Ways to stake tomatoes?

[CrealCritter]

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... View attachment 6936

View attachment 6937

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.
View attachment 6935

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

Cattle panels are a great idea - I tried something similar but with rolls of 6' tall 2"x4" welded wire fencing attached to tee posts. The only problem I had was the fencing got to hot and burned the stems/branches/tomatoes or anything else that touched the fence. I also experienced several different kinds of diseases & disorders using fencing. Probably due to the fencing getting to hot in the summer sun.

So I abandoned that idea and settled in on baling twine instead. I experienced a vast improvement in both plant health and yeild, so I'm pretty confident it was a good decision.

 

[Wannabefree]

Okay I had to look up Florida Weave too...that's what I do with T posts and baking twine, only the instructions I saw said 2 plants between the posts..I do 4. Didn't know it was called that...didn't even know it had a name

 

[tortoise]

Heck no! Peas are the king of the garden! . Tomatoes second!

@NH Homesteader , I find that Roma and beefsteak are the last to ripen. If you are struggling to get tomatoes before frost, grow cherry tomatoes. They're a pain to pick, but easy to process for making sauce, just cook and run through a food mill! Easy!

I have read that determinate varieties and pruning helps you get to harvest faster. Also monitoring their care to keep them from getting vegetative. Apparently some varieties are more vegetative than others. This is all new to me - I read about it over winter.

This book is worth the price tag, even if you never grow in a greenhouse. I read dozens of greenhouse and growing books this past winter and spring. This is the only one I would read again. I might buy it even though I can get it from the library - it's THAT good! https://www.amazon.com/Greenhouse-Hoophouse-Growers-Handbook-Production/dp/1603586377

 

[frustratedearthmother]

@tortoise - thanks for starting this thread! I'm looking forward to hearing ideas. I staked a few today but it was basically a stop gap measure. I need to get my stuff together and do it right!

 

[tortoise]

Cages are never strong enough. They tip over or collapse under the weight of the plants. We've left ours to sprawl on the ground the last few years, but I need to do better with my garden space

 

[tortoise]

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

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I use panty hose rather than baling twine. I buy it cheap at Dollar stores. It has more flexibility than the twine, and stretches a little as the vine grows. I get fewer broken vines in the wind. It was my grandma's favorite use of nylons.
Nylons are also great in the fall for storing onions. Put one in, tie a knot, put another onion in, tie a knot. Keep going until the top of the hose. Hang on a nail in a cool dark place. This keeps the onions separate. When you want an onion, snip off the bottom one, and work your way up.

 

[CrealCritter]

I use panty hose rather than baling twine. I buy it cheap at Dollar stores. It has more flexibility than the twine, and stretches a little as the vine grows. I get fewer broken vines in the wind. It was my grandma's favorite use of nylons.
Nylons are also great in the fall for storing onions. Put one in, tie a knot, put another onion in, tie a knot. Keep going until the top of the hose. Hang on a nail in a cool dark place. This keeps the onions separate. When you want an onion, snip off the bottom one, and work your way up.

Flexabilty is the exact thing I try to overcome. When I tie up a stem I want it to stay where I tied it up. Gravity is a strange thing isn't it? It's always working to undue what your trying to prevent.

 

[Beekissed]

Cattle panels are a great idea - I tried something similar but with rolls of 6' tall 2"x4" welded wire fencing attached to tee posts. The only problem I had was the fencing got to hot and burned the stems/branches/tomatoes or anything else that touched the fence. I also experienced several different kinds of diseases & disorders using fencing. Probably due to the fencing getting to hot in the summer sun.

So I abandoned that idea and settled in on baling twine instead. I experienced a vast improvement in both plant health and yeild, so I'm pretty confident it was a good decision.

Wowza!!! You must get some mighty hot temps where you live, Critter! I've never felt these CPs grow hot in the sun...I think I'd notice that. Always cool to the touch...maybe your fencing was a dark color that absorbed the heat?

I'll have to try a few experiments in the garden this year with trellising and compare the tomatoes not on the CP with tomatoes on the CP of the same type and planted in the same area and see if there is a difference in disease and yield.

Good heads up!

 

[CrealCritter]

Wowza!!! You must get some mighty hot temps where you live, Critter! I've never felt these CPs grow hot in the sun...I think I'd notice that. Always cool to the touch...maybe your fencing was a dark color that absorbed the heat?

I'll have to try a few experiments in the garden this year with trellising and compare the tomatoes not on the CP with tomatoes on the CP of the same type and planted in the same area and see if there is a difference in disease and yield.

Good heads up!

It was just your standard run of mill gray colored galvanized fencing. And yep it sure got hot in the afternoon sun, there is no shade on my garden It's in full sun from dawn until late in the evening.