Growing watermelon vertically on the cattle panel trellis – Summer Update:
It has been a tough summer to grow watermelon here in Texas between the extreme heat and the drought it’s been really difficult. However, I’m very thankful that we’ve gotten rain the last two days and so they are starting to catch up and put some size on which means it’s going to be time to put some more hammocks in place because they are just about too large to be going without support any longer.
Tag: Cattle Panel Trellis
Short answer – no. I will continue to use the hammocks.
Several of the cantaloupes fell off the vine before they were ripe and some made it. The ones that made it might have fallen off the next day if I hadn’t harvested them when I did – I’ll never know. Another factor is the wind. Without the support hammock, some of them nearing ripe may have been knocked down from the periodic winds. The hammocks are inexpensive/free and reusable so I’ll continue with hammocks to maximize harvest.
How I built a low cost arch trellis to grow my watermelon and cantaloupes vertically. Two 16 feet cattle panels and eight 6 feet tall U-Posts.
The Texas Gardener 