Support preferences

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michelle W. Flannery on June 8, 2009 at 9:17pm

Tamra had a discussion like this back in January. You can check out her discussion here to see what members said.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roxana on June 8, 2009 at 9:22pm

The link is not found, if you mind posting it again. :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ian on June 13, 2009 at 10:17am

The discussion Michelle refers to should be found here

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Karen Stavert on June 9, 2009 at 9:51pm

Last year, we used stakes. Left most of the leaves on the plants (after
they finally began to grow again after dealing with curly top disease)
and they grew out of control.

The plants got so big that they were growing into one another. Made
it really difficult to find the fruit, let alone pick it.

They were also so heavy that they kept falling over so had to continually
add more stakes.

This year, we are trying a vairation on Mittleider method... planting them
about 8" apart and religiously removing all suckers. So far, they are all
doing marvelously. We are now adding the strings to train them to grow
upwards. Already have tomatoes on several of the plants.

Will let you know how it goes. Karen

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roxana on June 9, 2009 at 10:11pm

Wow, that's great to know! Thank you so much for the feedback, Karen! I struggle a little with the curled top of my tomatoes, however the newer leaves are coming normal. It's so encouraging to know that your tomatoes came back! This is my first year, so I guess I'm allowed to fail! ;)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Stuart Millar on June 12, 2009 at 1:37pm

I copied someone's advice, John i think from earlier in the year. Still haven't got round to making them, but they look a great idea.

Attachments:

• How_To_Make_the_Best_Tomato_Cages.doc, 1.2 MB

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joy Williams on June 13, 2009 at 12:54pm

That's what I did, except I used 7 foot tall concrete reinforcing wire and supported them with 5 ft rebar, dug in 2 feet into the ground and attached them with plastic wire ties:

and here:

You just push the plant in when it starts to grow out of the cage.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roxana on June 20, 2009 at 4:11pm

My neighbor gave me some of these cages. Will see how the caged tomatoes will do versus the staked ones! Thanks for the wonderful pictures!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ian on June 13, 2009 at 10:20am

HI, This year I'm using a spiral metal stake.... It seems to be working well,. You just kind of show the tomato plant where it is and they climb up it all by themselves..

Ian

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roxana on June 20, 2009 at 3:50pm

Maybe you can post some pics later on, Ian; I was wondering how the spiral metal stake is doing when the plant is full of fruit. I liked the accessability of it. Maybe next year will do that. Now I do just stakes, and it seems like I have to tie them every day + heavy pruning...

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steph on July 1, 2009 at 6:54am

It takes a bit of work to put these together but they work GREAT! I pound a short stake notched at the top to hold on to a center piece of twine. Run twine straight up from stake to bind three tobacco stakes into teepee. As the tomato grows we wrap twine around teepee.

Attachments:

• IMG_4431.JPG, 395 KB

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Glenn Fletcher on July 18, 2009 at 8:20am

I really like the rustic look.Re-cycling at its best.

▶ Reply to This