I found two pop up MESH hampers a couple years ago at Lowes. They were perfect because they were white mesh, allowed air flow, and had the zip lid. But after using them for a couple years and bleaching them to disinfect, they started to rot through on the bottom. I still use them but I had to buy the plastic bottom type things that you put under plants to cover the rips in the mesh. I have seen the rayon type ones with zip lids at Walgreens and the dollar stores- they usually are pink or orange - made with the lid like a lion's head or pigs head for kids. They were cheap - about $5 a piece but I wasn't sure that the air flow would be good enough so I didn't buy one. What I did get this spring and has worked great is a doggie kennel type thingie - it is rayon on each side but two sides and the part that would be the door have mesh windows. I bought the largest one I could get and I turn it vertical so the "door" is at the top. I can set a large potted milkweed in there and leave it for the cats to eat on. I have raised Monarchs, Eastern Blacks, and Gulf Frits in it without any problems. It collapes like those spring type pool floats for storage. I put one of the plastic plant bases in it for stability so I can move it outdoors to release the butterflies. They come in several sizes too. You just hose them out and let them dry outside when you want to clean them. I don't have the patience Tdogmom does for individual cups plus I don't raise many Monarchs at a time, usually less than a half dozen. Right now I have way too many ZLWs in one of my other mesh containers. But they have started making chrysalis now so its okay but I should have moved some of them to the doggie one. The problem with ZLWs is that they like to make their chrysalis on the tendrils of the vine and they fall off easily when other cats are crawling over them. Anyway, I got my doggie kennel at Target. Every once in awhile they go on sale. It was worth the money since it is so big.

Kawaiineko, For your dwarf tomaotes in containers (especially if you find the ones that are labelled heavy duty), you can probably use the tomato cages you buy locally, they just aren't big enough or heavy enough for most non-dwarf tomatoes. I do use them to support pepper plants, but some peppers may be too large for them. I know of gardeners who use cages for peas, beans, cucumbers, and squash. Another name for concrete reinforcing wire (CRW) is concrete remesh. Here a couple of videos that show people making CRW tomato cages. Making CRW Cages The fellow in the next video is making them from the 5' x 10' sheets, which will cost more per cage, but may be a better way for someone who only has a few tomatoes or wants to spread the initial investment out over time. One other "disadvantage" to using the sheets is that you have to roll them into circles where the rolls of remesh are already curved (more about that later.) Making tomato cages from remesh sheets The second video shows the fellow cutting the remesh with a grinder, I have used a jig saw to cut cattle panels, so I think you could use one on the remesh, or a sawsall, but the bolt cutters are hands down the easiest way to cut them. The link below is to a good page that shows yet another way to make the cages from the rolls. If you don't have a couple of helpers to stand on the wire while you cut it, you can use several cinder blocks or some other heavy items to hold it down. If you unroll it the way most people are inclined to, when you cut the wire, it can snap up and stab you with the nice points you just made. So the use of some kind of weights is important, along with a good bolt cutter (a small one is OK, but regular wire cutter don't work well, you'll wreck you hands.) Heavy jeans, eye protection, long sleeves and good gloves are other safety itmes to consider. If you don't have access to a pair of bolt cutters and don't want to buy them, look into renting them, you can do all the cutting in a short time and then form the cages and bend the ends as you wish. As you can see, you can cut and bend the wire ends in different ways, you just have to decide what works for you. I know of a gardener or two that don't leave the wires for twisting but use zip ties to hold them together and then they cut them at the end of the season so they can open the cages to nearly flat and stack them in less space to store them over the winter. Some people make their cages in 3 sizes, like 18", 22" and 36" diameters so they can nest them to take up less storage space. Others leave the cages in the garden. As for cutting off the bottom ring(s) to leave wire to push into the ground, you can do that. I prefer to use rebar stakes driven into the ground 12-18" on either side to anchor the cages. Of course, your mileage may vary. Betsy Here is a link that might be useful: How to make CRW Cages

You might want to visit home depot and see about some concrete reinforcing, you know, it looks like hog wire, only heavier. It makes a great tomato cage for not a lot of money. Also, if you have wild bamboo available, it makes a great cage, wont last forever, but good enough for the season. I agree with mulio and dave..get those babies off the ground, the plants will be healthier and the tomatoes will be easier to pick and care for. I never had good luck with staking, too much work for me I think, but cages work great and shouldn't cost that much for 20 plants if you get really creative with it. There are instructions on the web for building cages from bamboo(if its available to you) and also videos of a guy making cages from concrete reinforcing wire. Have some fun this summer with your tomatoes. steve

Yes, this year ... well actually this week ... I've come around to the decision to grow more than one cherry tomato vine in a wire cage. After reading sage advice about not pruning indeterminate vines and communicating with my tomatoes about how they'd prefer to live, I've become enlightened. So yestereday I had a fruitful one-on-one sitdown with a group of as yet unplanted cherry tomato seedlings asking whether they wanted to grow singly in a cage or whether they preferred a communal arrangement. All of the enthusiastic young plants responded that they would prefer to grow as a group in a large wire cage. They said they all would feel so much more empowered if they were able to remain as a gang rather than have to strike out on their own. They also told me they wanted to grow totally unpruned which didn't surprise me because cherry tomato vines really are like unruly teenagers who if left to their own ways would never bathe or get a haircut. So, I put five or six cherry tomato plants into one 24" diameter wire cage. I don't really know how many plants are in there. I didn't really keep count because they were all talking at once and it was really confusing trying to interpret exactly what they were saying and keep track of what I was doing all at the same time. Kinda like trying to drive an SUV full of babbling teens through Atlanta on the Interstate bypass during rush hour. But then I would do anything to indulge my tomato plants, because I believe you should talk to them as equals and let them express themselves freely so as not to unduly suppress their natural tendencies. We wouldn't want to end up with tomato vines who suffered from low self esteem now would we? That wouldn't be natural.