How Do You Support Vegetable Plants?

Grow--I was about to say the same thing, nobody wears them in the deep south and hasn't since the 80's--LOL
Debbie

Wait, wait... I almost forgot. Dahlianut lives where it is REALLY cold and pantyhose do help retain body heat. Just hate to buy any to tie plants with... sorry.

Somehow the twine appeals to me more aesthetically than does wire. It looks so much more organic with the bamboo. The way we do it, it's almost like a piece of garden sculpture. Twine's easier on the hands, too.

Pantyhose? Well, yeah, I've got some, for special events - far and few between. But I wouldn't like them on my tomatoes.

Leslie

if you use cotton twine you can just cut those vines down and compost it twine and all

Certainly composts better than pantyhose....ok, perhaps I'm fixated...

Lots of people use pantyhouse for gardening - ties and pest control and such. Great for keeping the cabbage butterfly off the broccoli heads, I've heard. But I have such bad memories of trying stuff these sausages into 'em that I couldn't bear to look at 'em in my garden. Even when I was skinny I found them terribly uncomfortable.

So do you guys harvest this bamboo and use it right then? The bamboo stakes I buy are brown, looks like they've been dried out. Isn't fresh bamboo green? I think someone in my neighborhood grows it as a fence but I haven't gotten a close look at it.

Are you kidding about the grapevines? Now that I think about it, I do have a source for grapevines. Instructions, please!

Ms Marta (my wife) wears pantyhose. And I've never heard her complain about them except when they get runs. This has been an education that went far beyond "staking"! Panty hose, by the way, makes great "cradles" for melons and acorn squash if you raise them staked rather than "free running".

greenhouse_gal and I know different parts of France. And it is amazing how "local" farming/gardening techniques can be over here. Some is just tradition and some is taking advantage/adjusting to the local micro-climate. I can drive 2 hours in a circle from here and see 4 radically different ways of pruning and supporting grape vines! It really is amazing.

I noticed, for example, that the methods of supporting tomatoes shown on feldon30's website seem to all support what one might call "free run" vines. Here, everyone ALWAYS prunes their tomatoes. And, yes, Podster, most people around here also seem to strip those bottom leaves off. I have a theory about that. Various fungal infections of tomatoes are a big problem in our area. These fungi overwinter in vegetation that has not been removed from the garden, is spread by some insects, but mostly migrates in warm weather from its vegetal hosts in the soil to plants thanks to the "splashing" created by overhead watering. All the "handling" required by pruning of tomato vines also encourages the spread of disease. So . . . I suspect that the removal of lower leaves was developed as a way to prevent/hinder this. I've asked neighbours why they do this, and the answer is usually somewhere along the lines of : "Huh? Why wouldn't you?" Indicating strong tradition whose reasoning has not been passed along with the practice. I have also noticed that, failing to follow this practice because I got no good answer, I had more disease problems with my plants than did my neighbours.

Actually I think using the wire or twine would be far more efficient than grapevine. Not sure how tight a wrap you could make with the grapevines. Perhaps loosely winding grapevine around the bamboo trelli would be attractive and give vines steps to grow upon.

Can't you just see gardeners eyeing bamboo curtains to dismantle for tripods and trellis? LOL

On the lower leaf pruning, I was told it accomplishes two things here. One, to allow the nutrients to travel directly to the first fruit. Secondly, allowing more sunlight to the lower portion of the plant which is not critical in this part of the US. I can understand the soil borne problems and diseases.

Pantyhose culture... hmmmm. Would that make a good thread??!? Naw ~ LOL

Indy, when we cut the bamboo at our friend's we just stored it until we needed it and then plunked it in the ground. At the size I wanted it wasn't green; it was tan. Maybe just the younger shoots are green. Anyway, I don't think there's any need to season them even if they are green. They're hollow and they dry out pretty well themselves, I think.

I have a friend who uses concrete reinforcement wire for large, sturdy round cages for each plant, much like one of the methods on Feldon's site. He doesn't prune at all and he ends up with massive plants, but I don't know that he gets that much more throughout the season because I think his tomatoes stop producing earlier than mine.

I can't imagine how I would tie a proper knot in a grapevine, even though we have an arbor handy to the garden.

Do people really use pantyhose to protect broccoli and cabbage from cabbage worm? That's an interesting idea! Wouldn't a light row cover be easier, though?

