Hahaha! Thanks for the reply.
What I was looking for, I guess, was actual experience with the Mortgage Lifters, as those AI returns, while usually fairly accurate, sometimes miss important details. I am particularly intrigued that my Mortgage Lifters don’t seem to outgrow their environment the way many varieties try to. But the corollary would seem to be that they could, with adequate nutrition, water, and time (as they seem rather slow growing, in the 1st couple months, even when pampered), end up being really big plants. Now that a couple of the ML’s are taking off (I’ll bet this run of 80’s degree weather will really help), I added height to their support “trees”, a couple hours ago.
(One support actually broke in some wind a couple days ago when the cold front came through. The break was due to both the plant and the wood being old and having a knot. That break folded over the main stem badly (the stem partially broke, actually) and the top of the plant wilted fast... I ended up replanting the bottom half and burying about 3 ft. of the stem in a “slanting trench”, with a little branch still intact sticking up from the ground. That’s recovering and I think it will “make it” - a little behind schedule, tho’, as the other ML’s its age have about 5-6 ft. on it, above the ground, anyway.
I guess I’ll add support to more of the ML’s if they outgrow the current trellis’s or “trees”. I may have to do that with a couple of the Cherry Falls tomato plants too, as they too seem to want to reach the sky. A couple of the overwintered Romas are also really taking off now too. When the ML’s stop growing, I’ll report how big they got (and how big the fruits are.) :-)
Here is the trellis setup for straw bale gardens, but it would work for pretty much anything: raised beds, buckets, even plowed rows. Some folks use pipe or pvc between the T-posts. Not expensive - some T-posts, wire, & whatever you use at the very top between the T-posts.
The nice thing is you can tent over the wires with plastic or row cover if the weather turns cold or there’s a frost. Netting to keep birds & deer off could go over the wires, even over the top support when the plants are bigger. This trellis won’t break down.