Any ideas for cheap, emergency trellising?

DH and I promised ourselves last year that we were never going to grow monster guourds again. They engulfed our yew hedge, soared to the top of the magnolia, bombed ours and our neighbor's side with literally earth-shaking 6 footers - actually left craters in the mulch!

We grew them for the flowers: night-blooming, large, white, fringed, fragrant that danced over the top of the hedge so prettily in moonlight.

After giving all my seed to Momcat to protect myself from temptation this summer for these wonderful flowers, a seedling has volunteered and I'm gonna grow it.

Does anyone have any ideas on trellising and pruning to control size for those of us with 10 thumbs and little cash? Am thinking of poles along a short path to a gate in the hedge with poles connecting the tops of those poles - we've been scavenging bamboo from an abandoned patch - what would be a good way to stabilize that for such a huge (to 100') vine as this? 'Course, 15' isn't far for a 100' vine to travel to a hedge looking forward to a summer of its own space...help :)

Have ya got any newly cut down shubs/small trees to tie together?

2 hefty trees not so close together will work too.

Spare lumber lying around?

Fishing line, cord, rope, bailing wire, macrame cording, trellising cord, yellow nylon cord?

~* Robin

NatureWalker, yep - there's an abandoned lot next door growing up into a woods (the ground rent/fee simple system in Maryland where one person/group owns the ground and another the house is a sure-fire way to keep developers at bay). Have various kinds of materials for uprights and crossbars and tying/joining and we've made simple structures for lighter-weight climbers from them.

But this vine is a real challenge to gravity-defying structures. I guess we'll do the usual stabilizing the whole structure with crossbars on opposing diagonals. Am surprised how well that plastic, stretchy ribbon holds up on joints. Will experiment with pruning to keep the vine in bounds and hope that doesn't discourage it from flowering.

If anyone has any ideas on how to join the poles and stabilize the uprights on the diagonals in any way stronger than we've been doing, would love to hear them.

Do any of you gourd growers know which ones might produce the night blooming flowers without being so rambunctious? Have thought a dream-catcher trellis would be fun for that - use flexible, green wood like hazel or forsythia (possibly willow or birch too) for outer bounderies - could have two wings with circle of grape or honeysuckle at center - and string the wings and circle like a harp. Have not made one yet, but maybe next year...

1/2 inch pvc pipe and concrete blocks. You can bend the pipe into arcs and stick the ends into the holes of the blocks, then tie any crossovers together with old stockings or pantyhose. By the way the stockings also work well as supports for the heavier gourds. Just tie them ( the stockings) to the pvc arc above and suspend the gourd in it. The whole structure can be dismantled and reused year after year. A 20' length will make an arc tall enough to walk under.

Old ladders....utilize them . Also, I made a tri-pod out of old Century Plant stalks for my Louffas one year. Jo

Thank you everyone, but I think I'd like to find a home for this seedling - would anyone like for me to send it for postage?

Jo, does the Century Plant send up a stalk of bells like yucca? Seems it would be a great one for a moon garden. How are you growing it? In a grove? One summer at a conservatory in Washington, DC, we saw a yucca relative flowering on a stalk going through and above the roof. Impressed the sweat right out of us swamp critters.

Robin, tgif, or Jo, can I tempt you with this gourd plant?

YES....if postage isn't an arm and leg...LOL

Is this a Bushel Gourd? I started seeds of Louffa and Bottle Gourds for a friend...just got rid of them yesterday....but I can't stand to see an unwated child or GOURD...LOL Jo

Go for it roadrunner - I wish I could have it, but my space is limited for climbers. I seem to spend half my time whacking wisteria as it is!
ginni

Darn tgif...and here I am with 4 acres and trying to grow one measly piece of Wisteria...LOL Jo

I have 70 acres - all threatened with wisteria!!!!!!! One vine (as big around as my wrist) has gone 80' up a pine and spreading. I have killed a lot of plants in my time, but wisteria ain't one of them!

Try bluespiral's gourd instead, it needs a home where bluespiral can remember it fondly and know it is loved and cared for. Just don't tell when it takes over all your acres!

well...my DD lives next door with 4 more acres...it can "visit" her...LOL Jo

Perfect! See, bluespiral? Problem solved. You get your yard back and roadrunner and DD get something they want.

ROFL, guys - the Vining One will be on its way to you this Monday, Jo.

It came to me from Pinetree, labeled "Cucuzzi Carravazi". I had hoped, at the time, it had some relationship to Lagenaria siceraria which are known for their night flowers. But since it doesn't swell at the bottom like a bottle gourd, it probably is not that. It grows long and skinny, beyond 6' long by about 5" wide and straight (when hanging from the top of a tall tree), so maybe it's the club gourd, Trichosanthes anguina. It certainly would be a very naughty way to deter trespassers, but the neighborhood has changed, so now we just have visitors, so it's services would not now be relevant - LOL.

However, the street is about 15' below the porch...I think next summer we might cut down a tree and build a sturdy arbor so we can look down onto the top of the night flowers, and set the arbor back from the street so that everyone is safe walking by below that. Jo, will you save me some seed?

The things some of us won't do for a few bats and nightflitters.

IF it produces you will get seeds. Jo

and pictures? with it's dwarfed gardeners? A late afternoon sun reflects off them light little planets.

Sounds good to me. Jo

I recieved the vine today...it seems to have traveled pretty well...still has 2 leaves that aren't wilted.

Now...I am farming this out to a lady that teaches gourd growing...if anyone can get this poor, traveled, vine to live...it is she!! I willl visit it regularly and post pictures.

Bluespiral, you'll have snail mail soon. Thanks! Jo

heehee - a little like Garibaldi's traveling books - anyone remember those?

The "Cucuzzi" gourd is used for cooking. It can be sliced and batter fried, cubed and put in caseroles, put in breads like bananas or pumpkins, or stewed. It can be used just like squash. They must be harvested while still tinder and easy to peel if used for cooking.
Enjoy!