The sale of those those tomato cages is aimed at the same type of person who
buys a Chrysler mini-van. Hopefully, the customer learns their lesson and
never goes back. And no self respecting Large Plant (dahlia, tomato) will
last long in such a cage. Finally, the fastening method you used had
absolutely ZERO reasons to be successful.

The best way to cage a 3 ton plant like a dahlia (or a tomato) is to buy a
roll of fence wire - the kind with square openings. Make a circle with your
arms and imagine a cage cylinder that size or larger, depending on the
plant. For each cage, you also need:

- Two of those green metal stakes with the hooks every few inches. You won't
use the hooks, but I mention them so you can recognize them in the store. At
places like Home Depot, their in the same vicinity as the rolls of wire.

- A big package of 6" plastic wire ties to attach the cylinders to the
stakes.

Make the cylinder. Place it on the ground and rotate it to carve a circular
mark in the soil. Take it away. Take a hammer and pound a stake into the
ground at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. If you can pull the stake out by hand
easily, it's not deep enough.

Put the cylinder in between the stakes and fasten it in place with the wire
ties. Three per stake is about right. If you need to reach into the
cylinder, to harvest tomatoes, for instance, cut a few holes big enough for
your arm. Don't cut where one wire crosses another - that'll leave a sharp
edge. Cut an inch away from those junctions, then bend the remaining stubs
inward, leaving a rounded edge.

To remove the stakes later, smack then sideways at ground level a few times,
then rock them back & forth to loosen them.
-Doug

"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...
I planted some large dahlias this year using a support system that someone
(here?) recommended. It consisted of tomato cages that had the lets cut
off. You put the cage on the ground, large circle down, and fastened it
to
the ground with the wire legs that you cut off.

All went well for a while. The dahlia got to be about 6 feet tall and
were
covered with flowers. Last nigh we had a moderate storm with some big
gusts. One neighbor lost his Bradford pear (not that it was a shock).
The
wind broke off my dahlias about two fee from the ground. They are all
bent
over and pinched tightly on main stem. I doubt that they could be
uprighted
and live? Any advice would be appreciated. At this point I assume that
the
only thing I can do is cut them off at the ground and let them start over.