I think the point in training them to the trellis is to control how they grow and to make berry picking easier. Also the canes are not strong enough to support all the fruit it makes. I had some canes last year that got so heavy they just laid in the grass and the fruit ruined. Those things grow like crazy too!, I had to pull some canes out of the ground because they had rooted and shot up more plants 4-5 feet away in my grass.

Wow! Thanks so much for all the great feedback and advice, it is very encouraging. I'm glad it looks pretty much like what everyone else has experienced. I was a bit worried I wouldn't find many here who have tried this method or are trying it. Windclimber, Thanks for the advice and the encouragement not to feel like such a noob. My first year, last year, it became such an unmanageable jungle with those flimsy circular cages from the garden center, I wanted to try something completely different. I did have a bit of trouble driving the stakes in with the mallet, I'm planning to have DH give them all a few really good whacks. I meant to make marks on them to see if they had been driven in at least 24 inches, but I forgot in the heat and excitement, plus I had an electrical contractor about to arrive any minute yesterday, and wanted to get the weave done. Next year I may try something differnet like the panels you suggested, if this doesn't work out. I look at the garden as one great big experiment. I'm going to try not to get too stressed out with the tomatoes (yeah, right, that'll happen!) Digdirt, what kind of mulch would you suggest? I have a circle hoe, which has helped me with keeping the weeds down so far, but of course, they keep right on popping up. What kind of mulch do you use? Dave1mn2, Thanks for suggesting that I wrap the string around each intermediate stake, I hadn't thought of that. I wanted to make sure I could pull the string nice and tight when I got to the end of the row. I've read, maybe here, that some people wrap the string around a little stick at various points and tighten the string like a tourniquet if it needs tightening. I might try that. Shoot, I never thought of using guy lines. I did read to drive those end stakes in at an angle, though, which I did. Terrybull, I was thinking I might run another string high across the top, and then if I needed it, I could run a vertical string down to wind around the main stem, and secure it to the ground with ground staples. That's kind of combining two methods together, but if I need it to keep them upright, it might help. Or would wood be better? I was afraid wood would make the whole structure top-heavy. Sprtsguy76, I will definitely have DH give all the stakes a real good pounding with the hammer. He has the upper body strength, plus he's taller than me, I had to stand on a little stepladder to reach the tops. I'm sure that sight gave the neighbors fits of laughter! Until last year, I grew only flowers, so they already think I am the crazy garden lady. Johnny_tomato_seed, I was a bit lazy on the pruning last year (my first year growing tomatoes), and that's one reason I think they got so unmanageable. So far I have already taken off lots of the mangy old spotty and yellowing bottom leaves, and I'm trying to be good with taking off the suckers. Sorry about the sunburn on your neck, Ouch! I'm trying to keep the bottom one foot clear too, taking off all the leaves up to the first branch with blossoms, as they kind of die off. I have quite a few Celebrity in there though, which their tags say are determinate, and they have actually tried sending up suckers from dirt level. Should I be leaving them alone to sucker? The rest are Hawaiian Pineapple, Cherokee Purple, and one Big Rainbow (which is still little and I don't think has a single flower on it yet, and has somehow ended up with two main stems). Oh, I have one Purple Cherry, which I don't plan to prune at all. I'm trying to keep it isolated from the others on the other side of that Herbs sign. Last year it snaked all over the place (but the tomatoes were sweet as candy). Lehua13, I hadn't heard of tent staking the end stakes, if they start to sag or get drawn toward the center as the plants get heavy, I might try that. What should I mulch with? Has anyone tried that red plastic mulch? Does it really increase production? My CSA, which will also be giving me tomatoes, has mulched all of theirs with plastic.

I had a similar experience myself. I ordered some sempervivum seeds from Amazon, they sprouted after 3-4 days, but they stayed like this for months! It didn't look right, and I binned them. It looks like a scam, and I am wondering about writing a negative review. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00N15340Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage) I also got lots of succulent, sedum and cacti seeds, but apart from the cacti seeds that are growing ok (From Amazon), I seem unable to sprout anything that I got from the Ebay sellers, the seeds just get a bit of web mould and nothing happens :( The little cacti sprouted longer than 2 months ago, and haven;t grown much since then.

looks good, but if you plan on maturing that plant there it's going to need a LOT more light and lower light on the sides, as a result, also prepare for more heat generated (even cfls generate a bit of heat in an enclosed area). it will likely out grow that area in a matter of a month.. so start planing on moving to a new area unless you plan on pruning heavily to keep it compact. i would lower the lights to no more than around 8-10 inches above the top of the plant, lights are too high to start off, otherwise they will get leggy.. tomatoes in hydroponic grow extremely fast.. unbelievable fast - under the right conditions they can grow about 1 inch per day. i would add some fertilizer to the water because they grow so rapidly that in a matter of days you'll have the first set of leaves.. start with about 200ppm of fertilizer, work up from there and once it starts flowering increase to max of about 900ppm (you can go higher, but depends how mature the plant is). good luck!