Hi,

I bought some vines to cover a wall on our house. Then I went shopping
for trellis at my local home improvement store (Lowe's , HomeDepot).
Unfortunately what they have is either very expensive and ornamental,
or some junk pieces of wood stapled together. Also tried a few
nurseries/garden stores, but their collection wasn't that great
either.

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?


thanks,

- Koen.

A few years ago, I made two grape trellises (himrod & interlocken
grapes) and had the same problem. I wasn't happy with any "wooden"
trellis that I found. Not to mention, I greatly suffered from sticker
shock, too!

So, I had a "light bulb" moment -- why not use some plastic coated wire
shelving components e.g., http://www.closetsplus.com/vinyl.htm. They
come is a variety of sizes and shapes, etc., and are very affordable.

I used two 4"x4"x12' posts about 8'-10' apart, then attached the
shelving material vertically to the posts with plastic zip ties. Used
more plastic-coated wire shelving for the horizontal cross-beams (I
don't know the correct term!!) between the two uprights. Works
wonderfully, and I'm quite pleased with the results! Plus, it's so easy
to see through this trellis during the off season.

When the grapes grow, one cannot see the trellis for all the leaves!
This year, I hope my grapes will bear. They haven't yet, but they are
four & three years now, respectively. Year before last, spouse decided
to use dandelion killer around my himrod -- to say the least, that
greatly stressed the vine, but it survived, luckily.

Sky (who knows very little about grapes)
hmardis "aught" uiuc "daught" edu



Koen wrote:

Hi,

I bought some vines to cover a wall on our house. Then I went shopping
for trellis at my local home improvement store (Lowe's , HomeDepot).
Unfortunately what they have is either very expensive and ornamental,
or some junk pieces of wood stapled together. Also tried a few
nurseries/garden stores, but their collection wasn't that great
either.

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?

thanks,

- Koen.

On 22 Mar 2004 09:48:55 -0800, (Koen) wrote:

Hi,

I bought some vines to cover a wall on our house. Then I went shopping
for trellis at my local home improvement store (Lowe's , HomeDepot).
Unfortunately what they have is either very expensive and ornamental,
or some junk pieces of wood stapled together. Also tried a few
nurseries/garden stores, but their collection wasn't that great
either.

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?


thanks,

- Koen.


That's what I did. I built one (14' x 8') myself. It covers an ugly
concrete wall and has a round window in it, the exact size of the
round window on my house. It was designed exactly for the sloped area
and supports Don Juan climbing roses. I made it from PT wood and
applied a clear wood protector. It still looks good after 10 years,
although I keep reapplying wood protector every 2 years. I've seen
other trellises made from copper pipe, ironwork, and composite
materials.

On 22 Mar 2004 09:48:55 -0800, (Koen) wrote:

Hi,

I bought some vines to cover a wall on our house. Then I went shopping
for trellis at my local home improvement store (Lowe's , HomeDepot).
Unfortunately what they have is either very expensive and ornamental,
or some junk pieces of wood stapled together. Also tried a few
nurseries/garden stores, but their collection wasn't that great
either.

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?


thanks,

- Koen.
well it depends on what you really want last time I wanted a trellis
I just went to home depo.
I had them cut a custom size of latis an d I put some 2/2's
on the wall I wanted it on and just screwed the latis to it
Latis is cheap can be attractive and makes a natural climbing blace
for a good number of vines and climbers I use this method to hold up
cucumbers and squash too with velcro tape by 3M
but back to plants
the latis is cheap comes in various styles and materials can be cut
and shaped quite easily and is easy to clean if you get the vynal or
plastic kind and it can hide an ugly wall nicely
depending on the plant you train on it you might want to give more
room on the back side for the plant to have space where it grows on
the other side.
a little work at first but you can make it look nice and you can make
it look pretty professional with a little advice from some one who
works in that department My mother trains roses on it t
It looks very nice and she has very nice garden of it she has
garden statues between the beices of latis .
well now that yu've read my book. :-) ...
I hope it helps you
michelle

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 12:08:36 -0600, Skyhooks
wrote:

A few years ago, I made two grape trellises (himrod & interlocken
grapes) and had the same problem. I wasn't happy with any "wooden"
trellis that I found. Not to mention, I greatly suffered from sticker
shock, too!

