Planting Cattle Panel Garden Trellis--Have any experience?

[Weft and Warp]

How many of you have ever used cattle panels to make garden trellises or to make low cost hoop houses/greenhouses?

I ran across a few Youtube videos this Spring showing how they can be made for only a little money (about $21.00 each panel) I was inspired to try one (or two) out in my vegetable garden this year.

We have a terrible problem keeping deer out of our gardens, and after years of trying different things--fencing, netting, floating row covers, deterents either homemade or bought at garden centers--(don't work, btw)...etc. Hunting would work, but they come around and cause damage when it isn't hunting season--and by the time hunting season comes around, they dissappear.

Some of the methods were more successful than the others, but I thought I would try a garden trellis this year (protected on the ends by netting).
My father has a type of fencing that does work, but I don't like the ascethics of it for my garden.

I'm planning to use these trellises mainly as a hoop house for my taller plants like tomatoes and pole beans.

My DH used smaller hoop house rows for "His" garden last year and they worked perfectly---but they were too small for my tomatoes, so I thought I would try a "larger" version.

If any of you have done this before, I would welcome any advice.

I also hope to take pictures of the process as I go on, and can post them to show you what they look like.

 

[Raggedyman]

I've used this material for planting climbing beans and cucumbers. I've also tied tomatoes to it for years works pretty well - it can be difficult to maneuver if you're a lady on the smallish side and doing it all alone. I tie it to 7' T posts or 1" rebar driven into the ground. I don't think that's how you plan to use it but its my only experience with it in a gardening application.

5 Gauge Cattle Panel - 50" x 16' - galvanized​

 

[Weft and Warp]

Yeah, I've used it that way before and I liked using it to stake up my tomatoes. It is pretty heavy and not so easy to work with, but I have help.

Here's a link to the plans I've modified for my use. https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2879

Only, I'm not using straw bales--I turned that part into raised beds. Some of which are outside the trellis and some inside. I have plans to "tent" over the outside beds with netting to protect plants from the deer.

The other thing I changed was that I anchored the trellis with the posts --The panel is edged up to and held in place by the posts.

 

[Lynx]

I have several in my garden. They work well for beans and peas and such. I laid a long plank across it anywhere it needed to be bent, so that all the wires would bend and the same place. You can do it by simply folding it in half, but what I found worked best was to first fold it in half, and then fold over a short (1' or so) piece on each end, so that the cross section is a tall isosceles triangle (the base is made of the two short sections, either overlapped or not).

FWIW, we also have some small fruit trees, and when we first put them in, I protected them by making a large loop from a cattle panel for each one. Wire ties will hold the ends together, and it makes a mini "fence" for each tree to keep the deer from destroying them.

 

[Martinhouse]

For several years I made cattle panel tunnels in my main garden. I coverered them with plastinc in the cold months for and extended growing season and for winter greens, and in the summers I took the plastic down and let the cukes, small pumpkins, and pole beans grow over the entire arches. I'm short so the bottoms of the arches were 8 ft apart. A nicer width, but not tall enough for a very tall person.

I've grown full-sized cantaloupe on a horizontal cattle panel and they are excellent for tying up tomato plants.

Agreed that it's pretty hard for one person to move them around unless they can be laid flat and just dragged to where one needs them to be. It's even difficult for two people to move them if one or both of the people is already cranky that day.

I rarely had help so when I'd bring home up to four panels on the top of my truck and topper, I'd tie them to a very tall post or tree trunk and then stomp on the gas and drive out from under them as fast as I could so the rear window handle of the topper wouldn't get snagged and broken as the panels dropped to the ground. This worked great every time!

 

[Martinhouse]

oops, double post.

 

[Weft and Warp]

I was hoping I could extend the growing season by putting plastic over the garden trellis too.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

We have a couple of the tunnel style in the garden. They've been used for beans, peas, and cucumbers. I used steel fence posts and put them a foot off the ground to get enough head room.

We also have a hoophouse. I think this will be it's fourth year. Still on the original reinforced plastic, though one end is starting to go. We use it for hardening plants in the spring. Then late fall and winter it gets moved close the house and used for chickens and rabbits. This year I think we are going to move it to the garden and put tomatoes in it. We tried using it for our meat birds one year, but it got too hot even with both ends open.

