In article , EV wrote:

Phaedrine Stonebridge wrote:

In article ,
(Frank Miles) wrote:

In article , hawk
wrote:
Every time I have staked tomatoes, the weight of the tomatoes
causes the plant to slide down the stake and the result has been
the same as no stake.

Regards, hawk

On 8 Sep 2003 08:11:50 -0700, James
wrote:

I grew a few tomatoes without stake or cage this year. Seems
like it's a better method. You get a lot more tomatoes
because the stems root themselves on the ground and
multi-stems also increases the number of fruits.

So is the one stem on a stake method just a waste of time?

I've _always_ staked, and never had this sliding problem. Maybe
it's my choice of stake -- I rip 2x4's into 2x2's, and there's
plenty of roughness. Just tie around the stake before tying the
plants. Only problem is when plants get 6' tall and up, and
loaded with tomatoes, they can really stress the stake.
Sometimes I've had to guy the stakes to relieve the stress. Using
other materials could cause sliding difficulties if they have
slick exteriors.

We use the same kind of stakes but clip the tomatoes at the top
when they become a problem. I like cages (the heavy gauge,
farm-grade, stackable ones, not those dippy things that bend) for
certain tomato varieties, especially ones that have a tendency to
produce huge tomatoes. I like some of my tomatoes not so huge lol
and caging them accomplishes that. But we stake three times as
many as we cage.

I like the sound of the farm-grade cages. Where would a person find
such a thing?

IIRC, I think we ordered ours from Lee Valley. Some were purchased
locally but the sturdy ones are really hard to find.


I've done caging and staking, and now do a combo-variation. I put
cages over the plants in the spring. They grow in a single row in a
slightly curved bed. When they start to spill over their cages, I
build a bamboo/plastic tie seal uber-cage around the whole row. As
the season grows on I can add more horizonals and diagonals as
needed. Very sturdy and lightweight. I sometimes build them for my
English Roses as well. It's hard to describe, but I have pictures of
the tomatoes in their uber-cage throughout the season on my Edibles
page: http://www3.sympatico.ca/great/tempee.html

For the past few years I've visually documented my garden. Each month
I add pictures of some of the highlights. There are links to the
flower garden from the Edibles page if anyone is interested.


Your pictures and website are fantastic! I don't understand the
uber-cage, unfortunately, but maybe my DH will when he sees it.