Best Tomato Stake?

[chickenwendy]

Does anyone have an idea for a relatively cheap tomato stake? last year we didnt stake them up at all and it was a mess. i have about 2 dozen tomato plants that i dont want laying on the ground this year. any help?

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

You should check out this thread

Everyone gave their favorite ways to Stake Tomatoes

 

[Blue Ridge Hillbilly]

I would recommend that you go to a masonary supply company and buy you a roll of heavy duty concrete reinforcement wire. You can make a tomato basket that will be 24" in diameter and 5 feet high. You can use these baskets year after year and you will never want to use anyting else especially a tomato stake. You can see the diagaram of how to make these baskets in one of the Victory Garden books. A 100 feet roll of this wire will cost you about $100 dollars and will make about 23 tomato baskets.

 

[dbjay417]

rebar is what I'm using. but I only had a few lengths of rebar lyin around, so I made some stakes out of a tree that was chopped recently. they wont be around next season but they're doing the job now. i also used some of the poles from a broken down walmart screen house, some of them are like 6' long and still quite tall with 1' in the ground, but my tomatoes dont mind. but it doesn't look as nice and uniform as some people might like.

My yard is 90% utilitarian, and that 10% aesthetic beauty is naturally occurring. My only effort is not to go out of my way to destroy it.

 

[rockytopsis]

I would recommend that you go to a masonary supply company and buy you a roll of heavy duty concrete reinforcement wire. You can make a tomato basket that will be 24" in diameter and 5 feet high. You can use these baskets year after year and you will never want to use anyting else especially a tomato stake. You can see the diagaram of how to make these baskets in one of the Victory Garden books. A 100 feet roll of this wire will cost you about $100 dollars and will make about 23 tomato baskets.

This is what we did several years ago and it works very well. The squares are large enough to get your hand in and grab those juicy fruits and the wire is strong enough to support the heavy vines. You just have to help the plant along by carefully moving the branches as it grows.

Nancy

 

[patandchickens]

Stake or cage? (Which has been thoroughly discussed on at least one other thread <g>)

If you want a *stake*, specifically, I would suggest something either metal and deeply-driven, or at least 2" diameter if it is wooden. Beyond that, whatever turns up is all pretty much fine, IMO. Up here, where due to growing season length tomatoes do not usually get 5' tall, people not infrequently use retired hockey sticks Personally I use spare (usually rusty and broken-off) metal T-posts, and odd pieces of stout metal of appropriate dimensions acquired for free or real cheap at junk auctions and the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. And if I run out of *them* too, I go find some innocent branch or sapling that was going to be whacked anyhow and sharpen the end and have rather a lot of trouble getting it deeply enough into the ground and swear never to do it again only of course I do

Or, you can purchase 2x2" stakes at the hardware store

Have fun,

Pat

 

[beavis]

I would recommend that you go to a masonary supply company and buy you a roll of heavy duty concrete reinforcement wire. You can make a tomato basket that will be 24" in diameter and 5 feet high. You can use these baskets year after year and you will never want to use anyting else especially a tomato stake. You can see the diagaram of how to make these baskets in one of the Victory Garden books. A 100 feet roll of this wire will cost you about $100 dollars and will make about 23 tomato baskets.

Exactly, this is the method I use and have done so for many years.

 

[fasbendera]

I stake mine up with a single piece of rebar. They store flat on the ground behind the garage. No cages getting tangled. I found a lighter option in the AMLeonard catalog. They are a green stake that is plastic and I don't know what else but they worked great and I had big boy tomatoes that were 4-5 feel tall staked by them. I think I would get at least a 6' if not 7-8' stake I don't remember the sizes but I am ordering more this spring

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

I also made the concrete wire cages, but I find that the smaller sheets are a good deal if you are making just a few. I was able to make two cages per sheet, although I might cut a few spares in half and attach the extra to the top of the other cages. I could use a little more height. The work awesome, I secure them with those plastic garden stakes (rods) I use the six foot ones and kind of weave it thru a couple openings in the cage on the way to the ground. I then just hammer them in flush to the top of the cage. (God willing... sometimes the ground just does not play fair here in New England!)