No Tools Required DIY Pallet Cucumber Trellis
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Re-purpose a wood pallet into a quick and sturdy DIY cucumber trellis — no tools required. It gives space for the plants to grow and makes harvesting an easy task.
There’s no better way to grow vining cucumbers than on a cucumber support. Without one, they’ll happily scramble over the ground but there are quite a few soil-borne diseases that can affect the plants. Not to mention slugs and other critters that might want a taste. Growing cucumbers vertically also makes harvesting a treat since the fruit is easy to find and pick. Though you can purchase ready-made cucumber supports, it’s easy to make them yourself. All you need for this garden project is a heat-treated pallet, a couple of posts, and baling twine.
Benefits of a Pallet Cucumber Trellis
Depending on where you are in the world, there are various fungi and viruses that affect cucumbers. One of my own challenges is downy mildew, a fungus that’s blown in with warm, damp winds. Keeping my plants off the ground with plenty of good air circulation is key to keeping it under control. The quicker that the leaves dry after a wet spell, the less likely that the fungus will take hold.
My pallet cucumber trellis helps with that since the plants are off the ground and have plenty of air around the leaves. Its south-facing position means that it gets sun all day — a bonus for added growth and for drying those leaves quicker. Using a trellis can also help control powdery mildew, another fungus that affects cucumbers.
Harvesting Cucumbers Made Easy
As the cucumbers grow up the face of your trellis, their fruit develops it hangs down between the slats. Can you see how easy it is to spot the cucumbers? Sometimes the fruit won’t drop down but will grow on top of the pallet’s slats. That can make it even easier to find and pick.
A wood pallet is the perfect size for a couple of cucumbers to scramble over and the right size for harvesting. Squat at the open end and just reach inside for your cukes. If your plants were sprawling along the ground then you’d be even more bent over trying to find the fruit under masses of leaves.
Related Garden Ideas
- Build this strawberry pallet planter
- How to build a pallet compost bin
- DIY willow garden obelisk
- Grandma’s dill pickle recipe
This Pallet Cucumber Trellis Maximizes Gardening Space
Another great reason to grow your cucumbers on an angled trellis is that you can have two crops in the same space. Since the cucumbers grow off the ground, that space underneath is perfect for growing greens. Lettuces, radishes, spinach, and oriental vegetables will appreciate the semi-shade and protection the trellis gives. At one time this year, I had ten heads of lettuce growing under the cucumbers. Talk about maximizing gardening space!
Choosing the Right Pallet
You should also choose the right kind of pallet for this project. Many are heat-treated against insects but some are fumigated with the insecticides Methyl bromide or Sulphuryl fluoride. It’s not something that we want anywhere near our food or the beneficial insects in our gardens.
Fortunately, it’s easy to see how a pallet has been treated. Look for a stamp on the side and discard any pallets that have the initials MB or SF. If you see HT you’re good to go, since that means it’s been heat-treated. Ignore the letters DB — all that means is that the wood has been debarked.
How to Build a Pallet Cucumber Trellis
Now that I’ve convinced you that it’s a good idea to grow your cucumbers vertically, let’s get building. If you’ve not already guessed from looking at the photos, I built my trellis by first digging two posts in the ground 18″ deep. They’re square posts about 3×3″ and about three feet tall from soil level. They’re dug in so that the pallet can sit level on the edges of both. I didn’t use a spirit level to make sure that the posts were the same height but you could if you wanted to.
Next, I propped the pallet against the posts and then lashed them on with baling twine. I chose baling twine because it won’t degrade in the sun like natural string will do. Over the summer, natural fiber string can break down in UV light and becomes easier to snap. The reason I used twine instead of screwing it together is that this is not going to be a permanent structure. At the end of the season, I can cut the twine and move the pallet someplace else. I really do like quick, easy, and effective garden solutions.
Planting and Training Cucumbers
When you build your pallet cucumber trellis, make sure to put it in the right place. A south-facing aspect is ideal and the soil should be moist and fertile yet well-drained. Cucumbers will reward you with more fruit than you can eat if you give them a good helping of composted manure.
With my cucumber trellis, I planted three ‘Moneymaker’ plants at the base. Outdoor-grown cucumbers in my region won’t get as large as plants grown in a greenhouse. If you’re in a warmer climate, you might opt for just one or two.
