Recommend a 'mater support

[jaybone]

From the store, or DIY.

What do you all thing about the various options to support tomato plants?

spiral, trellis, cage, etc.

I have a bunch of Bradywine Pink plants that are looking like they are going to be particularly tall and heavy.

Thanks!

[big country]

My father just bought 12 of these:

http://tomatocage.com/

They came recommended to him from a friend. I haven't been to their house yet to see them, but he says they're SUPER strong. I mean they ARE made with 1/4" steel rod, not thin flimsy wire. They're round, but foldable which makes storage nice.

He likes them a lot, they are pricey but should last a lifetime!

He grows super huge tomato plants so he needed something heavy duty. His tomatos last year bent the square, thin wire type from the gardening store, They weren't usable again the tomatos got so big and heavy they ruined them.

[willie pete]

Where are you still growing tomato plants?

[bellevuebully]

I have a wooden rail overhead the plants. I rip strips off an old bedsheet and tie them up. If particularily heavy, I also use a good stake alongside the main which is also secured with a strip of bed sheet.

[beefsteak]

My Dad used to do the bedsheet strips vertical support thing and tie them to Mom's overhead metal clotheslines.

He had to reach up to pick tomatoes. We all thought it was a hoot.

And we ate tomatoes quite heartily. And often. ;D

It took a spell for him to figure out how to encourage vertical growth by strategic pinching off of ends of all horizontal "branches" until he achieved
the height he was after. Otherwise you end up with bushy tomatoes, and not vertical supported beefsteak 'maters.

beefsteak :oo-->

[bellevuebully]

My Dad used to do the bedsheet strips vertical support thing and tie them to Mom's overhead metal clotheslines.

He had to reach up to pick tomatoes. We all thought it was a hoot.

And we ate tomatoes quite heartily. And often. ;D

It took a spell for him to figure out how to encourage verticle growth by strategic pinching off of ends of all horizontal "branches" until he achieved
the height he was after. Otherwise you end up with bushy tomatoes, and not vertical supported beefsteak 'maters.

beefsteak :oo-->


Thanks for that beefsteak.

[zap]

Where are you still growing tomato plants?



California :)

[willie pete]

Where are you still growing tomato plants?



California :)


Guess it's still cool enough out there in places to grow 'em, season is over around here, way too hot :D

[SLV^GLD]

My house came with the "flimsy wire" version of the tomato cages. They are conical shaped with the point of the cone being the vertical support rails' free ends to insert into the ground. They hold up just fine year after year. You can weave more than one plant into each one.

[Quixote2]

Use a piece of concrete reinforcing mesh 5 ft high by 8 ft long. 6 inch square holes. bend in a circle, will be 2.5 ft (30 inch) diameter and wire the ends together. The resulting 5 ft high by 30 inch diameter cage will require support with a fence post to keep the wind from blowing the whole thing over. I have some cages been used for 15 years. I also use these for cucumbers, cantalope, and climbing beans. I usually plant 3 or 4 tomato plants inside each cage. Prune the tomato vines that come out the sides of the cage, about 6 inches out. When the vines come out the top, prune the top at 5-1/2 to 6 feet high. Otherwise the tomato vine will come out and continue to keep growing. Pruning convinces the vine to settle down and concentrate on making tomatoes instead of taking over the county with green vines.

I also make a smaller cage by cutting the 5 ft high roll of concrete mesh in two to get two 2-1/2 ft high strips with 6 inch long wires to push into the ground. A 4 ft long strip wired into a circle gives a cage 15 inch in diameter and 2 foot high with 6 inches of wire pushed into the ground. I use these for egg plant and peppers.

[gunDriller]

I have a wooden rail overhead the plants. I rip strips off an old bedsheet and tie them up. If particularily heavy, I also use a good stake alongside the main which is also secured with a strip of bed sheet.

that's about the way i do it too. a wood frame around the plants, and i tie the branch to a string with a 3/4" washer. then i throw the washer over the horizontal piece of wood, it helps to lift the branches that need it (branches with tomatoes) off the ground.

[osoab]

I use cattle panels with steel posts at the ends and the center. They are 5' tall.

Two 8' sections end to end and another set parralled about 4' away.

I went redneck this year and used 1/2 conduit to create arches running along the top of the panels. Zip stripped some snow fencing over the top of the hoops. 9 bucks for the conduit. I already had the fencing (didn't work for rabbits) and zip strips.

The cherry tomatoes are getting close to 14' stretched out.

Nothing but compliments so far. As redneck as it is.

The cattle panels are at least 25 yrs old. They will hold up.

[po boy]

Trying some upside down tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets this year as a test run.I'm thinking I will need some sort of string from the bucket to a stake in the ground for when they become large and the wind gets blowing.

For the rest I have re-bar stakes,old dog crate bent into a semi circle, and one of the cones, all were rescued from the roadside trash.