Mudman, I now use homemade cages. But, when I was staking them, I was using metal "T" posts for steaks. If it looked as if the vines would grow taller than the "T" posts, I'd do one of two things. I'd either tie the plants as close to the top of the stake as possible, allow them to "flop" over, and grow back down toward the ground, or I'd tie an additional length of stake (two by two lumber that I ripped down from two by fours) to the original stake.

At first, a lot of it depended on how early in the year the plant reached the top of the stake. But, the older I got and the more afraid of climbing a ladder in the garden I became, the more often I allowed them to "flop" over and grow back down toward the ground. Regardless which method I used, I never had any problems.

As you contemplate which you want to do, keep in mind how tall you are and how willing you are to climb a ladder in the garden... if you need to! And, being on plowed ground, the ladder probably won't be that steady!

I use 6' CRW cages but also used to use stakes until I finally figured out how much better cages were. Mine were 6 feet (above ground height) wooden stakes and when they reached the top, like beebiz, I just tied them off near the top and let them drape back down.

If you want to use stakes consider going with the Florida weave instead.

Dave

I put some bamboo stakes horizontally from one stake to the next, and trained some branches to grow 5' up and 5' over(or more). It keeps them off the ground, and easy to pick at eye level.

I had the same problem! When I bought the plants my husband suggested to use only a 4 foot cage. I told him that I have read that plants can get up to 10 feet tall if not taller. Well I didn't push too hard and went with the smaller cages. Now my plants are well over 7 foot tall and my husband had to build a cage to go around the existing cages. He built it out of wood we had left over to make the raised bed. It is massive, but it works. We were able to put side rails at different heights to encourage the growth upward and over. However, my plants are not done growing. They will outgrow the massive cage and at that point they will have to just drape down. So you could build a bigger, bulkier cage out of wood or PVC or some other material of your choice for this year and use it as a learning experience, as I have, for next year. I don't think I would ever try staking after seeing how jungle-like my plants have gotten. Good luck!

I don't like to stake or cage until bloom (stronger plants that way) But my mom insists on babying the plants.
After about 5 years of having this debate with her, she now agrees that it's better not to stake or cage till bloom, (depends on how strong the winds can get) but we usually cage when their just starting to produce fruit.

Caging is way better IMO, unless you make a cage out of the stakes! or stake them from the start, this way the plant can get a good hold, otherwise you could end up running around tieing them up adding more stakes and dealing with rot.

Thanks alot everyone. I wondered if I could just let them come back down so I think I will go that route. I have used and built every type of cage there is and every year the tomatoes grow large and a storm comes through and knocks them over. After that any tomato near the ground gets eaten by slugs. Last yr I staked them and the wind couldn't touch them. Not one tomato lost to slugs. I am sold on staking. It also looks very appealing to me.

Mudman, you could do what I started doing after winds knocked some of my 6' tall cages over. I drove a stake (t-post) down next to each cage and tied the cage to it! I get the benefit of the room inside the cage and the wind resistance of a stake! I'm sure they can still be blown over. But, I don't think a hurricane has ever made it in as far as West Tennessee!! LOL!!

I use PVC for cages. Works wonderfully. When the
plants get to the top, I let them flop back down.

Follow the link for more info.

ashley9597 - your experience with cages and building
a bigger cage from material on hand is how I stumbled
on the PVC cage thing.

mudman93 - try my cage design. I had one poster years
ago tell me it stood up to a hurricane the best.

Here is a link that might be useful: PVC Cage link

Thanks for trying to help but I will not go back to cages. All I had to do to start staking was buy 8ft. rebar and hammer them in the ground. Done. I am not spending any more time or money on cages when the staking works so well for me. And they store well too. I have twenty tomato plants, and would need to rent a storage unit to store all those cages.

I now use 8 foot 2x2 8 feet apart, one 2x2 to join across the top. then use butcher cord down to the plants. then just wrap around and around all season long, worked so great last year nothing on the ground at all and very easy picking

One obvious solution is to grow short plants called determinate. Rugose would also work.

My favorite to grow is Jet Star and amazingly about 90% of people I have talked to this year are growing Jet Star. It may not be #1 in flavor but it is on the top list of good tasting varieties. It probably is the #1 best tasting hybrid or certainly in the top 3. Morton Hybrid, Jet Star and Supersonic. The 3 old Harris hybrids.

Here is the system is i used. The tomatoe plants were planted in a single row about 12 inch apart. Each plant staked individually with a 6 foot 2x2 stake. I used extra stakes and a piece of 1x2 pine tied to these stakes in a horizontal fashion to strengthen the whole structure and provide more areas to tie the tomatoe plants up. I used construction grade tie wire to tie the horizontal wood to the upright stakes, but im sure u can substitute many other fastening techniques. I use old tee shirts ripped into small shreds for tying the tomatoes to my grid system. So far it working good. The tallest of the plants is higher then that stone wall which is about 4 and a half feet or so and still growing. Im not sure what im gonna do when the plants reach 6 foot plus. Maybe top them off and encourage the growth to the tomatoes and sucker growth?