I don't know what you mean by a "Texas" tomato cage, but yes, any fence type structure is fine for peas. I used regular tomato cages one time for sugar snaps, which was OK until they started to produce pods, the vines grew far taller than the cages, and then they flopped. Lesson learned -- just make sure the size of the support matches the potential height of the variety you grows. Regular tomato cages are fine for short peas, it takes something taller for a taller pea. I'm guessing that "Texas" tomato cages are big and tall?

Commercial growers worry about things like ease of harvest and uniformity of fruit size, and they tend to have much more intense disease pressures than hobby growers. People who cage generally just let the plant grow as it will. Pruning is reserved for dying or diseased leaves, aside from aggressive removal of leaves from the bottom of the plant to keep foliage away from the soil. Some people will prune off growing tips once the end of the season gets near in order to try to ripen up the fruits already on the plant before frost. Others don't bother and say it doesn't make much of a difference. Some will cut off the tops once the plant grows as tall as the cage, but others will let the vines flop over the top of the cage and continue to grow and hang down. Regardless, the leaves are where the plant produces the sugars and other nutrients that go into making the fruit, so there's some logic to the idea of keeping as much of the foliage as possible. Disease is what you have to weigh against that, so it's a balancing act. Length of growing season is also a consideration. Is there a point in letting a plant get huge and wild and produce a gazillion flowers and set a ton of fruit if you don't have the time for those fruit to mature before frost? Also, if you want to plant a lot of varieties but have insufficient space to let them all grow into huge, caged plants and are OK with a smaller harvest from each plant, you could prune enthusiastically and grow the plants closer together. It's really a matter of what your goals and needs are.

Wow, I did not think so many people did not clean them, well I mean disinfect, not clean for prettyness. Non of you guyshave a problem? Maybe the chance of carrying over semething from last year is not that high? Anyway, thanks for your responces. I still like to disinfect them anyway so not to take a chance and have something happen after all my hard work. I just hate using bleach because I always ruin some kind of clothing no matter how careful I am, plus I live on a lake and I try not to use stuff that can harm the wildlife. But it is not like the amount a bleach I use could hurt anything. I was thinking maybe an organic fungicide might work but I guess not. I also have this stuff called Physan 20 which is suppose to be an awesome disinfectant for plants and tools but I see no mention of being used on veggie plants so I was afraid to use it on my cages/stakes. For some reason, the hydrogen peroxide link does not seen to go to where I think it is suppose to go? Thanks! Christy

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.