Leslie

Weelll -I'm not voting for a pantyhose forum, though it might work well on the broccoli etc!!

Loving the tomato info, all! I'd been told that one removes excess leaves to save nutrients for the fruit...think I believe all theories for the time being...lol

I leave my tomato plants alone and they produce amazing amounts. lol

Bamboo canes of different lengths for toms and runner (Am. pole) beans. For peas I find last years raspberry canes fine. I push some in and plait the rest horizontally through them. I grow cucs flat.

For ties I try to use biodegradeable material like rafia.

Incidentally old pure wool socks compost well.

I STILL wear pantyhose. Have some knee highs on today with my slacks... and, I do keep the old ones to use as tiebacks for the 'maters...

However, in honor of Ms. Obama, I will be giving up my pantyhose wearing days, effective this Summer, or whichever day I begin to break a sweat!

How does this relate to Michelle Obama, pray tell?

Ooh, the places pantyhose leads us all....

Watch the clearance racks at Walmart and such. It is easy to find spools of narrow ribbon for a quarter. Also check clearances at fabric stores and get bric brac cheap. These make good tie wrap that does not hurt the plant.

Now that I have plenty of!!

I bet a lot of folks have plenty of ribbon and rick rack and such. Those clearance racks can be hard to resist. I mean after all for a quarter we will use it someday. Time to dig in the closet and find those bags of spools and cards of cool stuff we bought every year for the last 20 years. We just found a use for it! Check your mother's cedar chest, too. You know she bought tons of that stuff.

LMAO at you folks and the panyhose debate ^_^ Yupper I wear them here in the winter cuz it's very cold and I luv to walk. I recycle them by cutting them into thin strips which I use for tying up everything but my roses. I buy them in bulk at Costco. I don't think I would buy pantyhose just for ties though.

If you head to the "Pests & Diseases" section of our website, it does cover pruning off the bottom 12 inches or so of leaves, especially below the first fruitset.

This is for airflow purposes and the reduce soil splashback of fungal diseases onto the leaves.

My problem with pruning tomato plants to a central leader is the varieties I grow just go everywhere. Maybe folks are growing hybrids and market varieties that have somewhat well-behaved plants. I am growing 100 year old varieties which are obstinate and grow wherever they please. I've had plants with SIX main leaders, each of which produced several tomatoes. No idea how I'd prune that. ;)

Pruning also sounds like an awful lot of work.

Heh, heh, heh...the truth will out!!

Pruning is a lot of work. It starts from about two weeks after you plant and sometimes is daily for a few weeks. It increases air flow, reduces disease, and gives better fruit. The plant puts more work into supporting the fruit instead of leaves. This kind of effort is one the things that makes your home grown tomato bigger and better than the tomato grown in the field.

Kathy -ANYTHING I've grown has tasted better the the store-boughten stuff. But I appreciate the info! I always MEAN to prune...

I believe the 1st Lady is setting a style trend I can live with. Was not quite sold on going hoseless in my office. And I almost died when my niece told me that a PANTSUIT is the new interview standard. So, out with the hose, in with the pearls! Thank you, Michelle!

LOL I am very dilligent with my pruning of tomato plants. I keep it up very carefully for at least a week or two. It seems like all of the other garden chores take up too much time after that. The tomatoes are pretty much on their own after that. I only had one year when I truly took care of my tomatoes. I was renting and could not dig up my yard but I absolutely must have tomatoes! So I grew them in 5 gallon buckets. It is very easy to care for 4 tomato plants in buckets when what you really want is an entire garden. I agree with you. Every tomato from my garden tastes better than any that I have bought in stores and usually better than what I have bought from farmers market because all too often the sellers at market are bulk buying from large growers and then reselling so the fruits are hybrids designed to hold up during handling and not grown for flavor.

There are actually well-behaved tomatoes, feldon30? O need some!
Almost every tomato I grow is, like yours, old varieties.
But it's MY garden, right?
So I just (usually, most often) nip those extra leaders in the bud, and keep
the plants to one main leader, at least until late in the season and/or when
they have grown past the top of their stakes.

But, yeah . . . it's a lot of work (sigh).

