Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

We were thinking about doing something similar for our tomatoes this year! Last year our tomato plants grew absolutely massive (a few nearly as tall as me! ) and our tomato cages just didnt cut it, even with modifications. So we were looking at a couple of options at what we could built that might be better, one being a wood trellis like what you're looking at doing, the other being some wire grid walls to go down the length of the tomato rows. Even looked at modifying some old bed frames we have hangin out and doing a combination. That's my next project once I get the new coop and run built for the pullets.

Yes, my tomato plants were also massive and full of fruit. My wire tomato cages didn't cut it, either. So, I am looking for some system to upgrade from those wire cages. I don't have the answer yet, so if you come up with a good idea, please share it. I am open to all suggestions.

Again, I was looking at a wooden trellis system for a 4X4 foot raised bed, all one unit for 9 sections, thinking that the larger single structure would be stronger as each section would be supported by the other sections. I don't grow my tomatoes in-ground, or in a row, so I think some methods of supporting the plants might not work as they were designed for tomato plants planted in a row.

While considering options for the tomato trellis/cage system, I just started building another two pallet wood raised beds v2.0 to keep busy.

Speaking of which, here is a picture of one of my pallet wood raised beds v2.0 that I built last year and planted 9 cherry tomato plants. I then put a 3-foot-high wire cage around each plant. What I did not know was that those cherry tomato plants would grow to about 6 feet tall, be heavy with fruit, and the plants flopped over because the cages were not tall enough nor strong enough to support them at the end of the summer.

Anyways, this is the tomato planting setup I plan on doing again this year. I just need a better support system for the plants.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Yes, my tomato plants were also massive and full of fruit. My wire tomato cages didn't cut it, either. So, I am looking for some system to upgrade from those wire cages. I don't have the answer yet, so if you come up with a good idea, please share it. I am open to all suggestions.

Again, I was looking at a wooden trellis system for a 4X4 foot raised bed, all one unit for 9 sections, thinking that the larger single structure would be stronger as each section would be supported by the other sections. I don't grow my tomatoes in-ground, or in a row, so I think some methods of supporting the plants might not work as they were designed for tomato plants planted in a row.

While considering options for the tomato trellis/cage system, I just started building another two pallet wood raised beds v2.0 to keep busy.

Speaking of which, here is a picture of one of my pallet wood raised beds v2.0 that I built last year and planted 9 cherry tomato plants. I then put a 3-foot-high wire cage around each plant. What I did not know was that those cherry tomato plants would grow to about 6 feet tall, be heavy with fruit, and the plants flopped over because the cages were not tall enough nor strong enough to support them at the end of the summer.

View attachment 3771675

Anyways, this is the tomato planting setup I plan on doing again this year. I just need a better support system for the plants.

Your tomato cage thoughts have been stewing in my back brain . Couple thoughts for you...I drew pictures to help you visualize it. Rough ideas but maybe you can turn them into something right for you.

One thought is to build a frame that can set on top of your bed and a separate lattice. Add L brackets or something to the top that the lattice can be zip tied to. With tweaking, this idea could be made in tiers to stack however high your tomatoes grow. Because it's in pieces, it would be lighter than a one piece design.

Next idea is a frame to sit on the bed with nails at the top to run wire or string across. If it was my project I'd use rebar wire. Double it across each span and twist to tighten, straighten and strengthen the wire. Put the nails on the inside of the frame instead of on top, or sink the nails fully after stretching the wire and you could make the frames stackable if your tomatoes grow crazy tall again.

Twisted rebar wire...it wouldn't look too bad, would last forever and make a very light lattice.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with

 

[gtaus]

Your tomato cage thoughts have been stewing in my back brain . Couple thoughts for you...I drew pictures to help you visualize it. Rough ideas but maybe you can turn them into something right for you.

Yeah, this project has been stewing in my back brain for the past couple of nights. Laying in bed at night, not sleeping, just going over and over options to make it work. Nothing really has stuck yet, so I thank you for your comments.

Next idea is a frame to sit on the bed with nails at the top to run wire or string across. If it was my project I'd use rebar wire. Double it across each span and twist to tighten, straighten and strengthen the wire. Put the nails on the inside of the frame instead of on top, or sink the nails fully after stretching the wire and you could make the frames stackable if your tomatoes grow crazy tall again.

Believe it or not, some of my ideas are pretty darn close to your drawings and suggestions. I, too, had thought about stringing wire across the inside of the frame to essentially make it like built in wire tomato cages. Perhaps spaced out every foot high.

