Tomato caging/staking idea

Some things are just so simple. Most of us set a tomato plant inside a wire cage. So why not put the cage in place, anchor it down with a wooden stake or two, plant the tomatoes around the outside, fill the cage with mulch and compost materials over the summer and just tie the tomato plants to the outside of the cage with twine? The mulch would break down over the season feeding the tomatoes, and we wouldn't be having to reach inside through the wires trying to get to the ripe tomatoes. Why didn't I think of that?

mary e - i posted that exact same message a little while ago. i found it in a new magazine i found. i believe i posted it in the tomato forum.

Hey! good for us! Great minds as they say. I found mine in an old magazine so this one has been around for a while. A good idea bears repeating.

We had a severe rain and wind storm yesterday(Thurs,)that blew some of my 20in. pots over. If it weren't for my staking them in their pots and using the "Ultomato" tomato cage, I know I would have broken stems or worse broken trunks.

tplant, tell us more about the Ultomato cages, I couldn't find it in a Google search. Your windstorm sounds impressive, I fight wind here, too.

The"theultomato.com" site is down. the distributor is "Outdoor Seasons,Inc. 2201 S.Wabash St., Denver,Co.Zip ? Stock #TMC60 The Ultimate Tomato Cage.
The cage consists of three rods, 4ft.+ high, green poly coated, and 9 green plastic cross snaps on brackets. Set the rods in the ground in a triangular shape around your plant and use the snap on brackets,horizontally, to close the triangle. The brackets can be adjusted for the plant support as needed. I also use a 6ft. rod of the same material but purchased seperately, in the center as a support and a guide for the main stem. As the plant grows and starts to spread, I open the bracket on that side, either raising or lowering it to the need, and gently nudge the branch back inside the cage or pen, whichever you prefer to call it.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2004 5:12 PM

mary e - a while ago some posted on the tomato forum and good way for staking tomatoes. he sunk a pole into the ground on one end of a tomatoe row then one in the middle of the row and one at the other end. he repeated this on the other side and starting about 6 inches from the bottom he wound twine around the poles moving up about 6 inches every time he went around the poles. when he was finished, all he had to do was place the branches of the tomato plant on top of the twine to keep it upright. hope you can understand what i'm trying to say.

Mary, I raised tomatoes that way for years before we got the raised beds. I made the cages with both heavy wire and wooden pallets. Both worked great. The pallets kept dogs and cats out better or maybe I just didn't see them in there. I dug back under the compost and left only about 3 inches of a 12'" plant on the outside when first planted. As they grew I tied them to the wire or boards. Harvests were fabulous. Probably better than any others I've ever had. At the end of the season I either took apart the cages and scattered the compost, then started a new pile inside reconstructed cages or built new ones and raised melons, cukes, etc. on the old ones. One year I raise tomatoes around the bottom and carrots in the top of one cages and cukes on another one. As the tomatoes climbed up the cukes hung down. It was quite interesting to see.

Hope to have my hubby will be willing to build me a couple of these this year. I found last year that those so called tomato cages just weren't built heavy enough for my tomatoes last year; they bent over.

But then we have the fencing to make these as well.

My dad swears by the concrete reinforcing wire stuff for his tomatoes. It's usually sold in a roll and has large square openings (kinda like huge rabbit wire or chicken wire fencing). It's about 4-5 ft. tall. Anyhow, he cuts sections of it and rolls it up into a circle (exactly like in Coco's post) with the tomato plant in the center. He puts an old coffee can around the plant (those biggest cans at the grocery stores, with the top and bottom cut out) and then puts the cage around all of that. The coffee can serves to concentrate the water on the roots when he waters, and helps keep out cutworms. He uses this same stuff as a sturdy trellis for his peas and cukes.