When I made the decision to plant an inordinate number of tomatoes this year I didn’t quite think the whole support system thing all the way through. Technically tomatoes are a trailing vine and left to their own devices they will sprawl all over the ground. Backyard farmers, in years past, needed to maximize their garden space and started supporting tomatoes on, well, whatever stood upright. This was all well and good if you are growing the determinate Better Boys or other conventional tomato plants. Those of us who go out of our way to find the “ugly” heirloom tomatoes need something a little more substantial.
Last year I started my experience with heirloom tomatoes. I grew three and all of them bent the cages over by the end of July. We ended up using wooden stakes and fashioning makeshift cages. That worked until the end of summer.
This year I had planned to do the same thing, but since I was growing 10 varieties the cost of stakes was going to be more than I could really afford. Instead I came up with a plan to do it the old fashioned way. Stake and tie. Each plant was staked when it was planted (no plant was over 18″ tall at that point) and I used hemp twine to affix the vines to the stake. Each week I go out and survey the plants. I tie up where necessary and let the rest roam around in the beds. I did cage one variety that was supposed to be a smaller one, but I used one of the little cages instead of my big sturdy one (which is currently being used as a peony cage). The branches quickly outgrew the cage and the stems started to snap under the weight of the fruit.
I am quickly realizing that stake and tie was not the best plan. Ok, maybe it’s the stakes or maybe the size of the tomatoes. Either way we are now putting out support lines to hold the stakes up. I am going to have to rework my cage plan for next year. I would like to purchase Texas Tomato Cages, but at the price they are asking I simply cannot afford them. I may devise a PVC pipe plan.
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Yep, I too went through great pains to figure out how to support tomatoes. The cages were flimsy and were blown around by wind, toppling the plants with them. The stakes – same thing. I finally tied them to the deck strip above the plants, but since they have no fruit yet I don’t know how that’ll work once they’re much heavier. Sigh.
Tatiana´s last blog ..I grew a zucchini and then I ate it
But at least your cage/stake problems means your tomatoes are growing! My one sad little tomato plant experiment this year has produced about 3 tomatoes.
Our tomatoes all fell over last year too, with the standard tomato cages. This year, we bought hog or cattle fencing from the farmer supply place, and bent them into shallow W shapes. They’re 4′ x 8′ (after they were cut in half to get them home). So then we planted a tomato in each ‘v’ on both sides, and the tomatoes are growing up and we’re weaving them through. If they look like they need support on the third side, we can attach bamboo stakes or even just string or something across between the outside points. It’s an experiment, but so far it’s working waaaay better than the usual cages, and some of the cherry tomatoes are already taller than the 4′ fencing.
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