So, I had a "light bulb" moment -- why not use some plastic coated wire
shelving components e.g., http://www.closetsplus.com/vinyl.htm. They
come is a variety of sizes and shapes, etc., and are very affordable.

I used two 4"x4"x12' posts about 8'-10' apart, then attached the
shelving material vertically to the posts with plastic zip ties. Used
more plastic-coated wire shelving for the horizontal cross-beams (I
don't know the correct term!!) between the two uprights. Works
wonderfully, and I'm quite pleased with the results! Plus, it's so easy
to see through this trellis during the off season.

When the grapes grow, one cannot see the trellis for all the leaves!
This year, I hope my grapes will bear. They haven't yet, but they are
four & three years now, respectively. Year before last, spouse decided
to use dandelion killer around my himrod -- to say the least, that
greatly stressed the vine, but it survived, luckily.

Sky (who knows very little about grapes)
hmardis "aught" uiuc "daught" edu

That sound like a great idea for a free standing Trellis I'm going to
have to use that idea for my roses when I can find the bi-color
ones I want .
he he Thanks
michelle

Koen wrote:

Hi,

I bought some vines to cover a wall on our house. Then I went shopping
for trellis at my local home improvement store (Lowe's , HomeDepot).
Unfortunately what they have is either very expensive and ornamental,
or some junk pieces of wood stapled together. Also tried a few
nurseries/garden stores, but their collection wasn't that great
either.

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?

thanks,

- Koen.

Xref: kermit rec.gardens:269059

In article ,
(Koen) wrote:

Hi,

I bought some vines to cover a wall on our house. Then I went shopping
for trellis at my local home improvement store (Lowe's , HomeDepot).
Unfortunately what they have is either very expensive and ornamental,
or some junk pieces of wood stapled together. Also tried a few
nurseries/garden stores, but their collection wasn't that great
either.

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?


thanks,

- Koen

Granny Artemis & I scavanged some elder sampling trunks & limbs that a
chap down the block cut down, &amp we've made the most beautiful rustic
trellises from these. Some of them come out so darned well that if we
wanted to sell them in a garden shop they'd be very pricy (judging from
the prices on naturalistic trellises we've seen in garden shops), & it
doesn't take much of an eye to get it right when you start with limbs that
already look so nice.

One of the salvaged pieces of cut-down saplings had three trunks to it
&amp several little branches, &amp fifteen feet tall. We cleaned up some
of the twiggier bits but it needed nothing added, it was just naturally
kind of like a huge fan-trellis. We nailed it to a fence & the male kiwi
has climbed way up to the top, also a nearby akebia found it & is
competing for space way up in the air.

We've also taken some of those cheapy-ass stapled 1x1 trellises & "framed"
them with 1x2s, then stained them. The frame not only strengthens what
would otherwise pull apart in use if only the staples were holding it, but
the slightly bigger wooden frame changes the whole look so that they
almost look like expensive rather than cheapy-ass. (We were going to make
our own totally from scratch but discovered buying the 1x1s as boards was
pricier than buying a stapled trellis, so we just finished off those to
make them much nicer.)

I've als espaliered a couple things on vintage window frames hung firmly
on the garage wall. I thought it'd look nice but it looked SUPER nice. We
found the frames in the crawlspace, but sometimes they can be found
cheaply in salvage yards.

And finally, we discovered some extremely sturdily put together bamboo
latice, very affordable from a bamboo construction specialty company; they
were like $20 per section (8 feet tall & four feet wide) which is cheaper
than one of those stapled 1x1 things at Lowes.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

thanks everyone for the useful suggestions!

- Koen.