I added one feature on the hoophouse that works well. On one end I have a hinged 2x8? on the bottom. When you pull the hoophouse this will swing back and not catch on things. For example if you were using it for chickens and wanted to add litter/mulch.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Here is our garden fence. Electric hi-tensile and poly tape, the top tape is about 6'. It's been up about 12 years and has kept the deer out, as long as the top tape is up. I really need to replace the tape, it keeps breaking, and the last bag of insulators I got were crap.

Edited to add: Disregard the steel fence post, I had another temporary fence tied into it at one time.

 

[TerriHaute]

The farmer that we bought our house from 12 years ago left behind three hog (cattle?) panels that look like the photo above with the black background. They are 16 feet long. I use one of them as a fence to grow my peas and cucumbers on every year. The other two have been made into a tunnel over the asparagus bed and I use them to grow butternut squash on one side and spaghetti squash on the other with the vines trained to grow on the panels. The squash crops have been very successful with this method.

 

[Sherrynboo]

I absolutely LOVE cattle panels! They are so versatile, economical and last forever. I have two chicken pens made with them, have used them to contain goats and always use them in the garden for anything that needs a trellis.

 

[China Connection]

Cattle Panel Greenhouse - Permaculture Style



http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?546140-Cattle-Panel-Greenhouse-Permaculture-Style




...

 

[China Connection]

Large spacings are great for growing stuff on and keeping out large animals but birds, snakes, etc, can still get in and cause problems.


Shade cloth is good for most crops and easy to cover mesh.

 

[mecoastie]

I cut mine in half and make an A frame out of them for trellis. Easier to move. Work great for beans.

 

[goosebeans]

Can never have enough cattle panels. We have them double stacked around the garden to keep the deer out. They're the only thing that works.

 

[Yarnball]

For several years I made cattle panel tunnels in my main garden...

Agreed that it's pretty hard for one person to move them around It's even difficult for two people to move them if one or both of the people is already cranky that day.
!

hahaha ... that is my life on every.single.project! I laughed pretty hard.

 

[Coulter]

I cut mine in half and make an A frame out of them for trellis. Easier to move. Work great for beans.

Good idea.

 

[lonestar09]

Been using cattle panels for several years. Mainly for beans and cucumbers. I think it totals out to about 140 or 160 linear feet. Set on t-posts. Take them down periodically to clean up at end of season.

 

[Orion Commander]

I use bolt cutters. Cut the panel at the store so they are easier to load and shorter to haul. Then I will cut the outside rod off so I have vertical points and shove it into the ground. Works for tomato trellising.

Or cut them into sections and use T posted to hold them off the ground a foot or so for beans. Concrete rebar ties for wiring to the post. Put one end into the side of the post and wire near the top. Drive the next post at the end of the panel and wire it in place. Start the next panel with a wire near the top to hold it. Drive another post at the next end. Continue on as far as you need to go. Then go back and wire it up solidly.

A wire tie crank is about $5-7. A roll of wire tie wire is cheaper than ready made ties. They are easy to make and quick to tie.

At 16' long they will make a nice height arch. Great for cucumbers or squash. You can walk underneath for picking.

Cattle panels are 52" tall. Pig panels are several inches shorter.

The pieces I cut out make great 7" long nails if you sharpen one end. Great for hanging things up on a wall.

 

[Orion Commander]

I made tomato cages two sections square by tack welding them together. That's a little small. The folks who cut 10 sections and roll it into a circle have a better size. These will last forever and actually hold up tomatoes better than the ready made flimsy cages at the store.

 

[frazbo]

Not hijacking this thread, I hope...

Too old to handle the weight of those but I've used field fencing for my beans, tomatoes, peas, everything and anything that will climb. I cut the length that I need, weave two lengths of conduit at the ends driven into the ground and waa-laa. If the length is longer, I just put another piece of conduit in the middle for support. Makes a great trellis for anything that's "viney".

It also makes a great dog house if you cut a piece and hoop it over a shipping pallet. Cover it with insulation and a heavy tarp, plus the one end, and lasts two/three seasons. We have two big dogs and they love theirs.
It's amazing what you can do with plain ol' field fencing. It's light weight, easy to bend and move and maneuver.

We have a couple of cattle panels here on the property when we bought it but they were just too heavy for us old folk to handle so DH came up with field fencing. It beat the heck out of chicken wire which bends too easy.

Thaks for listening.

 

[greenhart]

This is the hoop/greenhouse I built a few years ago. I had a door and window I got from helping someone move some stuff and a pile of scrap lumber. So buying 2 cattle panels and a little work, this is how it turned out. The only help I had was putting the plastic on it.

