A simple DIY tomato trellis made with string! Do your garden and yourself a favor by ditching the tomato cages and rigging up this budget friendly trellis using just a few materials and a little time. This works great if you aren’t looking to invest the cash or space for cattle panels or have just a few plants.
Why ditch the tomato cages and use this DIY trellis with string?
Tomato cages can be pretty hard to work with, especially if you’re planting in ground! I always have a hard time getting them into the dirt without having to pull it up and adjust the placement because of rocks. Such a hassle!
They can also just be way too small! If you aren’t too familiar with growing tomatoes, you’re most likely underestimating how big they really get. A tomato plant can easily out grow a decent sized cage very quickly, resulting in branches on the ground, reduced airflow for the plant and broken tomato cages.
A nice sturdy tomato cage can also be pretty pricey. Its alright if you’re just buying one, but we tend to grow atleast 5 tomato plants a season so the price of those cages can add up quick. So when you add the price of the cages to the hassle they are to use, I would rather find a different solution for the garden!
Tomato cages still have their place though…with my peppers! I love to use our cages for supporting many varieties of peppers.
A trellis…with string?
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Yes! This will be our second year using a trellis of this type with string and it has worked out very well for us. The string is very budget friendly compared to cattle panels that run about $30 a sheet in our area.
In the future, I’d love to invest in some cattle panels but it’s just not in our budget right now. I don’t mind using what we have on hand.
We use a poly blend string found at our local hardware store but this one is similar. Or you could even purchase some tomato twine (which I had no idea even exited till a few days ago)! The string is very budget friendly and any left over will be useful for other garden needs.
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The poly blend string is strong enough and doesn’t dry out under our hot summers or rot under any wetness. I have tried a more natural hemp twine but it just couldn’t hold the load weight of the plants. But I have used it for my lighter weight plants like peas!
I really like to use this DIY budget tomato trellis with string in smaller spaces, its a great method for peas and beans too.
Here’s a video on how I make this tomato trellis with string:
So what will you need for this DIY budget tomato trellis with string?
Depending on the size of your garden area, the amounts and lengths of material will differ. For the sake of specifics I am going to state how much we used here to make our tomato trellis area and you can use that as a guide for your own space.
- Galvanized pipe – Three 10 foot long pieces total for your sides and top
- 2 Corresponding elbow fittings for your pipe
- Poly blend string or tomato twine
- A mallet or similar tool for pounding in pipe to the ground
- Scissors
- A ladder if you are making a tall trellis
How to make the frame for your trellis
1. Using a mallet or similar tool, pound one piece of pipe into the ground about two feet down and repeat for the other side of your frame.
2. Attach the elbow fittings to the top of your pipes that are in the ground.
3.Add your last piece of pipe for the top of the frame and insert it into the elbow fittings.
How to tie your string for trellising
1. Take the beginning of your string and tie a loop at one side of your trellis frame and knot it. I like to start about 12 inches above the ground, at the bottom of the frame.
2. Extend your string to the opposite side and knot it at that end of the frame. Pull that string nice and tight!
3. Repeat this process of back and forth knotting until you get to about 4 inches from the top of the frame. After doing the first line, I precut a bunch of strings the approximate same length to keep things going at a good speed.
*I leave about 4 inches between each line
4. Now starting at the top of the frame, tie a loop and knot it, repeating until you have gone across the top of the trellis. Leave about 4 inches between each line. I also like to precut a bunch of strings like I do for the horizontal ones once I get the length down to keep things going at a good speed.
5. Go back to your first line that you just tied, at the top (ignore the old twine in this photo above). You’re going to loop that free hanging string under and over the horizontal line right under it. After you come back over that line, repeat the process with the line directly under it. Keep going with this looping fashion until you reach the bottom of the trellis.
6. Tie and knot each string on the last horizontal line at the bottom of the trellis.
Presto! You’ve done it!
How can I get my tomatoes to grow on this DIY trellis?
As the tomatoes grow you can flop their branches in and out of the trellis squares or “netting”. Things may seem a little loose and floppy at first but as weight starts bearing down on the strings, everything will tighten up a bit.
To get the best results with this DIY tomato trellis with string, prune back your tomatoes! Pinch those little sucker branches that grow in the “armpits” of the real branches on your tomato plants.
If you aren’t pruning your tomatoes, I highly recommend it.
The first year we grew tomatoes I let them grow wild. Tomato plants grow into these massive bush like mounds.
If you don’t prune them, air flow will be heavily reduced which will lead to many diseases and uneatable fruits. Pruning will give those plants some lovely airflow, and let them put lots of energy into growing some amazing tomatoes!
And that’s it friends! I hope you can find a way to add this DIY budget tomato trellis with string to your garden, it’ll make growing tomatoes a breeze!
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Curious how this would hold up in the wind? I imagine it would do okay but it gets fairly windy at times here. Does it ever lean one way or the other?
They hold up great to the wind! As long as you pound them about 2 feet down, the wind shouldn’t be (& hasn’t been for us) an issue. Something else that would help is that you prune the plants too, getting the extra weight off of the trellis. Still not exactly looking forward to the windy weather though lol.
If I liked tomatoes, I would definitely use this!!! I love your website. Full of great information 🙂
You’re missing out on the tomatoes! Thanks for the comment 🙂
This is so easy to do. And it’s such a great idea. Especially for people like me who only have about 10 or so plants that need to be trellised.
I agree! We keep coming back to this method because it is easy!