I had considered making some stackable frames, but maybe only after I use the initial 4 foot height of some pallet wood 2X2's. I don't think I would need more support beyond 4 feet tall, but if I did, maybe that is when I could add a 2 foot stackable addition. Last year, my tomato cages were 3 feet high and the plants flopped over when they got up to about 6 feet tall. So, I am thinking that a 4 foot high cage/trellis would be enough to support plants up to 6 feet.

One issue I have with using wire strung inside the frame is that I would want some fairly heavy wire and how would I stretch it to make it straight? The wire I am familiar with comes in rolls and I would need some way to install the wire, pull it tight to straighten it, before locking it down securely. That's one thing I will be looking up on YouTube tonight. I like the wire idea because it would very strong and lightweight.

The other option I was considering was building a wooden lattice to go inside the wood frame. But every time I consider that option, the wood slats get bigger/wider/thicker in my mind to span 4 feet and to be strong enough to hold a heavy plant.

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate the ideas.

Gives me more to think about tonight laying in bed when I should be sleeping.

 

[ChicksnMore]

One issue I have with using wire strung inside the frame is that I would want some fairly heavy wire and how would I stretch it to make it straight? The wire I am familiar with comes in rolls and I would need some way to install the wire, pull it tight to straighten it, before locking it down securely.

That's were doing two strands and twisting comes in. I run two parallel lengths of wire, place a stick, nail etc between the wires in the middle and just start turning the stick. The wires twist together and creates one strong wire. It'll be straight as a whistle and tight as a drum.

 

[gtaus]

Yesterday morning, I broke down four new pallets I picked up about a week or so ago. They were in pretty good shape and looked fairly new. Looked like they were built by the same company at the same time. I used the circular saw method to cut off the planks. I will later cut the plank pieces down to 16 inches long for some pallet wood raised bed builds.

Later in the afternoon yesterday, I was de-nailing the 2X4 stretches with those bits and pieces of wood left on the 2X4 after you cut off the planks. I got the wood bits off easily enough, but boy, did I have a heck of a time pulling out those nails. I assumed it must be some super strong nails, but I am reconsidering that whole idea. More on that later. For now, let me tell you the hoops I had to jump through to take out the nails from the 2X4 stretchers in that batch.

After I removed all the bits of wood on the 2X4 stretcher, leaving only the tops of the nails, my go to tool is usually my long crowbar...

It has lots of leverage and usually pulls out nails without any problems.

For some reason, the nails in these few pallets refused to come out. I was snapping off the nail heads left and right, making the crowbar useless.

When it comes to removing headless nails, my go to tool is the Crescent Code Red 11-inch pliers...

I love those pliers for removing headless nail. Works great just about every time. However, last night, with the 2X4's and nails I was working with, I was busting my gut trying to pull out those nails. I was thinking those are some really strong nails used in those pallets.

BTW, I had the 2X4 clamped down solid into my new Vevor 6-1/2 Bench vise I mentioned weeks ago. Love that vise...

I had mounted that bench vise to my biggest, heaviest, bench in the garage. But I am telling you that when I was I was trying to remove the nails, the whole bench was moving! Those nails would not give up.

Not to be defeated, I took out my Harbor Freight Doyle 14-inch Heavy Duty End Nipper. That has a bit more leverage than the 11-inch code red pliers and works good with headless nail removal, too...

It still took some effort, but I was able to throw my weight behind the nippers and the nails started coming out. I used those nippers more last night than the previous 6 months I have had them. But it turned out to be my best tool for that job last night. In fact, it was the only tool that I had that allowed me to pull out those nails.

So, it only took me 2 hours to complete a 30-minute job.

The saga continued today. I mentioned that I had assumed the pallet nails were super strong and that is why I was having such a hard time removing them.

I think I was completely wrong. Now I am thinking the nails were standard pallet nails, but the wood used in those pallets must be some super hard wood. My first clue was when I tried to drill a pilot hole into one the 2X4's for my screws this afternoon, the bit would not penetrate into the wood and just spun on top till the wood started smoking. OK, I'm still thinking my bit was maybe dull. So, I tried a different bit with the same result. That second bit was from a completely new pack, so no way could it be a dull bit already.

I had to take out my most expensive tapered countersink bit set and still it was tough drilling into that wood. But I got the holes drilled over time.

Next, I tried drilling my drywall screws into that wood and just about every screw head broke off! So, now I am looking at having to buy the much more expensive, stronger, T25 deck screws to screw into those 2X4's. Maybe I'll go into town this weekend and pick up the size I need. Because of the expense of T25 deck screws, I only buy them for special needs when I need them.

Or, maybe I'll just set all that new wood to the side and find some regular, softer, pallet wood for my raised bed build. I have had no problems with other pallet wood I have used, only with this current batch.

