since lattice has thick slats, you may need to add some twine or even a few nails/staples to help the cucumber vines climb.
More Simple DIY Cucumber Trellis Ideas
You can fashion any number of cucumber trellises using string and posts, or by using recycled materials from around your yard. Here are a few more ideas to think about:
- PVC Cucumber Trellis: Simply use PVC pipes instead of wooden stakes or bamboo canes in any of the ideas above.
- Use long tree branches for vertical posts. We have tons of spindly trees in our woods that are easy to chop down and use for building and gardening.
- Simply roll a length of fencing into a circle and secure with bamboo or metal posts
- Use trellis netting instead of twine for your plants to grow up
Tips for Using a Cucumber Trellis Successfully
You may need to tie your plants to your fencing or posts to begin with, especially when they are small. This can be easily done with twine. You can also use zip ties.
Once the plants are larger their tendrils should grip your trellis and stay up on their own. The vines are plenty strong to support the fruits without any further support.
Don’t forget to water your cucumber plants at the soil level- not from above. This helps prevent diseases
Harvest your cucumber daily once they start producing to encourage more growth.
And don’t forget that many of these simple diy structures can be used all over the garden! Cucumbers aren’t the only thing that uses trellises, things like pole beans, peas, and even winter squash can also be grown in the vertical garden!
Check out 7 Tips for Growing Amazing Cucumbers for more tips!
