Ideal opening size for tomato cages?

14 years ago

This year's tomato cages are cylinders of leftover fencing material with 2" wide Ã 4" high (5 Ã 10 cm) openings. The openings are too small to reach my hand and arm in too far, making weeding awkward, and smaller than a big tomato Â so during harvest I wind up passing tomatoes up hand over hand to the top. On the other hand, they keep the vines in line fine; 4" Ã 4" openings might give the branches too much room to escape.

What have you found is the ideal opening size for your tomato cages?

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Comments (10)

matermark
14 years ago
6x6 is about right... some are hard getting out though.
spiced_ham
14 years ago
I think I would prefer the wider rectangular openings found on some stock fencing, but that fencing has other problems so I'm stuck with 6x6 CRW. If I ever get a 4 lb tomato I will just take out the bolt/wire cutters and snip out a wire.

I think that if I had your 2"x4" cages I would only partially close them into a "D" shape with some additional cross wires and sticks so that I could get to the tomatoes though the open backside. I never considered escaping branches to be a problem. They either get tucked back in or tied to the outside.
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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
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nygardener
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, here is an earlier discussion of CRW cages.

I guess CRW is concrete reinforcing wire a/k/a re-mesh.

I think I'll try some made with that next year and see how I like it! Seems to be a popular choice here.

spiced_ham, thanks for the idea of leaving the backs partly open Â I'll do that if the hand-over-hand business really drives me nuts.

Mark, let's see pics of some of those tomatoes that won't fit through a 6" opening!
avid_hiker
14 years ago
You gotta be able to get your hand in and then be able to pull out the fruit. My cages have 6x6 openings. I would cut the cages in places that will allow you to get to the fruit (and weeds) easily. Be sure to file off the edges of the tines or you will (absolutely will) slice your hands all up reaching in and taking them out of the cages. Next year make some cages out of concrete wire (they have 6"x6" openings and last for years) or buy some larger cages from a specialty store. The cages you get at ALL the box stores and nurseries are crap if you have indeterminate plants. they are ok (and I mean only ok) if you have the bushy indeterminate plants. Even then I would cut my cages in half I ever grew the smaller bush variaties. Be sure to stake the cages into the ground because if a full cage falls over the plant could very likely be pulled out of the ground - roots and all.

Tom
korney19
14 years ago
nygardener: Mark, let's see pics of some of those tomatoes that won't fit through a 6" opening!

Here are a few:

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Considering you need additional room for your hand, I can probably post another 100 or so pics of varieties besides these above that are already larger than 6 inches...
avid_hiker
14 years ago
6"x6" CRW. You can get out even the largest tomato.
Bets
14 years ago
6"x6" CRW. You can get out even the largest tomato.

Apparently not.

Bets
jwr6404
14 years ago
I use 5ft fencing from Lowes/HD. It has 2" x 4" openings. I cut out openings that are 6" x 8" at 3 intervals around the cage at the same height. At a higher level on the cage I repeat but offset them so that the 2 levels of openings are not aligned vertically. Doesn reduce,noticeably the strength of the cage. I often have had to add height to the cage and may need to add another level of openings.
Jim
tammysf
14 years ago
Holy cow those are some big maters.

Avid-hiker: those aren't gonna fit through 6"x6" openings.
avid_hiker
14 years ago
LOL - Turn them lengthwise and they will come out.

I think a 6"x6" cage is actually about 7" on the diagonal, that will get them out.

The 7" on the tape measure is for the long side. So my comment still stands 6"x6" should do well for just about any tomato. Well I have not seen a Big Zac yet so I might be a bit premature.

Great job on growing those (what look like) fabulous tomatoes. Hope mine come out as nice.

tom

Ideal opening size for tomato cages?

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