Of all the many pallets I have broken down and rebuilt into something else, I have never had these problems before. I am convinced it must be some really strong wood that I have not worked with before.

Long story short, I have spent maybe 3 hours into my new raised bed build with this super strong wood to get maybe 5 minutes of work done. Yeah, I think I'll have to put that new wood aside and use some other pallet wood 2X4's instead. With normal pallet wood, I would have completed both the raised beds by now.

Well, live and learn. I'm sure there is a lesson in there somewhere. Maybe? Not quite sure what I learned...

 

[gtaus]

That's were doing two strands and twisting comes in. I run two parallel lengths of wire, place a stick, nail etc between the wires in the middle and just start turning the stick. The wires twist together and creates one strong wire. It'll be straight as a whistle and tight as a drum.

OK. Now I understand that picture with the wood between the wire. From your description, I thought you had purchased twisted wire on the roll. I really had no idea the last picture was to show how to twist 2 wires together to make it tight as a drum. Now it makes sense. Thanks.

 

[gtaus]

Well, live and learn. I'm sure there is a lesson in there somewhere. Maybe? Not quite sure what I learned...

I went to bed last night feeling rather defeated in my miserable attempt to drive drywall screws into the wood for that new raised bed. The heads of the screws kept breaking off.

To correct my terminology, it's not "strong" wood I was dealing with, I believe the correct term is "hard" wood. I learned that after watching some YouTube videos. Shows you how much I knew about the subject and the fact I never had to deal with hard wood like that before. I was always pretty much a construction guy using soft pine woods. I mentioned that my drill bit would not bite into the wood and just spun on top of the wood until it started smoking.

Well, that is one way to test the hardness of the wood. I found out there is actually a small handheld device to test the hardness of wood called the Shore D Durometer...

I think if I ever really got into woodworking, not just pallet projects, I would invest in one of those devices. I would be interested to know how much harder the current pallet 2X4 stretchers are compared to what I have normally used. Probably a big difference.

I woke up early this morning, still thinking about how I snapped off the heads of all those drywall screws in that hard wood, and finally came up with a solution to my problem.

Yesterday, I was thinking my best option was to get some stronger T25 deck screws which should not break off the heads while driving them into the hard wood. So, I looked through all my screws but could not find any deck screws in the 2-1/2 inch length I needed. Like I said, I only buy them when I need them because they are expensive.

I did some quick math and the cost per T25 deck screw came out to 11 cents per screw buying them in bulk at my local Fleet Store. Drywall screws of that size, in comparison, are 3 cents per screw. Obviously, that point is moot considering the drywall screws were failing and the heads were snapping off.

But then I had a eureka moment when I remember that I had a lot of pocket hole screws leftover from some projects a few years ago. Specifically, I had this Milescraft Pocket Hole Screw variety kit from Amazon...

I still had a small handful of 2-1/2 inch pocket hole screws in that kit, so I took a few out to see if they would work. To my delight, they drove down into the wood without any problems and the heads did not snap off. Fantastic! I just saved myself a trip into town to purchase some T25 deck screws.

Bonus deal 1: The Milescraft screws come out to 3.25 cents per screw, just a fraction more expensive than the drywall screws but a full 71% less expensive than the T25 deck screws at 11 cents per screw. I know a few pennies per screw does not sound like much of a savings, but in this build, if I used all T25 deck screws, the screw hardware per raised bed would be about $14.00 whereas the pocket hole screws would be only $4.00. (Edit: In the future, if the wood is so hard that it breaks the drywall screw heads off, I will just use other regular wood from a different pallet. All my other pallet wood raised beds worked fine with drywall screws.)

Bonus deal 2: Another advantage of using the pocket hole screws is that they have a flat washer head, which in this raised bed build, is just another plus because it will have more holding power than a normal screw head.

I successfully figured out that problem that kept me up last night and had me out of bed early this morning. If you run into a similar problem like I did, you might want to consider using those pocket hole screws which I discovered are much stronger than drywall screws, and yet still much cheaper than T25 deck screws.

Of all the pallet wood raised beds I have built, this was the only time I ever had any drywall screw heads break off because the wood was so hard. If that happens again to me, I will just use a different pallet 2X4 stretcher. Regular pine wood is good enough for my raised beds and drywall screws have never failed me before. However, it's nice to know that if I am forced to screw into some really hard wood, then the pocket hole screws will probably save the day.

 

[Molpet]

I went to bed last night feeling rather defeated in my miserable attempt to drive drywall screws into the wood for that new raised bed. The heads of the screws kept breaking off.