 

[packyderms_wife]

I've used this material for planting climbing beans and cucumbers. I've also tied tomatoes to it for years works pretty well - it can be difficult to maneuver if you're a lady on the smallish side and doing it all alone. I tie it to 7' T posts or 1" rebar driven into the ground. I don't think that's how you plan to use it but its my only experience with it in a gardening application.

​

This is how we use ours, I also let my squash vine up the panels.

 

[packyderms_wife]

This is the hoop/greenhouse I built a few years ago. I had a door and window I got from helping someone move some stuff and a pile of scrap lumber. So buying 2 cattle panels and a little work, this is how it turned out. The only help I had was putting the plastic on it.View attachment 191938

Nice, did you join the cattle panels in the middle of the roof, if so how did you do that?

 

[packyderms_wife]

Not hijacking this thread, I hope...

Too old to handle the weight of those but I've used field fencing for my beans, tomatoes, peas, everything and anything that will climb. I cut the length that I need, weave two lengths of conduit at the ends driven into the ground and waa-laa. If the length is longer, I just put another piece of conduit in the middle for support. Makes a great trellis for anything that's "viney".

It also makes a great dog house if you cut a piece and hoop it over a shipping pallet. Cover it with insulation and a heavy tarp, plus the one end, and lasts two/three seasons. We have two big dogs and they love theirs.
It's amazing what you can do with plain ol' field fencing. It's light weight, easy to bend and move and maneuver.

We have a couple of cattle panels here on the property when we bought it but they were just too heavy for us old folk to handle so DH came up with field fencing. It beat the heck out of chicken wire which bends too easy.

Thaks for listening.

OC cut my cattle panels in half so I can handle them by myself, no more trying to move a ten-foot panel alone.

 

[greenhart]

Nice, did you join the cattle panels in the middle of the roof, if so how did you do that?

I used 2 of the 16' panels and bent then into a arch and zip tied them together.

 

[packyderms_wife]

I used 2 of the 16' panels and bent then into a arch and zip tied them together.

Thank you! I'd like to get one set up this fall over one of my raised beds to extend my gardening season.

 

[mourningdove]

This is a garden fence my wife and I made last summer, using cattle panels. Not a perfect specimen but not to bad for two ladies in their late 60’s who didn’t have a clue what we were doing. But I had a vision and this works just fine for my special garden plan.

 

[Masterphreak]

I used these last year for my tomatoes and cucumbers. They work great as a trellis.

This years new raised beds will get a trellis along one side and an arch trellis that bridges the beds.

 

[DustyOpal]

I love cattle panels. They are so versatile! I did have one in each row of my garden, but I've been moving them around and using them in other ways. I've used them to grow tomatoes on, I've slanted them for cucumbers to grow up and shade lettuce I'm growing underneath, and I tried to grow spaghetti squash up them last year, but the squash bugs got to them. I am also thinking about making a cold tunnel section for the winter out of cattle panel and then removing the plastic in the spring.

Here was my set up earlier in the spring last year before things really started to grow.


And here was two years ago.

 

[Martinhouse]

I used to plant vines on an arched cattle panel and under the arch plant things that needed some shade later in the summer when it started getting hot.

 

[packyderms_wife]

I used to plant vines on an arched cattle panel and under the arch plant things that needed some shade later in the summer when it started getting hot.

Excellent idea, I have a lot of shade in my yard so my plan is to put stuff like lettuce in planter boxes so I can move them if necessary.

 

[Jaybird]

I use them vertically like Opal. Cukes and tomatoes. I've had mine for years. They don't wear out. If you have a full size pickup yo can put them in the back by arching them just like the bowed trellis front to back. Works good. Make the young guys where you got them put them in. LOL!

 

[Jaybird]

I had the deer eat my garden last year. I'm in the process of building a fence. Thanks for the pictures. My garden this year is 50' by 100' give or take. Going to be a chore but i'm not feeding the deer this year.

 

[DustyOpal]

I use them vertically like Opal. Cukes and tomatoes. I've had mine for years. They don't wear out. If you have a full size pickup yo can put them in the back by arching them just like the bowed trellis front to back. Works good. Make the young guys where you got them put them in. LOL!

Would you believe my DH strapped them on top of his Honda Fit?!? We don't have a pick up. Thankfully we have a Tractor Supply 10 minutes from the house.

 

[Jaybird]

Would you believe my DH strapped them on top of his Honda Fit?!? We don't have a pick up. Thankfully we have a Tractor Supply 10 minutes from the house.

That works also! LOL!