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Growing Tomatoes

Is it too late to plop a texas cage on my tomatoes?

14 years ago

I was thinking of ordering a set...the plants are probably about 3 feet high now..should I just deal with one more year of unruly tomatoes at this point?

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Comments (12)

mwylie3
14 years ago
I dont think its ever too late. Just be careful when your putting it over the branches. And make sure to anchor that cage pretty good as tomatoes tend to get top heavy. Nobody should ever have to deal with unruly uncaged or unstaked tomatoes...
bigdaddyj
14 years ago
Three feet tall is no problem. They ship them quickly as I recall. They are wonderful. You'll wonder why and how you ever managed before them.
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Texas Tomato Cages: help me decide 20 or 24'
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I haven't used the extensions myself but I read on one thread that they make the cage unstable, plus it is hard to reach tomatoes on the top of the cage without a ladder. Since the extensions cost half the price of a full two piece cage, and only add two feet, economically you might be better off buying complete cages and splitting them up and adding the bigger sections onto your existing cages if you really need a taller cage. That way you would be adding three feet instead of two. If you ask them when ordering, they will include a handfull of extra connectors that you could use for this purpose for free in the shipment. They already sent me some extra tubular connectors with my last order. Tell them you need them because the ones you have are getting rusty, and they do rust because they aren't galvanized on the inside.
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Texas Tomato Cages
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Comments (15)
Actually, it does make sense forcing the branches back inside in many conditions & circumstances. I do it. It is more work though, and you risk the chance of snapping off branches or losing clusters, depending on how early you find them & try to put them back inside. Best to reach inside the cage and pull the branch back inside than trying to push from outside or weave it. On many varieties, you get an idea how tall the plants will be and you also need to take into consideration their spacing from other plants. You don't really want branches going from 1 cage into another, especially if it is a sucker with flower clusters. You also don't want flower clusters outside of the cage where birds or rodents can easily get them. I generally pull them in for the first month or more, forcing the plant upward inside the cage and out the top. In my area & climate, indeterminates are usually 6-7ft tall, or 12-24'' above the top of the cage later in the year--some cerries even more. I have had problems with plants collapsing because of fruit load but simply stick a bamboo stake inside the cage for support. Bought in bulk, they are around $1 each for 7-8ft tall bamboo in the 5/8'' to 3/4'' diameter. You can even go with thicker bamboo that is shorter, like 1'' x 5ft. You really only need to support it the first 3-4ft to prevent collapse. I even cut some bamboo into 2-3ft pieces to support pepper plants. I use the green velcro from H-D for $2.99/roll and leave slightly loose early in the year (only about an extra 1/8'' gap) and add a couple more velcro strips throughout the first 6 weeks of the season. I use a velcro strip every 12-18 inches. Of course, with Texas Cages, there is much less support vertically (about 11 verticals on a standard CRW cage about 18'' diameter and how many on a TX? 4?) Likewise with horizontal support--11 again, before anybody cuts any to stick into the ground on most CRW cages. I think if you can afford TX Cages with their huge gaping openings for the convenience of being able to store them instead of leaving them out all year, then affording the bamboo shouldn't be an issue! Hope this helps.
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Tomato Cages--Gardener's Supply or Texas Tomato Cage?
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Comments (10)
gardenzone4, like natal says I never had to extra stake a Texas ever. The long legs anchor well. I got the 24" because I never prune and grow monster size plants. I definitely have to stake my CRW cages though or they will blow over once full of heavy fruit. I space my Texas 4 to 5 feet apart and still the plants grow into each other by August. I have grown at least 100 plants in Texas cages and only once when I had a sickly, wispy, runt of plant did it ever collapse upon itself but it would have been the same had it been in a CRW cage. If you grow tall bushy plants it's not an issue. I construct my Texas fully at transplant time but you could just place the top piece on later if you like. Until the plants reach the 6' top of the cage I will walk by every other day and guide a few branches "up" to the next ring so they stay inside growing upwards and not outwards. Once they grow taller than the 6' top I stop that of course and then they start growing back down. Here's a pic of Texas in action: Notice the two tallest plants in the center. They are monster "Claude Brown NOT Yellow Giant" plants. One is about 7 feet tall and the other about 8. This pic was taken in July. They got even bigger as the season went on and like I said will grow back down again.
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natal
14 years ago
My first year using the Texas Tomato Cages. I've been impressed ... especially with the way they handle the rambling Sun Golds. Those plants are easily 14 feet tall, but started draping over the cages and other plants at about 7 feet. Still the cages haven't budged.

You shouldn't have a problem placing the cages (they come in 2 pieces) over a 3' tall plant.
jmwolff
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks! Just placed an order...now how do you "anchor them"?
tammysf
14 years ago
You just push them into soil/dirt
bigdaddyj
14 years ago
Yes, like tammysf says, just stick them in the dirt. They have 4 long 'legs' that get buried. There is no need for another brace or anchor. These cages do the job all on their own. Now you can dare a hurricane to mess with your huge tomato plants...:)
tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
This is what happens when your tomato cage isn't ample enough for the plant. ;-) I need taller cages! lol...will have to make do/jerry rig for this year though. Crappy quality pic, but you can see my rope rigging, which is the point. =)
apmonte
14 years ago
I ordered a set of six 24" cages at the beginning of the season (leaving me four short) and I just received my second set of Texas Tomato Cages last night to cage my four remaining tomatoes. My tomatoes are all currently about 3' tall. The cages went over the tomatoes just fine, but after being allowed to sprawl without support, some of them look like "special needs" tomatoes now that they are caged. All of the tomatoes caged from the start look superb. I'm sure with some time in the sun and additional growth, the newly caged tomatoes will end up looking normal as well.

Despite the expense, I've really been impressed with the Texas Tomato Cages so far. I had purchased them largely for their collapsible storage, but they are quite substantial and have worked out really well so far. For the convenience and my limited needs, I consider it money well spent for a hobby I plan to continue for the next 30 years.
tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
Yea...the one pictured above is an inch or two short of 6 feet tall. The cages are only 4 ft cages. It was starting to lean a bit too much, so I had to do something! =)
jmwolff
Original Author
14 years ago
So I got my cages!

Went on pretty easy except for the Matts Wild cherry which was really sprawling...there was some unfortunate snapping of braches...mostly at the end

I learned my lesson, and got a helper for the 2nd one.

Neatest set of tomatoes I've ever had!
tammysf
14 years ago
Looking good. I really love my texas tomato cages
bigdaddyj
14 years ago
Looking good! That Matt's was a really bushy one. You're going to get a thousand fruit with that one!

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