To correct my terminology, it's not "strong" wood I was dealing with, I believe the correct term is "hard" wood. I learned that after watching some YouTube videos. Shows you how much I knew about the subject and the fact I never had to deal with hard wood like that before. I was always pretty much a construction guy using soft pine woods. I mentioned that my drill bit would not bite into the wood and just spun on top of the wood until it started smoking.

Well, that is one way to test the hardness of the wood. I found out there is actually a small handheld device to test the hardness of wood called the Shore D Durometer...

View attachment 3772428

I think if I ever really got into woodworking, not just pallet projects, I would invest in one of those devices. I would be interested to know how much harder the current pallet 2X4 stretchers are compared to what I have normally used. Probably a big difference.

I woke up early this morning, still thinking about how I snapped off the heads of all those drywall screws in that hard wood, and finally came up with a solution to my problem.

Yesterday, I was thinking my best option was to get some stronger T25 deck screws which should not break off the heads while driving them into the hard wood. So, I looked through all my screws but could not find any deck screws in the 2-1/2 inch length I needed. Like I said, I only buy them when I need them because they are expensive.

I did some quick math and the cost per T25 deck screw came out to 11 cents per screw buying them in bulk at my local Fleet Store. Drywall screws of that size, in comparison, are 3 cents per screw. Obviously, that point is moot considering the drywall screws were failing and the heads were snapping off.

But then I had a eureka moment when I remember that I had a lot of pocket hole screws leftover from some projects a few years ago. Specifically, I had this Milescraft Pocket Hole Screw variety kit from Amazon...

View attachment 3772424

I still had a small handful of 2-1/2 inch pocket hole screws in that kit, so I took a few out to see if they would work. To my delight, they drove down into the wood without any problems and the heads did not snap off. Fantastic! I just saved myself a trip into town to purchase some T25 deck screws.

Bonus deal 1: The Milescraft screws come out to 3.25 cents per screw, just a fraction more expensive than the drywall screws but a full 71% less expensive than the T25 deck screws at 11 cents per screw. I know a few pennies per screw does not sound like much of a savings, but in this build, if I used all T25 deck screws, the screw hardware per raised bed would be about $14.00 whereas the pocket hole screws would be only $4.00. (Edit: In the future, if the wood is so hard that it breaks the drywall screw heads off, I will just use other regular wood from a different pallet. All my other pallet wood raised beds worked fine with drywall screws.)

Bonus deal 2: Another advantage of using the pocket hole screws is that they have a flat washer head, which in this raised bed build, is just another plus because it will have more holding power than a normal screw head.

View attachment 3772447

I successfully figured out that problem that kept me up last night and had me out of bed early this morning. If you run into a similar problem like I did, you might want to consider using those pocket hole screws which I discovered are much stronger than drywall screws, and yet still much cheaper than T25 deck screws.

Of all the pallet wood raised beds I have built, this was the only time I ever had any drywall screw heads break off because the wood was so hard. If that happens again to me, I will just use a different pallet 2X4 stretcher. Regular pine wood is good enough for my raised beds and drywall screws have never failed me before. However, it's nice to know that if I am forced to screw into some really hard wood, then the pocket hole screws will probably save the day.

I'm surprised you haven't run into oak pallets before, or is it something else?

 

[gtaus]

I'm surprised you haven't run into oak pallets before, or is it something else?

I can't tell the species of wood just by looking at it. Maybe it was oak. All I know is that it was super hard, my drill bits had a hard time digging into it, and my drywall screws broke off before they went all the way into the wood.

BTW, I made a second raised bed side panel, using 2X4's from different pallets, and it took no time at all using regular drywall screws. I should finish that raised bed completely in another ~20 minutes of work at that rate.

 

[fuzzi]

OK. Do the tomatoes automatically climb the net, or do you have to train them and/or tie them to the net?

FYI, I have only used wire tomato cages in the past. I am open to new methods of growing tomatoes, especially if they are less work and have good results. Last year my cherry tomato plants got over 6 feet tall. My wire cages were maybe 3 feet tall. The plants flopped over due to the weight of the fruit, but the plants continued to produce. This year, I need more support for the plants if they grow that tall again.

As far as building a wooden trellis system, yes, I agree, that would be some work. The more I think about it, the more complicated my design in my mind becomes. That's not the direction I want to go. I prefer simple things that work, and I have not figured that out with a wood trellis system for tomatoes.

Also, I am trying to figure out a system that uses free pallet wood, which I have a lot, instead of having to purchase other materials like wire cages or wire fencing to build cages.

Not pallet wood, but the best tomato support I've ever used in almost 60 years of gardening was created from a cattle panel:

Late April

Mid June

End of July