Supporting Plants in the Garden: Stakes, Cages and Trellises

Supporting plants keeps fruit off the ground where it rots, lets air move through the foliage so leaves dry faster and diseases spread less, saves space, and makes picking easier. The right support depends on how a plant grows: whether it climbs on its own and, if so, how.

Put supports in at planting time or soon after. Driving a stake or setting a cage next to an established plant damages roots, and sprawling stems are hard to lift without breaking.

Bushy plants that get top-heavy

Examples: determinate tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tall flowers such as dahlias and peonies.

These plants stand up on their own when young but can flop or split when loaded with fruit or flowers, or after a storm.

Cages: the cone-shaped wire cages sold for tomatoes are adequate for peppers, eggplant and compact determinate tomatoes, but too small and flimsy for anything bigger. A homemade cylinder of concrete reinforcing wire or livestock panel, 18 to 24 inches across, with openings large enough to reach through, is much sturdier.
Stakes: a single 3- to 4-foot stake beside a pepper or eggplant, with the main stem tied loosely, keeps it upright.
Florida weave: for a row of determinate tomatoes or peppers, drive a sturdy stake after every one or two plants, then run twine from stake to stake along one side of the row and back along the other, so the plants are sandwiched between strands. Add a new level of twine every 6 to 8 inches as the plants grow. It is quick and cheap for long rows.

Bush beans and most bush squash need no support.

Sprawling plants that don't climb

Examples: indeterminate tomatoes, climbing roses, blackberries.

These produce long stems that keep growing all season but have no tendrils or twining stems, so they won't climb by themselves. You have to tie them in or contain them.

Tall stakes: for indeterminate tomatoes, use stakes 6 to 8 feet long driven a foot or more into the ground. Prune to one or two main stems and tie them to the stake every foot or so with soft ties or strips of cloth, in a loose figure eight so the tie doesn't cut into the stem.
Tall cages: a 5-foot cylinder of reinforcing wire, anchored with a stake so it can't blow over, holds an unpruned indeterminate tomato with little tying.
Strings: in a greenhouse or under a sturdy overhead frame, tomatoes can be lowered and trained up a string as they grow.
Trellis or arbor: climbing roses have to be tied to their support; fanning the canes out sideways produces more flowers than training them straight up.

See supporting tomato plants and indeterminate tomatoes for more detail.

Vines that climb with tendrils

Examples: peas, cucumbers, melons, squash, grapes, sweet peas, passionflower.

Tendrils coil around anything thin they touch. They grip string, wire and netting well, but can't wrap around a thick post or a wide board.

Netting or string trellis: plastic or string netting with 4- to 6-inch openings, stretched between posts, is ideal for peas and cucumbers. Short pea varieties need only 2 to 3 feet; tall ones and cucumbers need 5 to 6 feet. See growing cucumbers up strings and supporting cucumbers.
A-frame trellis: two panels leaned together, covered with netting or wire. Plants climb both sides, and the shaded space underneath can grow lettuce in summer.
Cattle panel arch: a 16-foot livestock panel bent between two beds makes a strong arch for cucumbers, small melons and small winter squash.
Heavy fruit: melons and squash on a trellis need their fruit supported in slings made of old T-shirts or mesh bags. Stick to small-fruited varieties; large pumpkins and watermelons are best left on the ground.

Vines that climb by twining

Examples: pole beans, runner beans, morning glory, hops.

The whole stem spirals around its support. Twining vines climb poles, strings and narrow wooden stakes easily, but struggle with wide netting or a flat wall.

Teepees: three to six bamboo poles 7 to 8 feet long, tied together at the top, with seeds planted around each pole. Simple and cheap.
Poles or strings: a single pole per hill, or strings hung from a top bar, give each plant its own path upward.

Twining vines and vines with tendrils will both climb an arbor or fence if you give them string or wire to start on.

Plants that cling

Examples: climbing hydrangea, English ivy, Virginia creeper, trumpet vine.

These attach with aerial roots or adhesive pads and climb walls and tree trunks without help. They are ornamentals rather than garden crops, and they can damage mortar, siding and gutters, so think twice before letting them onto the house.

Tall perennials and cut flowers have their own needs; see supporting flowers.