Pumpkin trellis: why a trellis is worthwhile

Plant supports for pumpkins are not difficult to build and are advantageous for cultivation. In addition, it looks nice to let the pumpkins grow on it.

Pumpkins (Cucurbita) are easy-care plants that usually take up the entire garden without much effort and bring a rich harvest. If you don't have that much space or if you grow ornamental pumpkins, you can pull up your pumpkins and let them grow. This is how you quickly get a green, overgrown hedge. We show which pumpkins a trellis is useful for and what you need to consider when building a trellis for Hokkaido pumpkins and the like.

Which pumpkins benefit from a climbing aid?

Climbing aids for pumpkins are very useful and practical in some cases. They have the following advantages:

• The cultivation succeeds in a space-saving manner. Plant supports help pumpkins on the balcony, for example, to make full use of the vertical space.
• The fruit does not lie on the ground and therefore does not start to rot as quickly.
• Leaves and pumpkins are more difficult to reach for snails and voles.
• The plants dry off better, so that fungal diseases occur less quickly.
• They can act as a shade provider.
• An east-west orientation enables better use of light, which benefits the heat-loving plants.

Nevertheless, a climbing aid is not suitable for every pumpkin. First of all, it is only suitable for climbing pumpkin varieties, not for those with a bushy growth. In addition, a trellis should only be used for pumpkins with small fruits. For example with extra small Hokkaido varieties and also with Butternut squash climbing aids can be used without any problems. Trellis also make sense with ornamental pumpkins. After all, you want to see their fruits and that is not possible on the ground, hidden under leaves. You can find a large selection of pumpkin varieties in our article with one Overview of many edible pumpkins that are suitable for decoration.

At a glance: For which pumpkins is a climbing aid suitable?

• Creeping pumpkin varieties without bushy growth
• Pumpkins with small fruits
• Ornamental Pumpkins

Tip: Another special kind of pumpkin cultivation is the South American practice of Milpa culture. Pumpkins are grown together with corn and beans in a bed.

Build climbing aids for pumpkins yourself

There is a lot of creativity you can use to get creative with building a pumpkin trellis. Most things you already have at home or found in nature can be put together and nothing has to be bought. The pumpkin can hold onto rather rough sticks up to the thickness of a finger very well. The following can be used to build a pumpkin plant trellis:

• Existing fences
• Remnants of chain link or wire mesh fence
• Welded wire mesh
• Bamboo, hazelnut, willow sticks or other branches
• Tension wire
• Dead trees, provided they are still stable

Building a simple climbing aid for pumpkins yourself is not difficult and can be done in just a few steps.

Material:

• At least 2 support posts
• An old piece of chain link fence, bamboo or hazelnut sticks, tree mats, etc.
• Cord, cable ties or U-nails (staples)
• Folding rule and possibly a spade, a spirit level and a hammer with a large striking surface
• Maybe a pair of scissors, wire cutters, pliers or a hammer

Proceed:

1. Dig holes for the support posts 1 to 1.2 meters apart. They should be at least a third as deep as the posts are tall. Dig a little deeper and, in the case of heavy, clayey soils, fill the hole with gravel, sand or stones to increase the durability of the wooden posts.
   tip: If you use structural steel, for example, it is important that all posts are on exactly one line. So start with the end posts: A cord is stretched in between to orient the middle posts.
2. The support posts are placed in the holes and some earth is poured in, which is trodden down.
3. The posts are aligned vertically with the aid of a spirit level.
4. Now the holes can be completely filled with substrate and the piles driven deeper again, for example with a sledgehammer.
5. Finally, the earth around the support posts is well trodden.
   Tip: For a faster, but also less stable and permanent variant, simply knock sharpened posts directly into the ground. This is easier when the soil is slightly damp.
6. Fasten the piece of wire netting, the old garden fence, the reinforcement mat or the stakes vertically to the support post with sturdy cords, cable ties or U-nails. The alignment of the bars can be vertical or horizontal, depending on where the trellis is attached and how heavy the expected fruits of the pumpkin are.

Of course, there are no limits to building climbing aids and these simple instructions can be individually adapted and modified. A pumpkin trellis or sun protection with longer support posts can be built according to these instructions. Here the stakes are not only driven into the earth in a row, but also in a square or in a circle, for example. A kind of grid, for example made of hazelnut sticks, is also attached to the top as a roof. The only problem with using it as sun protection is that you still sit under a bare tree support during the spring. Only when the pumpkin has grown sufficiently does shadow slowly emerge.

Plant supports for pumpkins in the raised bed

You can proceed in a similar way if you build climbing aids for pumpkins in the raised bed. Here, however, the support posts should be a little shorter. If, for example, welded wire mesh is used, it can also work to dig them directly into the ground without posts. In addition, the frame of raised beds can serve as anchoring for the posts so that they do not have to be buried.

tip: You can decide where to grow the pumpkin. If, for example, it initially grows away from the trellis, you can simply move the shoots as it suits you. Once he has started to climb, it is no longer necessary to tie up the pumpkins or the like.

Pumpkin trellis on the balcony

Hazelnut rods can also be used to easily make climbing aids for pumpkins on the balcony in a pot. To do this, three to four rods are put in a circle on the outside of the pot. At the top, the hazelnut rods are bent together and tied with a string to form a kind of pyramid. Now you can either stretch cords across this in a circle or “weave” very flexible hazelnut or willow shoots around the vertical sticks. Your little climbing aid for pumpkins is ready on the balcony.

Regardless of whether with or without a trellis - there are a few things to consider for a rich pumpkin harvest. Therefore we have everything you need to know about in a separate article Care and harvest of pumpkins clearly summarized.