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Growing Tomatoes

Help! Which one of these 6 should I stake?

15 years ago

Hello tomato experts! I grow in a very small plot in an organic community garden in urban washington, dc. My dilemma: I only have room for FOUR plants in my four large, sturdy tom cages, but yet I went ahead and ordered SIX plants from the excellent Darrel at selectedplants dot com. In order to get maximum yield, I'm hoping you'll advise me about which one of the following five plants to stake (the sixth is a Bradley, a determinant that I'll grow in a large pot):

Black From Tula

Aunt Ruby's German Green

Brandywine Red

Yoder's Yellow

SunGold

Your thoughts about which would take best to pruning/staking would be MUCH appreciated!

Thank you!!!

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Comments (5)

andreajoy
15 years ago
i would use 6 foot bamboo stakes rather than a sturdy cage for the sungold because the fruit is light and won't need something super strong to hold it up.

i've also allowed my sungold to sprawl...and it did pretty well...not a whole lot of pest issues. i've found that even when i do stake the sungold..the plant is so big and lacy that it sort of starts to sprawl anyway.
digdirt2
15 years ago
I'm not familiar with Yoder's Yellow but of the others I'd agree that the Sun Gold should do ok with a stake. As an alternative, consider 2 stakes, one on either side of it with some line weaved zig zagged back and forth between them (Florida Weave it's called). Some of the fruit clusters can get heavy and it would give you more places to support them. ;)
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aka_peggy
15 years ago
Geez, sungold is one of my larger tomato plants, I can't imagine not caging it.
andreajoy
15 years ago
well..sungold IS a large plant..but i'm thinking because his other plants have large fruit..he might be better off using the cages on those.
sorellina
15 years ago
Black From Tula has always been more of a compact indeterminate for me, never growing over 5'. I'm in a much different growing zone than you, though. I think as long as the stake is quite sturdy, i.e. I wouldn't use bamboo for it, BFT should be ok with a stake. I use 2x2" cedar stakes for my tomatoes. Aunt Ruby's German Green DEFINITELY needs major and I mean major support. This is a monster plant that, in ideal growing conditions, can reach over 8'.

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