What is your favorite tomato cage?

[thistlebloom]

Ridgerunner..I was going to make cages out of the cattle panels. The panels that are at HOme Depot are around 4' by 7'. I only have space for about 7 tomatoe plants.

Mary, I think what you found at HD is probably concrete reinforcement wire like Andy J was talking about. I think for individual cages that would be a lot easier to work with than cattle panels. Cattle panels are a little unwieldy to bend and a bear to cut with a hacksaw when your DH is not home and has his power tools with him . Also not easy to transport if your getting more than one. My cattle panels are 52" tall, 16' long.

 

[sparkles2307]

My cattle panels are 52" tall, 16' long.

Same here

 

[Ridgerunner]

I probably should go measure those panels. I was going by memory which is always dangerous for me, but the panels could easily be 52" instead of 48". Either way, they were shorter than I really liked for some varieties but they worked OK for most of them. All the tomatoes did overflow the top but most did not reach the ground so it was no big deal for them. One problem was having the two rows too close together. With that overflow, you don't have much room to maneuver. I'll do better this year.

I agree. These panels, which I got at Tractor Supply, would be pretty hard to bend into cages. It probably could be done using a board to bend it around and a hammer for fine tuning but I would not want to do it.

With a 4' x 7' piece, you could bend that into a triange 2'-4" on a side with a height of 4 feet or you could bend it into a triangle 1'-3" on a side 7 feet high or a square 1'-9" on a side 4 feet high. I think any of them would work, but they would probably all require bracing, expecially the 7' one. I have not done those so I am only guessing on the bracing.

I don't know what will work best for your situation. I don't think there is a perfect answer for me, but I'll sandwich mine in again, mainly because I have already purchased the panels and partly because it did work out pretty well.

One advantage to me of the panels is that when I take them up for storage, I just lean them against the garden fence and they are out of the way. At 16 feet length they are real awkward to handle by myself. With two people, it could be a lot easier. Cages might be a problem to store. I can see storage as a huge benefit to Hoodat's method.

I used bolt cutters to cut the panels. Just the thought of a hacksaw gives me blisters.

 

[hiker125]

WOW- These are awesome ideas.

HOODAT- Did your regular Hardware store have the PVC fittings to make those Tinker Toy Cages?

I LOVE PVC and think that would be strong, cheap, lightweight and easy to store.

 

[thistlebloom]

I used bolt cutters to cut the panels. Just the thought of a hacksaw gives me blisters.

Yeah, but great for an arm wrestling workout!

 

[lesa]

Through the years, I have acquired quite a collection of those cages. I used a few on the tomatoes last year- as usual, they were awful! They did work great for my cucumbers, though. I just had to get the vines started going up them, and it worked out great. Very little fruit on the ground, and much easier to see. A few vines grew along the ground, but a great improvement, over not having them.
I mulched under my tomatoes last year- and I was going to get them staked up (or something!!) I really was... but, I didn't. I had a big mess. I was tiptoeing through tomatoes, to pick tomatoes. This year, the minute I put the plants in the ground, I am doing something- even if it's wrong!!

 

[wifezilla]

Here is some inspiration...
http://www.mofga.org/Publications/M...0082009/TomatoTrellis/tabid/1019/Default.aspx
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/vertical-gardening-zm0z10zhun.aspx
http://www.kansas.com/2010/07/17/1407689/red-hot.html

 

[hoodat]

WOW- These are awesome ideas.

HOODAT- Did your regular Hardware store have the PVC fittings to make those Tinker Toy Cages?

I LOVE PVC and think that would be strong, cheap, lightweight and easy to store.

I got everything I needed at Home Depot. I used electrical outdoor conduit. It's cheaper than PVC pipe. I put them together without gluing so they can be knocked down at the end of the season or reconfigured for other crops.

 

[ninnymary]

Thistlebloom..thank you for enlightening me! Boy, you can tell I wasn't farm raised. You are right they are concrete reinforcement wires.

Love Apple Farm teaches a class on how to make them but it is too expensive. I think they use the HD stuff. I just happen to glance at them when I was there last year. Wished I had looked at them closer. But they were tall. I bet they used the 7' side for them.

Mary

 

[StupidBird]

Cattle panels look good, but an investment. Hmmm. Well, now what to do with the forty or so concrete reinf. mesh cages? Guess I'll put the cucumbers and peppers in them. The peppers way outgrew the puny little commercial tomato cones last summer anyways. (I bid $1.00 at the farm auction for the bundle of those little things.)

I like the idea of bending the 16 ft panel into an arch for walk-through - an way to utilize the paths for grow space (thinking pole beans and cucumbers, maybe those godzilla cherry tomatoes)