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Growing Tomatoes

Texas Tomato Cages ?

15 years ago

I am seriously considering the use of Texas Tomato Cages.

I understand the COST factor.

I understand the use of concrete re-wire home made cages.

Please give me some positives, negatives of TTC's.

John

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Comments (10)

louster
15 years ago
The Texas Tomato Cages are expensive, but for us, well worth it! We have ordered 30 of them over the past few years, and don't regret it one bit. First, we are not very accomplished do-it-yourselfers. Second, we have limited space to store them in the off-season, and, folding them up and hanging them in the shed is a wonderful thing, along with not having to wrestle with them and untangle them in the spring. We bought them a few at a time over several years, so that it was easier on the budget!! We love them!
loagiehoagie
15 years ago
I bought six a few years back and liked them so much I ordered another twelve, so I have eighteen now. If I had more room I would order more, but they are really great and I don't regret buying them whatsoever. I think you would like 'em!

Duane
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If you order direct from the manufacturer the price of the six foot high 18 inch and 24 inch is exactly the same, $99.95 for six of them, plus $32.70 for shipping, so might as well get the bigger ones. BTW, the ones that nurseries sell are only five feet high, but you don't need to buy six at a time. However most of them have it figured out that you end up paying the same per cage as if you ordered from the manufacturer including the very expensive shipping charge. You do save the sales tax though by ordering from the manufacturer unless you live in Texas.
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Tammy: I would say if I had a choice I would have gone with 24" cages. But living in Bay Area with a retaining wall I didn't have a choice. My did reach about 9 feet tall, but it wasn't as bushy on top as the heat came in by then. So I probably could have done without the extension. You can decide for yourself after a year growing. The vets here can probably make better suggestion if you post pictures of your yard. They actually have 20" cages which I found at Yamagami's for a whopping $27 a piece. I contacted Carolyn who told me that those comes in one piece so only sold by the pallet. If I can only
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Thanks, Johnny... the width is something I hadn't considered. I'm planting with 2' spacing so I think I'm going to get the 18" Texas Cages. I don't mind a little pruning but won't do anything near what i did last year. I was doing SFG and really pruned... didn't work for me so well and my friend in Oakland who just threw some maters in a box of American Soil had 8 foot plants that just produced all season non stop. I'm in Walnut Creek and with our heat out here I expected better results than I had and I was totally jealous of my easy-going friends success and here I was all detailed with the SFG approach and it was a total failure. Are your seedlings in yet? Do you plant anything other than tomatoes? (I'm also struggling a bit with how and when to plant my other veggies like squash, beans, chard, and still leave room in the garden to transition to things like broccoli for fall, etc.) I can't seem to find any reliable date from the master gardener program about when to plant things. Do you go by frost dates? And did you get that crazy hail a couple days ago? We did here, and now I realize why the proverbial "they" tells us not to plant maters too early. thanks for your help! -kmama
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Comments (15)
Actually, it does make sense forcing the branches back inside in many conditions & circumstances. I do it. It is more work though, and you risk the chance of snapping off branches or losing clusters, depending on how early you find them & try to put them back inside. Best to reach inside the cage and pull the branch back inside than trying to push from outside or weave it. On many varieties, you get an idea how tall the plants will be and you also need to take into consideration their spacing from other plants. You don't really want branches going from 1 cage into another, especially if it is a sucker with flower clusters. You also don't want flower clusters outside of the cage where birds or rodents can easily get them. I generally pull them in for the first month or more, forcing the plant upward inside the cage and out the top. In my area & climate, indeterminates are usually 6-7ft tall, or 12-24'' above the top of the cage later in the year--some cerries even more. I have had problems with plants collapsing because of fruit load but simply stick a bamboo stake inside the cage for support. Bought in bulk, they are around $1 each for 7-8ft tall bamboo in the 5/8'' to 3/4'' diameter. You can even go with thicker bamboo that is shorter, like 1'' x 5ft. You really only need to support it the first 3-4ft to prevent collapse. I even cut some bamboo into 2-3ft pieces to support pepper plants. I use the green velcro from H-D for $2.99/roll and leave slightly loose early in the year (only about an extra 1/8'' gap) and add a couple more velcro strips throughout the first 6 weeks of the season. I use a velcro strip every 12-18 inches. Of course, with Texas Cages, there is much less support vertically (about 11 verticals on a standard CRW cage about 18'' diameter and how many on a TX? 4?) Likewise with horizontal support--11 again, before anybody cuts any to stick into the ground on most CRW cages. I think if you can afford TX Cages with their huge gaping openings for the convenience of being able to store them instead of leaving them out all year, then affording the bamboo shouldn't be an issue! Hope this helps.
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geeboss
15 years ago
Texas Tomato cage looks to be one of the best available and for good reason. Well made, foldable for storage,galvanized no rust and will with stand the weight a large havest of tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: look at bigdaddyj tomato cage and harvest
bigdaddyj
15 years ago
I agree with all who responded so far to this thread. Texas cages are wonderful. I now own 12 Texas and 8 CWR homemade jobs. The CWR are weak wimpy things compared to the Texas! Before I ever saw a Texas I thought the CWR's were the greatest. But man the Texas destroys the CWR's every which way you consider. The Texas are twice as thick, a foot taller, fold flat, don't rust and never need supplemental staking. If you enjoy this hobby as much as I do it is money extremely well spent.
natal
15 years ago
No rust? Seriously? Any Louisiana-users?

