Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Tomato Cages, Varieties

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Tomato Cages, Varieties
  • Date: Sat, 03 May 2008 00:58:48 -0400

I now have the concrete reinforcing wire, but I used to use field fencing. If you have some stakes or bamboo rods, you can poke them through the holes in the fence (remember playing Kerplunk as a kid?-it's that game with marbles and sticks. As the vine grows, you put in another stick....no tying necessary.. the sticks placed horizontally through the wire supports the weight of the vines.
What I still do if I need extra support for a bunch of plants is I use cattle panels. 2 t-posts and a 16 foot panel(tie it with baling twine or whatever you have-no need to get fancy with bolts) will support a number of plants on each side. Dig a nice trough down the middle, under the fence and you have your very own tomato watering canal
Of course, if you want to tie, panty hose is wonderful, but old t-shirt strands are ok, too.
I've also have a 'fence' out an old mattress coils. Burn the mattress leaving the coils. Make an A frame from 2x4 and hang the coiled mattress from the top. (Picture a swingset without swings and toys, but instead a large mattress suspended from a side..) I actually think this is the most awesome thing because you can make it tall, and the vines will work their way through the coils to hold themselves up for the most part-I tie them anyway. Be sure and dig your irrigation trench that will water all those lined up toms at the same time.
I've found that the closer the top of the support is to eye level, the better shot I have of picking tomato hornworms off. They like eye level altitude for some reason. Of course, the ones doomed with wasp eggs are saved and released in an adjacent bed or in the compost bed....
Of course, if you have abundant water nearby, the upside down in the 5 gallon bucket thing does work. In the South, it is just a pain in the butt to water them every day or twice a day. You could probably rig something up if you were inventive, perhaps even using graywater or rainwater so the water cops don't get you.
Another thing that works, and you probably won't like this any better, but it does work,,,,is to lay a piece of fencing or an old chain link gate or something down and prop it on cinder blocks or something else that is a foot or more off the ground. What happens is that the vines grow up through the holes then as the weight of the vine increases, it bends and falls over onto the wire fence and begins to sprawl there above the ground instead of on the ground. The vines shade the ground, and you might could even grow something else in the filtered light underneath.It's cleaner, but you might want to watch out for snakes in the shade waiting on those rabbits. :)
I actually created a bed like that...4x8..used a piece of red top field fencing..and some scrap 2x4s. I planted a couple of toms at the north end and oriented the bed NS. The toms vined out and covered the entire 4x8 'bed'..Tomatoes everywhere. That method doesn't save space, but it could definitely maximize yield from a few plants.
Finally, I think there's the concentric rings plan of growing tomatoes..I started it one year, and the tornado that came ripping through dropped a huge 1000 pound limb onto the arrangement.. :(

Bev



Robert Walton wrote:


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
_______________________________________________
Homestead list and subscription:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
Change your homestead list member options:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/erthnsky%40bellsouth.net
View the archives at:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead





--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page