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Growing Tomatoes

Anyone ever try a trellis to stake??

13 years ago

HI! I have 2 Celebrity's in the ground, and an excess of plant trellises (the 6 foot kind). I was reading in a gardening magazine about various ways to stake tomatoes. They mentioned a trellis. I tried to figure this out, has anyone every tried this? The goal is to expose as many leaves, etc to sun and keep off ground.

I'm just wondering due to my excess trellises in garage. The ones that are kind've V shaped, the start out narrower and end up wider. Metal.

I don't even know how tall Celebritys get, experimenting. Thoughts?

Amy

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Comments (5)

bigtomato
13 years ago
I've never tried this, however I would offer the following points:
1. Normally I've seen these types of trellises propped up against a house, or another strong structure. If you did this, half of the plant would likely be in shade, which is less than ideal. This could lead to the shaded area of the plant not drying properly, which is really bad for tomatoes.
2. If you are using the trellis out in the open, I believe it would be OK, however tomato plants can get very heavy when wet and weighed down with tomatoes, so I suspect you would need to support both ends with something else (possibly fence stakes).
3. Since the trellis is 2 dimensional (as opposed to a cage which is 3 dimenstional), you will constantly need to keep pushing the vines back and forth through the trellis structure.

Good Luck.
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Julie717
13 years ago
Are the tomatoes planted next to a fence or something that would support your trellises? That seems like the limiting factor to me--you would need some really sturdy supports to keep the trellises standing up.

I haven't grown tomatoes on trellises, btw, only annual flower vines, and I alway had to attach those to a fence or building.
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greyandamy
Original Author
13 years ago
Hmm, thanks both of you! I do have fence stakes to support trellises but I'm not to fond of that... No, the tomatoes aren't near the fence (My clematis are)...

I did know about the need to constantly train the vines through, as the article mentioned. But now I'm beginning to rethink.. .THANKS!!!
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lewski
13 years ago
Hi, Amy.

Celebrity is called a determinate tomato by some and semi-determinate by others. Although I have not grown it in years, it should not require that tall a support. It is indeterminate tomatoes that continue to grow all season and require tall support. A stake or cage should be fine for Celebrity. Hope I have been helpful.
Lew
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hellbound
13 years ago
i use something simalar to what u discribe, i put a 5' wire mesh on t posts spaced every 4' along my block wall i left a 6" space for them to breath although here in phoenix we don't have to worry about much moisture the only short fall is trying to get the tomatoes on the back side other then that it is working great plants are well over 7' allready loaded with fruit
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