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["Robert Walton" <waltonrp AT gmail.com>]

OK, Gene brought up tomato rotations, how about staking or caging?

 I've got a few flats of plants, still small, I started the seeds late
this year. I'll probably start setting them out in the next couple of
weeks, I've found that it's best not to get too early here with
tomatoes.

For the last two years here, I've not staked tomatoes. No time. Just
mulched them with straw and let them ramble. I hate that, because they
ramble all over, I can't walk through the patch, harvest gets
difficult. My tomatoes have grow so well that rabbits live in the
maze. One way or another, I'm getting them off the ground this year.
It's better for me and better for tomato health.

I travel all over Southside Virginia for my job, and check out gardens
where ever I go. Last year I saw a patch that had maybe 25 tomato
plants, in wire cages. I liked that.

Looked up how to make the wire cages, and went to Home Depot tonight.
150' of concrete reinforcing wire is $90. I can make 30 cages from
that, Walmart has premade wire cages for $5.99 each. Yikes! I'll have
to shop that price, I was expecting $60.

I've seen ladder style cages made from wood. I figure I can make
something like that from saplings that need to be cleared. I can wire
them together with scrap wire.

Last year I tried the "Florida Weave". Hated it. The twine broke,
vines fell out, etc.

Other option is a stake per plant, pruning and tying, seems like a lot of 
work.

What do you folks use?

The fun part of tomato growing is the varieties. I grow Brandywine,
Arkansas Traveler (a favorite), Marzano and Pittman Valley for canning
plums. This year I am trying Rutgers, I broke down and bought a 9 pack
of Homestead plants also to try.

I'm down to a few bags of froze toamtoes and fewer jars. The drought
last year busted me, need a good crop this year. For me freezing is
easy, I wipe them off, put them on a tray or something and freeze
them. Bag them later. When you want to use them, just take them out of
the freezer and let them sit a bit. Skin comes right off and you can
take the stem core out too. Lots more time for that in the winter!

Rob - Va