I hate tomato cages.
anney
18 years ago
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vrie
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Crazy Tomato Cage :)
Comments (5)I hate tomatoes cages. I used them in the past they limit the tomatoes trees from spreading its branches and producing more tomatoes. Beside it is a pain the A getting to the plant for care like fighting insects, fungus or fruit rotting. I am back to the good old tomatoes sticks and I can control it in any manner....See MoreAny advice on making tomato cages?
Comments (15)Yes! When my flimsey storebought wire cages collapsed under such tremendous bounty, I did the smart thing and built the cheap, easy, super-strong trellises detailed in Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Garden website and book: Electrical conduit is simply a metal pipe roughly 3/4 inch in diameter that is cheap at 25 cents per foot. You get two lengths about 8 foot, and one length about 4 foot, and two screw-on conduit elbows. Or else if you have a conduit bender and don't need to take it apart for easy storage, just bend conduit into a 4'X8' rectangle. Then you get two lengths of rebar (also cheap) about 2 to 3 feet long, and drive into the ground where you want your trellis, with either a hammer, or as in my case, just pushing with your hand (I have very soft, deep soil) until it's halfway buried. Then slide the open legs of your conduit onto the rebar, to hold it upright. Then get nylon netting from the garden dept. or a nursery, that has 7 inch square holes. These are easy to reach through. Then it's a matter of cutting it to fit your frame, and tying it on by each pair of cut netting holes. Use a square knot, not a granny knot, so it won't slip, and stretch netting as tight as you can so it will hold weight without sagging. Done! This netting will not rot, and will hold any amount of weight... if you use steel fence posts and have firm enough ground, you can even grow pumpkins or melons up that trellis and the netting will support them, and the pumpkin vine will grow stronger to hold the fruit unassisted, if you let it. This method also cuts down on disease because your tomatoes are more open to the air and light, than they are when you use cages. Just be sure to weave the flexible growing tip of the tomato plant in and out of the trellis where you want it to grow, because if you let it get mature and then try to train it, it can break....See MoreCan I use Lysol wipes on my tomato cages?
Comments (2)Why would you want to do that? There could be no infection/infectant on steel in the sun(?!). Besides, in outdoor condition you cannot control things. Lastly, the cage holds/spports the plant not the fruits directly. OK!.Maybe you want to make sure no disease causing fungus from last years crop is on them? In that case I would just spray them with the strongest soap/disinfectant I can find, let them stand for a while and then hose'm down....See MoreNo more Mr. Cheapy, I need STURDY tomato cages that will last
Comments (25)I think this is a good thread and it shows diversity in supporting tomato plants. I , for one,. use CAGE, Stake and WEAVE ( not necessarily FL). I like cedar stakes. Just yesterday I bough 3pces of 2"x4" -12ft cedar board at 70% off, at HD. I cut them into 2pce, 6ft each then I rip the into 3 pces. Each 6ft stake cost 65 cents. I can even make cages with them but cages are hard to store off season. That is why i like stakes. I have considered using EMT and PVC, but so far cedar stakes have won the contest in my garden. For some DETERMINANTS top notch 3-ring cages will suffice and they are convenient. But for INDETs, you will need CRW material that you can depend on. So the bottomline is that there is no single right way. If you are busy, have job, family to take care, probably caging is the best trouble free option. But you want to do lollygagging in the garden ( have lots of free time) do staking, weaving, tying, more tying :-)...See Moreanney
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