To cage or stake tomato plants?

[vfem]

I DO have cement reinforcment wire!!! Someone drove over our septic tank last summer (long story) and hubby had to create and pour his own concrete supports, reinforce the actual tank and create new covers for it. We has the wire left over in the attic he didn't use... there should be enough for at 3-4 cages!!! WHOOOHOOOO

Not that I'm happy about WHY I have it.

I also forgot I bought some watering stakes. They get screwed onto 2 liter soda bottles filled with water. I'm hoping this helps with the watering the garden issue since we have raised beds. I'm just hoping this will make a difference during hot spells to keep everything from drying out so quickly. I'm planning on using what I have for my tomotoes.

 

[Catalina]

I trellised mine - with my handy-dandy trellises

Wish I had taken a picture of them in the summer! They were like walls of tomatoes 8 feet high. I use cages for my determinate plants. But the trellises are perfect for the indeterminate. And they look really nice too - dark green walls. The tomatoes are also easy to see and pick- you don't have to bend over and search for tomatoes.

 

[arwmommy]

Having been a violently passionate heirloom tomato grower I have staked, done the basket weave, and caged, and caging is soooooooooooo much easier and BETTER! I will never do anything else again.

The concrete reinforcing wire cages rock, but we are totally handy-challenged around here, so after much research on many other passionate tomato forums, I did the best thing ever: Ordered from www.tomatocage.com ! They were a bit pricey at 6 for $100 + $30 s/h but so worth it-- REALLY! They will last forever, and they fold up FLAT for storeage and they are SUPER HEAVY DUTY. My dad (who is much more frugal than I) thought I was *crazy* for buying 12 of them, but then he saw them and was so impressed and had to admit that they were worth it-- he said he would happily pay $20 a piece for them. I really can't say enough about them....... look at the tomato freaks on the internet, they swear by CRW (concrete reinforcing wire) or Texas tomato cages ( the above website).

JMHO!

 

[vfem]

Oh wow those are some nice cages!!!!

WAY out of my broke price range though.

 

[omran]

I use old livestock fences and run the fence strait then tie the plats on the fence with old cotten shirts pieces it worked the best for me so far.

 

[SKR8PN]

Over the years,I'll bet I have bought 1000 tomato cages,and every one of them fell apart before the season ended. Last season,I decided I was going to build the MOTHER of all tomato cages, so I bought a roll of concrete reinforcing wire. It looks like farm fence on steroids. The roll was 5ft wide,so I cut the cages from the roll lengthwise and used the last wire end I cut to wrap around the first one, making a roll type cage. All my cages are 5 ft tall and I also cut the bottom cross wire out so it has these little "legs" sticking into the ground to help hold them up. I set the cages around the plants and drive a fence stake into the ground beside each one and use a nylon tie strap to fasten each cage to a stake. I figure I will be long dead and gone before these cages rust or break!!

 

[CityChook]

I've always staked, but last year I think my chookies got more tomatoes than I did. Time to make some cages.

 

[dbjay417]

staking is working well for me this year, next year i know I'll need longer stakes. LoL But they have gotten the job done thus far. of course fruiting is just starting now so we'll see what other issues arise.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Excellent thread with some great ideas!! I staked last year and it
was a big pain.

 

[farmerlor]

I have mostly heirloom tomatoes so they basically set out to take over the world. It's nothing for one of my tomato plants to have eight foot of vine stretching out in all directions. There's no way to stake those puppies. Cages are the only way to go for those old indeterminates.