chinooktype

I love making fermented hot sauce (among many other fermented vegetables) but I always puree everything in a food processor as I've found peppers to be more prone to yeast than other vegetables. I then weigh it all, figure out what 2.5 to 3% of that weight is--metric makes this a lot easier--and add that much salt. Then I pack it in jars, airlock it and let it go. The only times I've had anything other than lacto fermenting happen were when I chopped it up instead of using the food processor. It seemed that the increased surface area (of the chunks) made it possible for the yeast to take off more easily. You probably avoid that possibility by using a brine instead of relying--like I do--on the water that the salt pulls from the peppers, etc.

Thanks!

The slope is a big help, I think. It should be pretty simple to scale this down to fit whatever space you have. Remesh is easy to cut, or you can use any other mesh, fencing, etc. I'd stay away from anything with openings smaller than 4 inches or so as it's harder to clean the old vines off in the fall and cucumbers (or whatever) can get trapped on the upper side where they're harder to see or reach. Please post a photo of what you come up with (or write an instructable, of course).

Thanks. Cedar/redwood aren't easy to get and are pretty expensive, so I have purchased some of the non-toxic wood treatment mentioned in an earlier comment. I will build the rest of them out of pine that I will treat myself. It will be interesting to compare how they age alongside the PT one.

Cool idea and execution. I've daydreamed a lot about using float valves with my rain barrels and garden, but never got very far before getting sidetracked. This is getting me back on track.

Cool. Thanks.

I agree. Plus, the wood of the trellis is not in contact with the soil at all (at least if you're using a raised bed/planter like I am). Even if it was, though, I don't think the small amount of water than could run off the 2x4s would pick up any chemicals at all. There would definitely be NO leaching from the wood to the vines or vegetables. If using this without a raised bed, you could put flat stones or cement pavers under the 4 feet. (That's not a bad idea even if you aren't worried about leaching as it might extend the life of the wood.)Thanks for reminding me of this issue. I should add something to the instructable.

If they climb, it should work. I don't know if the fruit would hang down, though. Raspberries are pretty lightweight, so they might end up on the upper side where you can reach them easily. You could make it hinged somehow, maybe, so you could lower the top half for picking. Most of my raspberry experience has been with free-growing tangled canes, so I can't offer much insight. If you try it, or if you adapt the design, please come back and let us know what you did and how it worked.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Two more things I probably should have addressed!Regarding the effect of the treated wood on the hardware: none. The old staples holding the remesh on the old trellis could have been reused on the new one. In fact I just tossed them into the container of staples and may well use them again. They were a little darkened with age, but didn't seem compromised at all. There was no visible effect caused by the remesh's contact with the wood. The deck screws that held the old one together were rusty, but they weren't coated so I expected them to be worse than they were. They all unscrewed without any heads breaking off or stripping. As far as rusting goes, remesh comes pre-rusted from the store. The stuff I bought recently is covered in a powdery rust that rubs off on everything. I do plan to wi…

Two more things I probably should have addressed!Regarding the effect of the treated wood on the hardware: none. The old staples holding the remesh on the old trellis could have been reused on the new one. In fact I just tossed them into the container of staples and may well use them again. They were a little darkened with age, but didn't seem compromised at all. There was no visible effect caused by the remesh's contact with the wood. The deck screws that held the old one together were rusty, but they weren't coated so I expected them to be worse than they were. They all unscrewed without any heads breaking off or stripping. As far as rusting goes, remesh comes pre-rusted from the store. The stuff I bought recently is covered in a powdery rust that rubs off on everything. I do plan to wire brush one and spray paint it, just to see how well that lasts (though it's going to be a pain). The one that was out there for 10 years is dark and rough--it's definitely oxidized--but it's not badly damaged. It's still plenty strong to do its job. You can see it in the photo of the cut-off sections.

I just built a bunch of these almost identical to yours, also using cedar fence pickets. As far as I can recall, I never saw this instructable. I haven't filled mine yet (because it won't stop raining). A question: does the soil push out the boards on the long side, bowing them outward in the middle? The pickets are fairly flexible so I'm wondering if I should add some sort of center divider to keep everything square.(I hadn't added to top rails to the long one yet when I took this photo.)