I am new to ATP, and am just cruising around the site. I am surprised that I don't see examples of these posted. Cattle panel - found at farm supply stores at about $20 each make great arch trellises. The panels are 16' X 4'

I pound 18" rebar into the ground, leaving 6" above, and wire the cattle panels to the rebar, using 3 pieces of rebar on each side.

I have 6 of them in my kitchen garden. One for the entrance, two on each side and one in the back. I use them for cukes, beans, tomatoes, and this year I started a few grapevines.

Geof,

I love that idea! I have access to cattle panels here. I'm thinking some of my hummingbird vines would like right at home on one

Rhonda

I heard of several people using them for tomatoes. Maybe on the Farming forum?

I was thinking of using one laid on its side to support tomatoes (50" tall cages). Like bending one into 32" squares so that 16 feet of panel supported 8' = 96" of row. Hopefully 32" would be wide enough to be self-supporting, otherwise I'd also need stakes. This drawing shows two bent panels supporting 16 feet of row.





But I would have trouble getting one home tied to the top of my car!

"But I would have trouble getting one home tied to the top of my car!"

Transporting the panels has also deterred me from using them -- and we have a 5-1/2' x 10' trailer! Geof, how do you get them home??

(and Welcome to ATP, by the way!!)

Hi and !!

We love cattle panels and use them all over the place. They make the best trellises, and they don't rust! Thank you for sharing your great pictures - beautiful.

Rick and Sandy - If you have access to a truck, even a small one, they are easy. The panels can be bent into an arch in the bed of the truck. The tension hold them in there just fine. Because I wanted them arched, I tied the ends together with bungee cords before taking them out of the truck, it made it easy for me to deal with them by myself. I brought them home in my little Nissan truck.

I have seen people using them on their sides as long 16ft trellis for cukes and beans, usually supported with t-posts, but haven't seen them bent like your drawing. I think they would need some sort of stake support, even bent like that. Everything in my garden grows taller than average due to only having about 6 hrs of sun, so I need the height, plus I really like the architectural structure they give to the space.

Dave - thanks for the welcome

I've used these the same way as Geof, to grow Japanese Morning glories, Pipevines as well as hanging straight sections between 2 trees for my mounted Orchids.

When we cut ours tho, we cut out the last 12-18 in. of cross pieces so that you could stick them in the ground. I stick those ends thru the holes in cinder blocks to anchor them, then they are easy to move.

Thanks, Geof -- I was kind of thinking about something similar (bending one into our trailer), but kind of pictured hitting a bump in the road and having it spring out and kill some innocent bystander... but then, for some reason I am really paranoid about hauling stuff, even though I don't remember ever having any incident with doing so. I can see I need to get over that and get a couple of those panels, just that fact that they don't rust is a big plus and I can think of lots of places where I could use them!

Always secure anything you are hauling, never depend on it to hold itself. I have been lucky a few times when things I thought would never come out and would be secure on their own were not.

>> I have seen people using them on their sides as long 16ft trellis for cukes and beans, usually supported with t-posts, but haven't seen them bent like your drawing. I think they would need some sort of stake support, even bent like that.

You're probably right. They would be vulnerable to wind, or being unbalanced, if 50" tall and only 32" wide. I was hoping for easy, inexpensive cages for growing tomatoes in buckets where I wouldn't want to pound in stakes or posts.

I agree that a truck would be the way to haul 4'x16' panels. I had wondered if it would be necessary (or possible!) to roll them to fit, but arching them under pressure and tying them down sounds about right.

Seedfork said:Always secure anything you are hauling, never depend on it to hold itself. I have been lucky a few times when things I thought would never come out and would be secure on their own were not.

Good advice, Seedfork!!

I have a funny story about a Christmas tree purloined from federal land back in my 'ahem' younger days... which I will not relate here...

I found this thread and thought I'd add my cattle panel arbors. I have built 4 of which 3 are in my yard and 1 at the school I used to work at.

I grow roses on this one:



Ipomoea indica (morning glory) and wisteria on this arbor at my gate:



I currently don't have anything growing on the 3rd one in my yard. It is currently being used as the squirrel ladder for them to get into my yard! LOL!

I also used cattle panel on the sides of this mini-pergola. I have coral honeysuckle growing up both sides for the hummingbirds:

Love that pergola, Becky!

Thanks, Sandy! It was actually pretty cheap to build because of the cattle panel. It was a 16' long cattle panel section that I had tractor supply cut in half to 8' for each side.

I like the 2x4's on the sides of your arches, it gives them a stronger visual pop.

mandolls said:I like the 2x4's on the sides of your arches, it gives them a stronger visual pop.

Yes--it makes them more decorative than utilitarian even without anything growing on them. I have four--in two tunnels, two panels long each, for vining vegetables. They're just plain arches, though.

@beckygardener, loved your garden. Beautiful. I also loved those chairs made from pipes! Would you please show them separately for us?

Geof - Thank you! I agree!

Taqiyyah - Do you have any photos of your "tunnels"? I'd love to see them!

Dinu - Thank you! I actually purchased the PVC patio furniture:
http://pipefinepatiofurniture....
I imagine that it would be possible to build them yourself and then add cushions. They are VERY comfortable!!!

I don't have really clear pictures of them, but here's part of one with Malabar spinach and beans coming up from the left (the trombetta is from a vine climbing the right-side):



And here's part of the other arch--right next to it--with tomatoes:




The same arch with the tomatoes getting some nasturtium love (a fave pic of mine--hope the summer is mild enough for this to happen again this year):




This year, I hope to get my squashes to grow like @weedwhacker showed her gourds did, covering the arches. Wilt from bugs got them before they could grow very much--all but the moschatas, so moschatas are the only squash I'll plant this year.

Last year I tried tomatoes on one of my arches - just one on each side, wove them in and out of the wires as they grew, so almost no tying. I can't seem to find a photo with ripe tomatoes, but it worked well, these were two of my most prolific plants, a Kosovo and a Belmonte. Often I pinch my tomatoes back if they go over 6-7ft, these I just let go.