Aftercare includes keeping those plants well-watered and helping the vines find their way up the pallet. The slats are a little too large for them to find their way up naturally but it’s not difficult to show them the way.
Could I use this method for melons? I have a small space and want to optimize my space.
I don’t see why not :)
This looks so easy and of course super affordable! Thank you!
Awesome
I love your videos for new ideas. In Washington State, my grandpa always buried empty beer cans, with the rim just above the soil line, in areas where slugs were a problem in his garden and fill the empty cans a bit (1/4 or less full) with a new beer to attract the slugs away from his plants. It worked great!
Thanks so much, Deneil — also for the beer can tip :)
Great video!
I am going to try diamateaceous earth around my plants to curb the slugs this year.
Keep in mind that diatomaceous earth only works if it doesn’t rain. That’s why it’s not a common gardening material in temperate places such as where I live in Britain. Each time it rains it has to be re-applied. I also would never use it since it indiscriminately kills any insect with an exo-skeleton…good bugs as well as pests.
I suspect the majority of cucumbers will grow, not on the boards of the pallet, but hanging down. (1) Will they grow as readily and as large as they will if growing on the top of the soil? (2) Are the vines strong enough to hold the mature cucumbers prior to picking?
Thanks,
Hi Robert, and yes, the cucumbers do drop down between the slats but plenty ripen on top too. It depends on how vigorous the plant(s) are! The vines are plenty strong enough to hold them too, in my experience. The type in the photos is Marketmore and they grow to about 12″.
Thank you. I will try it!
Couldn’t this be used for indeterminate tomatoes, yellow squash, vining beans.
I’ve not tried it but think that yes it would certainly work :)
Hi! Just discovered your website! Wow! Thanks for the great ideas.
I am a member of a small Horticultural Society in Quebec, Canada,
and recently have become aware (we had a speaker come to give a talk)
of something I never knew (we learn every day in the garden and life!!)
Be careful with all types of mint…they will interbreed and become a hybrid.
She suggested to plant them far apart as they will become a whole different plant! Will try a wood pallet with the cucumbers next year!
Best of luck,
Jo
My only question is do I plant the actual cucumbers in front of the pallet or right underneath it when it is a slanted pallet like the video
Either way should work fine.
Hello, the solution in my opinion makes no sense, wastes space. the palette is large. I ask cucumbers on ropes, on a string. The structure is made of wooden boards and the lines are pulled down.
It seems like every gardener has their own “tried and true” methods and some very much like to stick to them. I think it is a good idea to “branch out” from time to time though, no pun intended, because some things that work in one climate may or may not work in another. Happy to find this tutorial. Especially interesting that it requires so few tools.
Great video, has given me loads of ideas. Love cue trellis will def opt for that idea.
Thanks for the pallet idea. Really enjoyed the whole video.
Hi Tanya,
just watched your video and enjoyed it very much. I am going to give the pallet trellis a go, as I have three potted plants in the greenhouse. They have lost the label and they are either courgettes or butternut squash. I shall have to wait for the weather to improve a bit though as now in June the rains that we didn’t have through the winter have arrived! And it’s very cold..
Looking forward to your next video, regards, Pat x
By south facing, do you mean the open side of the pallet(lettuce side) is toward the south or the north?
Cucumbers need sunshine and lettuce need less it less so, especially in the heat of summer. In the northern hemisphere, the open side is on the north side.
Thanks for the trellis tip I’m going to try it in my garden this yr cheers
Why don’t you tease apart the roots from the bottom of the pots, when you plant into ground. If you do that with the carrots and parsnips it might keep them from twisting as they grow. I don’t know that for sure, but I do know if the roots are going around in the pot, they will continue to twist and grow around then planted in the soil. So try to tease or tear apart the roots from the module or pot, when putting it in the soil.
Hi Sally — I’m not sure what this comment is referring to in this piece on making a DIY Pallet Cucumber Trellis? Were you watching the embedded video player?
The idea about the pallet for a trellis is a good idea, in fact, before I got on here and watched the video that is what I did in my garden for my Armenian Cucumbers.
Great and simple idea. Will do this next year. Thank you