I used homemade concrete-reinforced wire cages for years. After a decade they looked like crap ... bent out of shape and covered with rust. Used a trellis system for a few years and that worked fine, but I was constantly tying.

Last year I used plastic-coated 8' metal stakes for most of my tomatoes and a couple obelisks for my Sun Golds. That worked out pretty good, but again, I was constantly tying to the stakes.

I was thinking about buying another obelisk (always looks pretty in the garden ... and at this stage of my gardening life that's important), but I'm intrigued by the great reviews on the TTC.
jel7
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for all the responses.......all positive.

Please tell me why Texas Tomato Cages do NOT need staking.

Are they pushed into the ground?

Is it the extra weight (construction)?

John
bigdaddyj
15 years ago
Natal, No rust? No. None on the Texas Cages. Seriously. My CRW cages are about 13 seasons old now at least and are so rusted and brittle they are falling apart in spots but are still usable I'd guess for a couple more years.

John, They have 4 strong legs that can be buried deeply into the ground and I've never had a giant tomato plant topple on me ever using the Texas. I must rebar stake my CRW cages though or by September my plants are falling over cage and all. You can see under geeboss' link. He was nice enough to go back and post pics. Now, I never prune and grow 4 feet apart and by September I have monster sized plants! The CRW are fine for determinates but not giant tomato plants...
jel7
Original Author
15 years ago
bigdaddy,

Thanks!

I enjoy this hobby, like you, and I like my garden to look neat.

I will order the six pack plus one of the large cages Monday.

John
lamb_abbey_orchards
15 years ago
I spoke with the folks at Texas Tomato Cage today to see if they offered a price break for quantity purchases. They indeed do, but you'd have to order 8 dozen of the largest cages (24" x 72") which would basically amount to one full palette.

I'm going to need 96 cages, so this works for me. But there may be others in this thread who could figure out a way to split a palette between themselves and someone else on here and save on cost. You'd just have to figure out the logistics of having a split palette shipped to more than one location.

The wholesale price I was quoted was $12.97/cage (freight not included), and this is with the understanding that you're buying the largest size (24" x 72") and that you're buying 96 cages and having them delivered to one location. If you were to just buy six of the same size cages, they'd work out to be $16.66/each + shipping.

Hope this helps!

John
archerb
15 years ago
For those in Central Texas that don't want to pay the shipping, The Natural Gardner in Austin TX carries these. I don't remember the exact cost, but I believe it was comparable in price to what you can get off the website. Certainly better if you are at The Natural Gardner anyway, which I highly recommend as they usually carry some pretty good stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Natural Gardner

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