Ribbon in the garden! Fantastic! My sewing phase is still young, so I don't have much ribbon to spare. But I'm done with my hemp jewelry making phase, so I have lots of hemp twine on hand for gardening.

I think in many cases, how you support your vegetables is a reflection of your personality.

Bamboo and rafia: earthy and focused on appearance
Tomato cages from the big-box store: practical and traditional
Construction materials: handy and focused on stability

Pantyhose: ???

After a month of brain numbing research on staking tall tomato plants, what cages are best, ladders, spirals, wire cages........phew!.........and even starting a thread on my own asking for suggestions.....I have finally decided what will work best for me. BocaBob explained how I could do what he does another way.

My tomatoes will be free-standing, out in the open, with no fence to tie anything to. I don't want to buy individual stakes that will never be tall enough or struggle though the local free, huge bamboo patch and have to cut down stalks, strip leaves and get fly bites even though it is free, nor make bamboo tripods, they will take up too much room for what I need. He suggested that I use 3 long wood cuts, like 2 x 4 x 12 or whatever (carpenter guys, I am a dumb woman and have no idea what I'm talking about concerning sizes of wood pieces, LOL), and hammer one piece in each end of my long tomato row, placing the third piece across the top and nailing it to the first two. Then, for every tomato plant, hanging long pieces of twine down. Using dirt cheap plant clips (if you can't find them locally, he sells them) and clip the tomato to the twine as it grows. The clips will keep it taught and upright.

My friend Linda (Pugzley) is going to do the exact same thing, but she is going cheap and easy with pvc pipe and pipe Tee's. THINK CLOTHESLINE HERE......two ends hammered in the ground, one across the top for your strings to dangle from.

Hope maybe this will give some of you a cheap and easy alternative. Although I know it may not be right for everyone I just wanted to at least share it with you.

Now a PVC clothesline I could do!! Did something similar with my cukes last year -it just wasn't tall enough.

Great idea as long as you make sure those end pieces are driven REALLY DEEP!
I did something similar one year with beans, and when the whole thing was heavily laden with a great crop, a gust of wind came along and, just for fun, blew the whole contraption over!
Imagine the weight of a few good tomato plants!
One reason for tripods at the end of rows is to provide stability and prevent that.
Otherwise, it sounds like a pretty good plan!

You know Jim...hmmm...couldn't you make a wood/PVC tripod at the end of each row and lay the other pvc across the top? 2 tripods, 1 cross beam. Thanks, great idea!

I just don't have the room for a tripod of any sort for each plant, but I am talking strictly tomatoes here,

No, I can see why 1 tripod for each plant would use a lot of space. I'm sure greenhouse_gal has some thoughts on that. But, yes, absolutely : a tripod at each end (if you do get much wind, make it w-i-d-e)
and a piece across the top. There's actually a picture of something just like this in one of my gardening books.

RIght, good plan for lighter weight plants. It is easy and quick for plants to create a wind resistant wall that blows down taking all of your fruits and hard work with it. I, also, have lost crops that way.

darkmoon (and others), 4x4 posts sunk in the ground with 3-4 ft "yardarms" (cross pieces) across the top will do you justice. That way the crosspieces will allow you to get double-duty from the 4x4 end posts, as opposed to a single board going from one post to the next.. And instead of using wood as the "third piece across the top" you will be able to use wire going from the ends of the cross piece to the next cross piece. This will let you have two rows of tomatoes being supported by half as many end posts, will give you the top wire to run your tomato twine up to, you'll have less money involved, easier construction, and easier tear-down at the end of the season.

Or if you don't want to tear it down each year do as I do with trellises and the following year grow early peas up it, when they are gone then grow your cukes up it, etc.

Ta-dahh ♫.

So now I can have TWO rows of tomatoes and I won't ever need to rotate?! Shoe!! (lol. sorry -it does sound wonderful! A good I-dee.

Horsehoe, I can't quite picture what you're describing. But bien sûr, Potagere, I use tripods with a tomato plant at the base of each pole, so my tripods (or occasionally quadrapods) sport several plants each. If you prune your tomatoes it works.

Leslie

Thats how I grow tomatos in the greenhouse; up twine hanging from the roof. Easy/peasy.

Bamboozlers and Pantyhose: Imaginative & prone to sing and dance.

{{{dahls -we might get booted by a hoseless foot, but where's the mimimi??}}}