You can cage it right with CRW or a texas tomato cage, you can stake it or trellis it, or if you have the gumption you can let them sprawl. I have Texas tomato cages and I do some combined sprawling and staking as well(I may train a leader or two but the rest can go to ground and go wild). The cages you have are great for dwarves, peppers and eggplants and such.

Thanks.

What's CRW?

CRW= Concrete Reinforcing Wire

You can buy it by the foot at home improvement stores. Roll it into a cage, clip the bottom horizontal wires so you have spikes, and stick it in the ground.

I think you can stake and cage if you want. Mix it up a little and see what works best for you. I found some great 7ft plastic stakes with metal cores at Lowes for about 2 bucks a piece. I'm going to use those for most, and play with some other ideas to see what works well. Good luck!

I second the concrete reinforcing wire. We tried it for the first time last year--using 5-foot wide CRW and making into cages--half of them 24" in diameter, and half 18" in diameter. The reason for the different sizes was for nesting during off-season storage.

On the bottom "rung" we clipped the horizontal sections, leaving vertical spikes with vestigal t's, which are sunk into the ground for additional support.

The gaps between squares are large enough to get a hand through for picking fruit, they are big enough to support the vertical growth, not a single one blew over, even in wind storms, and it did not require any additional staking.

We grew about 30 tomato plants last year and had plenty for fresh eating and canned gallons of sauce.

OK, I get it. In fact, I found a link with a photo.

My beds are 36" wide and I only have access from one side of the bed. The other side is blocked by a deer fence.

If I plant the tomatos one direclty behind the other (with ~18-20" spacing), do you think I'd be able to get to the back row of tomatos if I place tomatos in both rows in CRW cages?

Or, will I need to offset the position of plants to allow access to the back row?

Thanks,
Guy

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1308405}}

Guy - I still think that would be too close together. I see that some folks recommend 48", but I don't have enough garden space for that. I use 36" between plants and that seems to work well for me.

I plant 2 rows using a straight galvanized fence with a 1" X 4" mesh for support. That mesh is really too small. The 6" X 6" mesh of the crw would be better but I don't use it because it rusts. If anyone knows where to get galvanized CRW, please let me know.

On another row I use a combination of wooden stakes and steel fence T posts. The T posts aren't much more expensive than wooden stakes and are much stronger.

John A

I staked the bottoms just to anchor the cage. The cage is actually two 3 1/2 foot sections of concrete wire on top of eachother.

John,

The 48" recommendation is for tomatos in cages? Or, is that for tomatos with neither cage not stake (ie, left to prawl)?

I ask because Cornell recommends 24-36" for unstaked indeterminates.
Guy

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell CE--Tomatos

Even a sickly caged or staked determinate will be 1.5' in dia. by seasons end.

3' or more would not be unusual.

Maybe a trellis would suit your needs better?

I'll be trying a Frorida Weave this yr. but this is just the first one that popped up when I searched for Galvanized Cattle Panel.

Here is a link that might be useful: For cows or toms

The cage isn't intended to contain the whole plant. The plant bushes out from it. The purpose of the cage is to keep it upright and growing up. Most people I chat with here, and on other forums, feel a 24" cage is pretty standard. That's what I use. You can go large if you want two plants in the cage, but the larger the cage the harder it is to reach inside to the center, or wherever you might need to, in order to harvest your tomatoes. CRW is good since the openings are large enough to get your hand in and out. It's very frustrating to build a cage and when it's time to harvest you realize you can't reach the tomatoes.

You will be fine with a 24" cage. I probably have a hundred that size.

Hope this helps.

Don

"I think you can stake and cage if you want. Mix it up a little and see what works best for you. I found some great 7ft plastic stakes with metal cores at Lowes for about 2 bucks a piece."

Hello grow-em-maters , I was just wondering if these were actual plant stakes or some sort of building supplies. The reason I ask is I am going to Lowes and wanted to look at these , and I wanted to know what department of the store to look. Or what to ask for.
THANKS
CDG

Thanks Dave. The 16' cattle panel may be the right solution. 52" height seems a little short though.
John A

John, You can buy longer T-posts and mount the cattle panel a foot off of the ground if you want to. I plant toms on two 16 foot horizontal panels, beans on two vertical panels (one panel cut in half), and cucumbers on one arched panel. At the moment I have sugar snap peas growing on a horizonal panel. They will be taller than the panel, but I just let them droop over. I wish I had bought more than five. They are great.

"Hello grow-em-maters , I was just wondering if these were actual plant stakes or some sort of building supplies. The reason I ask is I am going to Lowes and wanted to look at these , and I wanted to know what department of the store to look. Or what to ask for.
THANKS
CDG"

They are plant stakes. And I made a mistake, I got them at Menards, not Lowes. Found them in the far corner of the store close to the door going out to the garden center. I seen some yesterday at wallmart too, but they only had them up to 6ft and they were a little skinnier. Same brand though. They are green plastic with little nobs all the way down that keep twine from slipping. Very sturdy and much better than the bamboo I used last year.

chris

I cage my tomatoes, and stake my cages. It's tough to put a full grown tomato plant back in its cage after a 70mph wind blows the whole thing over and strips the cage half off of the tomato plant.

I use two 1/2" re-bars per cage, pounded 18" into the ground on opposite sides of each cage, and wired top and bottom to the cage. This is what I have to do to keep them vertical. We have had at least one wind of 70mph each year since I have been growing tomatoes.

Tom