Can I grow SPAM in it?

Of fill it full of SPAM?

Mike

1.This thing looks like a piece of crap and it probably wouldn't even hold up a dandelion.

2. This is definitely SPAM.

SPAM Yes and he is posting it on all the tomato staking/cageing discussions.

Dave

You would think a spammer would try to be a little less obvious! Something like: I use this kind (with a link) and it has worked great. Or, I posted this in a couple of other threads regarding staking, here's (with a link) what I use and like.

Maybe spammers' brains have turned to mush and they really think they are fooling someone. But... I did get an e-mail the other day that apologized for all the fraudulent Nigerian Money Scams and to show how sorry they are, I am entitled to $450,000 US dollars. All I need to do is give them my bank-account number, SS number, date of birth, name of my dog (OK, not the dog!) and they would transfer the funds!

Mike

It's tomato Spam. Go stuff it!

Wait that's rude...I'm sorry, I always try do something educational and sharing. So how about we combine all that into something we can all learn from and enjoy! (well, maybe)

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes stuffed with Spam!

I meant to order a stuffing tomato, may still do it. I like the idea, but instead of Spam, maybe tuna salad.

Mike

My Mom did them with mac salad. Yum!

Mmmmm...pan fried SPAM on a bun with some mayo & tomato....*drool*

It smells so good when it cooks too.

Roasted spam. YUM.

Fried with a slice of cheddar melted over it. Now that's GOOD Spam.

come on get a Real job,you internet telemarketer

I gave it the benefit of doubt and checked the site.
The "ring" idea looks good, depending how reliable and strong it is.
Another thing is the cost. Each ring costs 3 bucks. And certainly
you will need more than one ring per plant, maybe 3 of them.
You also have to buy your own rebar. That is another 3 bucks.
So you have to spend $15.00 per plant. And if you have 20 plants, have to shell out $300. DuHHH(ship'g hand'g extra)
I just use one rebar per plant plus few more and FLORIDA WEAVE.

I hate to admit this, but I've actually tried the Veggie Cage thing they posted. I gave them a shot just because I saw a few of them and I already had 7 ft. wooden stakes. Believe it or not, they did hold up plenty of heirloom tomatoes. It wasn't as labor free as a full cage setup, but my only local options at the time were one of these veggie cages or the stupid (and worthless) 4ft. wire cone shaped things. This is not to say I endorse the use of these cages, but if you doubt they could hold up a 6-7 ft. beefsteak tomato loaded with fruit, I could post a pic.

The are two main problems I had with it:
1.) It narrows as it gets to the top, and towards the end of the season, it gets a little unmanageable and you may get a few broken branches, etc.
2.) You need to check on your tomatoes every 2-3 days and pull any and all branches growing outward, up and through the center.

The cage is fairly narrow so you have to train a lot of leaves and branches through the center. For people with a ton of plants, this just wouldn't be practical. For me it was OK since I was in my garden pretty much everyday. And yes, the cage does sag down as it gets loaded with tomatoes, but not enough that any of my tomatoes were near the ground.

I need a few more cages this year, but I'll probably just shell out the cash for the Texas Tomato Cages, it's a bit of an investment up front, but they should last for years and I don't plan on stopping growing tomatoes in the foreseeable future - so I'll get my monies worth with time saved and ease of storage.

For many years I've used concrete remesh wire. It's 5' tall and I make the cages about 2' in diameter. I set either a t-post on just one side to anchor the cage, and tie the stake to the cage, or two smaller posts, one on each side and tie them to the cage. The remesh is strong and has holes about 6" big all around, so you can pick tomatoes from anywhere. I've had as many as 125 of these cages, because that's how many tomato plants I once planted. Storing them when not in use does take a lot of room! I live in the country, so that's not a problem for me. You can buy this at places that sell concrete. I don't know if you can buy it at places like Lowes or not. You get quite a bit of the wire mesh in a roll, so maybe you want to find a friend who also wants cages.

I take a 1.25"X4' steel stake and drive it a foot or more deep and work it in a circle to enlarge the hole. Then I take my wooden 1.5"X1.5" stakes and drive them in about 6" from the plant when they are plated. I tie the plants to the stake with yarn. When the plants are about 2.5' high I start tying the stalk to the stake. You need to keep tying the stalk to the stake as the plant grows or the plants will collapse from the weight of the tomatoes later on. I had that happen last year being the newbie that I am. I would only ever use stakes but that's me.

Another thing I found useful was 12" shish-kabob sticks from Walmart, 100 in a pack for about $1. I place them in the pots for support after I transfer the plants from the 12oz starting cups before the plants go into the hardening greenhouse. This works out great for planting out afterwards. I also take a bunch of the sticks and lay them out on a newspaper overlapping two of them by 4" next to each other. I take elmers glue and put a couple drops on the overlaps to bond the sticks. You end up with 20" supports. In my 6" deep pots I have 14" of support
to tie to. My plants are usually 18-24" high when they are planted out to the garden.

shish-kabob sticks
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Every week I prune, wrap and tie the plants with yarn. In 2008 we had over
150 tomatoe plants. I went through about 1200 feet of yarn. I like my plants to
at least look nice for a while, not sprawlers.
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I get my pots from local restaurants. Just stop in and ask them to save them.
These are usually mozzarella containers. I have over 150 saved now from
the past two years. If you keep them out of the sunlight when not in use they
will last for several years without getting too brittle.
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Here is a link that might be useful: Mom's Garden Pics