Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

I have 2 different EMT pipe benders I use. One I bought from a guy in Texas and one I bought from Johnnie Seeds In Maine. Each of these bends up to 1 1/2 inch pipe.
I have used 1/2 inch for making movable hoop covers.
I use the 1/2 inch in tripods, which make dandy tomato, pepper, melon, etc.. trellis....I don't like EMT 1/2 inch box trellis as it falls over in the first upstate NY wind storm...
Instead we create hoop frames down the long rows out of the 1/2 inch with hoops every 4 feet or so with one long bar across the top. Then we ground up with a gentle white plastic or polypropylene cord.

This provides us with an incredibly strong trellis and also doubles as hoop frame for insect/shade or plastic sheet cover.

I get away with this by staggering tomato types down the trellis. I will grow maybe one DElicious variety then cherries and then a medium sized market tomato like, Campbells, and then a good mennonite sauce tomatoe. I wouldn't want to grow 4 Delicious as these buggers weigh half a pound or more. We plant every foot and space about 30 inches.

I double hoop our tomatoes to prevent late blight etc (in warm weather insect netting on first hoop adn then a layering of plastic, which must be watched constantly..and irrigate from a ground laid drip system....

I add some Calcium and extra compost as tomatoes first appear. We grow well into December in zone 5 and 6.

Grampa's Farm in RUshville NY, in Mennonite country, uses wooden stakes every 2-3 feet and reusable cording up about 3-4 feet for acres and acres of staked up tomatoes. They take these stakes up every season and rotate out in strips. I have never seen tomatoes before like this guy grows. This is a Upick farm. People love not having to bend down to pick tomatos and they have a contract with Wegman's...the most choosey grocers in the world....I believe he uses aged sheep manure in the spring and fall..I know he does not use purchased fertilizers or pesticides....
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Kennard & <fgeter@comcast.net>
To: MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 4:06 PM
Subject: [MittleiderMethodGardening] 1" EMT Conduit on top of T Frame strong enough

I have been pricing different materials to hang tomato plants off a T Frame. A 2x4 is the cheapest but I question how long it will last and rather it will warp and look unsightly after a few seasons. The next cheapest is 1" EMT Galvanized Conduit. It is about a third of the price of 1/2" galvanized pipe. At home depot, I tried to bend a 10' long piece of conduit and could not. Has anyone had experience with 1/2" EMT conduit for hanging plants from a T Frame? The spacing between my T Frames is 10 feet.

Thanks
Frank

Frank & Group:

I have not seen conduit strong enough to handle several hundred pounds of tomatoes or other vegetables.

Have you looked for USED metal places for the galvanized plumbing pipe? I found many 21'-long pipes for .21 per foot the last time I looked (several years ago).

If you paint the 2 X 4s they should last a long time. And no matter what you're using, in the height of the season, you might be advised to place a 2 X 2 or 2 X 4 under the middle of your pipe, etc. to avoid too much sag and the possibility of breaking them.

Jim Kennard

----------------------------------------------------------

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2691 - Release Date: 02/16/10 02:35:00

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

• New Members 15
• New Photos 3
• New Files 1