Tomato cages for cucumber trellis? (2024)

FAQs

Will tomato cages work for cucumbers? ›

Tomato cage is one of the favorite ways for both gardening and potted plant support uses and keep a fragile harvest healthy yet flawless. Round tomato cages are great for supporting fructuous and vining plants, such as tomatoes, hot peppers, peas, cucumbers, squash & zucchini, strawberries and paspberry, etc.

Five to six feet is the optimal height for a cucumber trellis because it allows the plant to grow to its full potential while making harvesting easier for the gardener. There is no need for a trellis to be any taller. Otherwise, it would make harvesting difficult, especially if you are shorter in stature.

To interplant the two successfully, plant your vining cuke in the back of your garden bed near a trellis (you can use a fence or any installed trellis system) and the determinate tomato plant in the front (the sunward side). This will ensure that the sprawling vines of your cucumber do not shade your tomato plant.

With outdoor cucumbers – build a wigwam or other structure from tall bamboo canes, or use stout netting supported vertically on upright stakes. Cucumbers will also climb up trellis or wires attached to a wall or fence.

Let Cucumbers Climb

Trellised cucumbers are easier to pick and less susceptible to disease. Cucumbers do best if they can climb instead of spread over the ground. The tendrils of the vines will grab fences, string, wire trellis, or tall cages so that the vines climb the structures.

Cucumbers and tomatoes can be planted by each other as they share similar growing habits and therefore you can grow tomatoes by cucumbers. Greg Volente from Greenhouse Today explains that: 'Cucumbers and tomatoes are two vigorous growers in a spring garden. They're both vining plants and share similar basic needs.

Growing your cucumbers vertically can save you several square feet of garden space, which you could use for growing other vegetables. Here is a very simple and inexpensive trellis that you could build in just a couple hours.

Straw mulch helps keep slugs at bay, as can trellising vines to get the fruit off the ground. Vines are also bothered by cucumber beetles, which chew holes in leaves and flowers and scar stems and fruits, but worse than that, they spread a disease that causes the plants to wilt and die.

Even so, if intensive planting makes you nervous, you can always put just one tomato plant in the center of each side of your trellis, so two plants total per trellis.

How far apart do you plant cucumbers on a trellis? ›

Spacing: Hilled or bush cucumber plants (those left to sprawl out) should be spaced about 3 to 5 feet apart. However, vining trellised cucumber plants can be spaced as close as 12 inches apart along the base of a common trellis.

Cucumbers thrive best at relatively high temperatures, between 75 to 85 degrees F. The plants do not tolerate frost. Since they are a quick-growing crop, they must be well supplied with moisture and plant nutrients throughout the growing season. Water is especially critical for cucumbers during the fruiting stage.

This versatile Erin Super Size Gro'Bag is ideal for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and also peppers plus much more. Use this grow bag both inside and outside of the greenhouse for amazing results.

Trellises and cages are common plant supports used in vegetable gardens. Many varieties of peas and beans need something to climb. Vine crops such as squash, melons and cucumbers can produce straighter, cleaner fruit if grown on a trellis.

Trellising is a method of providing support and structure to your vining plants, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, by using a framework of stakes, cages, or trellis netting.

More space-efficient growing options

Cages take up a lot of space in the garden and can be difficult to maneuver around. Without cages, you have more room to work with, making it easier to fit multiple plants in one area.