I built my own free standing cages out of scrap 2x2s, 2x4s, and lathing. For each section I make 2 eight foot 4x4s by nailing w 2x4s together. Place them parallel around 18" center to center like a rail system. The containers sit on top of those. Last year I got 4 containers per 8 foot section but the tomatoes didn't do so well so I'm reducing it to 3 or less this year. Cut a bunch of 2x2s 6 feet or more and nail or screw them on each side of the rail. Last year I put vertical 2x2s every other container but this year I'm putting them in between every container. Then cut up a bunch of lathing, drill holes on each side, and screw them into the vertical poles, every 6 inches or so. The lathing supports will keep the entire structure sturdy so the wind won't blow it over. If none of this makes sense see the pic of last year's cage in the link below. What I like about this cage system is it's free standing and sturdy which really helps keep the plants from blowing over and flopping everywhere. I've used stakes in containers and they never worked for me. This takes a little up front effort but after its built you don't have to worry about it all year. I think one of my biggest problems with growing tomatoes in containers last year was that 2 feet separation is not enough so I'm increasing it to 3 feet this year and hopefully that helps. Here is a link that might be useful: 2007 Tomato Patch

That is a gorgeous picture - congrats on growing those beauties. Its too late for this year, but a couple of suggestions: Peony rings with the criss/crossed grid inside the round frame - will hold up the lower stems and the plant grows right through it. you can get these really tall. Tomato cages work also. Ditto the linking stakes that you sink in the ground and then have like a hook and eye attachment - you can make your circle any size. wooden stakes or green bamboo and string will loosely hold up the billowing stems and you can get them in place after the flopping starts if you have a helper. I use 8 ft green bamboo stakes and green garden twine to tie up some things like dahlias, Lilium Black Beauty - 7 footer. But the very best holder upper I've ever found is the plant itself. If you haven't read Tracy diSabato-Aust's book called the Well Tended Perennial Garden, she describes in great detail how to pinch or prune plants to make the plant more compact and delay blooming. I have started to cut my heliopsis in 3 layers, kind of like a wedding cake - shortest on the outside ring, then another layer that ends up about 4 ft tall. The center is left alone. This doesn't have to be so exact because I want the plant to look relaxed and natural, not rigid and defined, but it does prolong the bloom time and also the outside rings hold up the center on what has become a very large plant.

This Forum is primarily for IDing sources for heirloom flowers and veggies, etc., and not for culture, growing methods, etc., which occurs in the Forums devoted to them. Is what I wrote above and in no way was I being mean or nasty or contrary, as has been suggested, but not in so many words. I was making a suggestion that I thought would give maximum input to the poster, which I see as being paramount. Those of you who know me know that I spend untold hours answering questions in the tomato forum as well as here and almost alone I answer the disease questions in the tomato pest and disease forum. When I first got to GW I too came here to this Forum since my major interest was heirloom veggies. But when I came here I looked at the kind of threads being posted and saw that none were about culture of heirlooms. I was also told that culture questions were handled in the various forums and I found that to be true. Yes, for discussion of heirloom plants as cited above, as in where can I find seeds for this or that variety, or where can I find plants of this or that Dianthus or whatever. And since I knew there were several threads about staking/supporting tomatoes already in the tomato forum I thought, and still think, it was the place to refer someone to before those threads scrolled off. Any person posting deserves to get the most input possible about questions, and many more toamto growers post in the tomato forum than read/post here, for over time, and before I came to GW, heirloom tomatoes, and now I mean ALL aspects, have been discussed in the main Forum. And maximum input means that when someone e-mails me directly for information I ask them to post publically. That's b/c GW is a public message forum and all questions and answers should be posted publically. No one person knows everything, so the goal is to get as many responses/thread as possible. I haven't felt very good reading the criticism that some of you have directed my way, but so be it. plsgorw, it seems to me I've answered some stuff for you in the Tomato Forum already, or perhaps you did e-mail me at home and I suggested you post publically for greater input. Yes? And I will continue to help you and other folks as I already have when I feel I have something to add that hasn't been already said. After posting here at GW for several years I've been able to transmit a lot of what I know about heirloom tomatoes and I see that others to whom I passed on that info are now using it in answering others. And that's the way it should be. So each year now, I expect to post less and less and let information be continued to be passed on. if growing about 2000 varieties of heirloom tomatoes has taught me anything, it's taught me that the best thing I can do with that info is to continue with my SSE membership to distribute new varieties, I don't know if I'll continue with my seed distributions here at GW where I've already distributed over 300 varieties, and most importantly, to pass along information on all aspects of tomatoes that I've learned from my research and my growing of them. Carolyn, who has been growing tomatoes for about 55 years, was raised on a farm and still grows the majority of her tomatoes by sprawling except when she's waiting for a quad muscle tear to heal and expecting a hip replacement will be necessary for her to walk again. And I'm waiting now and going on month six in the walker with possible surgery in the Fall.

My yellow manzanos that are outside got too much water during the last rains and lost all but a couple leaves. I cut off the branches that were drying out and now the plants have each grown more branches to replace the stuff that died and also grew 2 additional branches comming from the plant under the soil-looks like 3 separate plants that were planted too close together. I have a couple more sprouted manzano seeds growing indoors now. I'm going to see if I chop the ends of all the branches off when it gets the size the ones outdoors were when they lost their leaves and branches if they will grow 2 more stalks too. I might dig one of the 2 outside up to see if the branches are from the roots or from the trunk of the plant thats under the dirt. I think the extra 2 branches will make my plants much bigger assuming they keep growing along with the original branches etc.These branches are growing like new plants. I may have found a way to get manzanos to bush out faster during the first months of growth which would be cool since they usually don't put out much growth or peppers till the second year. Both manzanos are in 2 gal. planters.When I transplanted them from 4inch pots to the bigger ones I put the soil up to the place where the seedleaf was. The nights have been in the low 40's for almost 2 weeks. It's raining now though so I might have a water problem if the days don't warm up after the rains.