How do you anchor your tomato cages?

[MotherBrugger]

I didn't do a good job at all with my first try at seriously growing tomatoes, and ended up using the velcro tape/strapping they sell at Home Depot. It is doing well right now, but I don't expect it to hold this summer when we get tropical storm winds.
By then, these tomato vines will be spent (already starting new seedlings) and will use larger containers. Having hubby place dead center of raised bed/2 x 4's (one at each end) and something akin to chain link in center. I can then tie the vines to that. What do you think guys? Does this sound feasible?

 

[aussieheelr]

I tried making a cage like the one pictured above and it did ok for about 1/2 of the plants but the other 1/2 outgrew them and fell on their sides. I had to rotate them from one side to the other every day and it was a mess. There's a local produce farm down the road that i'm going to be getting tomatoes from this year but if I ever grow them in the future I'll be guiding them up hog paneling with my cukes and winter squash.

 

[wsmoak]

I have the pokey wire on the bottom and bury the last horizontal wire, but they still want to fall over when the tomato plants get big and the wind blows hard.

I'll just add to my collection of t-posts and make sure they all stay where they belong. Like the wire cylinders, the t-posts pretty much last forever, so it's a one-time expense.

So far I have... two tomato plants in the ground. 30+ to go!

-Wendy

 

[chills]

i tried the fence cage last year, just 2 of them. i was able to reuse some old tent spikes to hold them in the ground. i think my placement doesnt get so much wind that it was a problem.

 

[LVVCHAP]

I use the reinforcing wire also. My beds are 4 ft wide so I just put four of them next to one another and tie them together. Works for me. I also work them into the ground a couple inches.

 

[wsmoak]

Well, neither Home Depot nor Lowes has rolls of concrete reinforcing wire! They only have flat 4'x7' sections, which won't work for tomato cages. (And were over $6 each.) I'm going to see if the hardware store in our little town can order it.

We bought a couple of cattle/livestock panels and I'm going to see how those do when I run out of the cages that are lying around here.

-Wendy

 

[Rozzie]

My tomato cages are all from yard sales so have the traditional wires to stick them in the ground.

However, I have a bunch of other wire cages protecting my small fruits. They are pretty much tomato cages with smaller openings so my puppy can't stick his nose in and 1) chew the plant or 2) steal the fruit. (He's a handful..and a chewer!)

I have a number of those anchored with tent stakes.

 

[smom1976]

I scored with some heavy duty round tomato cage.. mine are metal.. but I later saw ones at a garden center that were colored.. so next year.. I will be spray painting mine wonderful colors.

 

[wsmoak]

Well, here's what I went with since no one had the concrete reinforcing wire to make into cylinders...

We'll see how this works compared to the row of wire cages -- obviously it's going to be easier to weed/mulch and pick the tomatoes without reaching inside, so maybe we'll just stay with the t-posts and cattle panel method permanently.

 

[lesa]

Very nicely done! That will work perfectly! Showing that pic to Dh!