Ways to stake tomatoes?

[tortoise]

@frustratedearthmother mentioned the Florida weave. I had to go google it, very cool! I think this is the year I stake, fence, cage, or otherwise keep my tomatoes off the ground. I'm interested in ways to do so that work in large gardens. I expect to plant 30 - 50 tomato plants this year. How do you manage your tomato plants?

 

[CrealCritter]

I start off with 7' tee-post pounded into the ground about 1' deep. So that leaves 6' for the tomatoes to grow up. I then use lenghts of baling twine tied to the tee posts to keep them growing upright.

When they out grow the 7' tee posts I add 8' tee posts wire tied to the 7' tee posts. I don't pound the 8' tee-posts into the ground. So that will leave 8' for the tomatoes to grow vertically. Keep securing with more length of baling twine. Pray no strong south winds come along, my rows run west to east.

Add a guy wire at both ends of the rows with a 12 guage electric fence wire at approximately 45 degrees to bottom of more shorter tee-post to keep the rows tight and upright. Don't let them get out of hand or you'll have to use a come along to lift the rows back up while you secure the 45 degree guy wire

tee-posts and baling twine seems to work best for me. Tomatoes are heavy and need a really sturdy support to grow vertically.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Poorly. Lol. Following... I need tomato help! And those cages are stupid expensive.

 

[Beekissed]

I use cattle panels and T posts, weaving the tomato vines through the squares as they grow so I won't need to tie them up. I place the CP a foot and some off the ground to get extra height for the indeterminate vines I like to grow. I stagger plant them on either side of the CPs to get a good balance for when they get heavy with fruit.

Mama planting mater seedlings when we first started out with the BTE...

For the cherry tomatoes and the big Brandywines, the CP are often not tall enough and I'll get vines lopped over the top like you see in this pic, but a person can always lop off the vines when they get 6 ft or so to force more blossom production on the vines lower down. I've started to do that now, but this pic was taken late in the season when I'd stopped pruning much. This one is a cherry variety that had 10-11ft long vines...there is no trellis available for that, at least not in my garden.

I use the CPs for cukes, beans and peas also.

 

[Britesea]

Here's a couple of interesting ideas...

 

[CrealCritter]

I'm thinking that, if metal cages or trellises affected tomatoes negatively to such a degree as to cause poor yields and disease, someone would have noticed this by now and everyone would have stopped using metal cages around their tomatoes? Wouldn't ALL metal tomato cages get hot in the sun enough to damage tomato vines in this manner?

Having asked those questions, I have noticed more difficulty in my tomatoes since incorporating the CPs(we always staked our maters with wooden stakes)...but in my garden, I can't call that conclusive, as it was also the same time I switched to no till, BTE type gardening, which can also contribute to more disease and lower yields.

I'm doing searches on it and can't find anything about it, but will still do some experimenting in the garden this year with old fashioned wooden supports vs. CPs to see if I can see a difference. It would be interesting to see if this bears out.

If so, I have a ton of uses for these CPs and can go back to wood trellising easily, but I do love the ease of the CP trellises.

You know, I can see where worms and pest bugs would find it an easier travel to just walk down the fencing trellis, visiting each plant, as opposed to having to go to the soil to traverse between plants. Much disease and pestilence is carried by these vectors.

Could be why individual tomato cages wouldn't be affected by such a thing but a long, continuous trellis of metal would?

Interesting topic and worthy of experimenting and following up on!

I most definitely noticed a big difference when I stopped using the 2x4 galvanized fence. I'm not a plant scientist and I didn't even stay in a holiday inn express last night. But I could tell a difference.

 

[Britesea]

I have found that, though they take longer, Romas and other paste type tomatoes hold up better to early frosts. I'm still able to pick some when the beefsteaks are turning to mush.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

And those cages are stupid expensive.

And - never tall enough!

 

[CrealCritter]

That looks amazing @CrealCritter !!! How far apart are your tomatoes planted? How far apart are your rows? Do you grow determinate or indeterminate varieties?

Those are pictures are of last years summer garden. The 6 rows of tomatoes are around 35' long. Rows are spaced 4' apart and the plants are spaced 2' apart. I pack them in... The less sunlight that reached the ground the less weeding I have to do

There are two rows of my 3rd generation big beef steaks indeterminate. Two rows of 3rd generation regular eating tomatoes also indeterminate. One row of san marzano roma type indeterminate and 1 row of san marzano roma type determinate (bush type).

I wanted to give San Mariano's a try last year because everyone says they are like the ultimate roma tomato. My opinion... They grew well, put out plenty of tomatoes, sauced well. But for taste, I still prefer amish paste roma's so I'll be growing amaish paste indeterminate type again this year again.

 

[Mini Horses]

I've used the PVC type Bitesea pics (they dismantle for easy storage) ... another thing, those in high heat. low rain areas, you can pound a pvc in the ground , add water & have a soaking water supply. I've seen some plant in round configuration, PVC in center. It's inexpensive & save for re-use. Very easy for smaller gardens....those with huge, not so much.

I like the CP for sheer strength. For most that is enough. Some overachievers like Crealcritter, well --- he has his own working well!

MAYBE I will get something prepped to plant later this week. You know how "work gets in the way" !