Koen wrote:

Hi,

I bought some vines to cover a wall on our house. Then I went shopping
for trellis at my local home improvement store (Lowe's , HomeDepot).
Unfortunately what they have is either very expensive and ornamental,
or some junk pieces of wood stapled together. Also tried a few
nurseries/garden stores, but their collection wasn't that great
either.

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?

Some replies mentioned grapes. See my
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_grapes.html for how I
handled two vines. Remember, grape vines loaded with fruit can be
quite heavy. Early this year, I had to get my son to help me
pound one of the steel fence posts into the ground in a new spot
about 2 feet from its old location; the weight of several crops of
grapes had loosened the post although 3 feet of it had previously
been pounded into the ground.

For two climbing roses in my back yard ('Peace' and 'Chrysler
Imperial'), I took advantage of the low slough wall just behind
them. I worked brass screw eyes into mortar joints or drilled
directly into the concrete blocks and used anchors to hold the
screw eyes. I use hemp twine to tie the rose canes to the top of
the wall. Some canes are flat to the top, and others arc up and
then down.

For a climbing rose in front ('Fourth of July'), I got permission
from my neighbor to put a screw eye in the eaves of their
one-story house. I have a hole just opposite in the stucco of my
own house, where I used an anchor to hold another screw eye. (By
the way, I keep using brass because it won't leave rust stains.)
I strung a thin wire rope between the two houses, looping it
through each screw eye and then securing it with wire clamps. The
climber here is still young, so I had to drop twine from the wire
to the canes. As the canes grow, I will tie them to the dropped
twine until they reach the wire. Then I will tie them to the
wire. The effect in a year or two will be a suspended arc of
foliage covered with roses, about 6 feet high in the center and 9
feet high at the ends.

I have a friend nearby who suspended a length of PVC pipe from his
eaves over his front porch, on loops of wire attached to screw
eyes (in his case, not brass). The pipe is about 2-3" below the
eaves. Along the front edge of the porch, there are decorative
posts from the ground to the eaves. He has a climbing rose
growing up a post and then tied along the PVC pipe. The effect is
a trim of roses just below the eaves.

Finally, I have a bed of star jasmine (Trachelospermum
jasminoides) at the side of my back yard, near the side yard where
we keep our trash bins. I created a free-standing trellis. I
bought two 6-foot lengths of slotted steel L-strips (called that
because the cross-section is an L) and two 5-foot lengths. I also
bought two 8-foot lengths of slotted steel straps and a 5-foot
length. And I bought a bunch of bolts, nuts, and lock washers. I
created a frame with the 6-foot lengths of L-strips for the
verticals and the 5-foot lengths for the horizontals. I used the
8-foot straps as bracing diagonals bolted to the 5-foot strap
which is a horizontal across the middle of the frame. After
setting the frame up, I used shorter lengths of L-strips to create
legs and feet towards the trash bins. Then I hung poultry mesh
from the frame. Other than the bolts, nuts, and lock washers,
everything I bought was galvanized to resist corrosion. I now
have a green wall separating my back yard from my side yard. In
the summer, it's a very fragrant wall.

If your house has eaves on the side where you are planting your
vines, you might try a combination of the above. For example,
suspend a length of PVC from your eaves. Fasten poultry mesh to
the PVC with a "free" length of PVC at the bottom ("free" meaning
not fastened to anything except the mesh) to provide a weight to
keep the mesh hanging straight. Train your vines to grow on the
mesh. You can even cut windows in the mesh, to align with windows
in the wall. When you start, leave enough slack in the vines so
that a wind moving the mesh won't tear the vines out of the
ground.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 19 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

(Koen) wrote in message om...

Any suggestions where I can go for a nice, simple trellis? Maybe I
should just build one myself?

So I went back to Lowe's to look for some material to start building a
trellis. And then I found what I was originally looking for: wooden
lattice in the lumber section. Usually it is used for fences, but I
nailed it to the side of ourhouse. It looks great and has a good price
too ($5 for 2' x 8').


- Koen.