I've never had any kind of animal damage using these cages, and I have at
least a million lawn rats living around my house. Hint: When you install the
cages, rotate them hard against the soil until they dig their way down an
inch or two. Or, use your trowel to dig a bit of a trench. Then, when you
fasten the cage to the posts, be sure to make the wire ties very snug.


"Laura J" wrote in message news:Td_ne.888$%23.362@trndny02...
Doug, I'm intrigued with your tomato cages. Do you know if they help out
at all with keeping squirrels away from the tomatoes? I really don't wish
to share my crop again this year.

Thanks!

LauraJ

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
Pictures of the tomato cages have been posted at this link:
http://cards.webshots.com/cp-9933098...43915986jGrvsy

The only step I didn't complete was cutting holes to reach into the cage.
Make holes at various levels, including near the ground so you can pick
up fallen fruit. And, when you cut the holes, tie some bright colored
ribbon near each one or it'll be tough to spot the openings in all the
vegetation.



"Ottawa" wrote in message
...
Thanks all. Very helpful hints. The dumb guy at the garden centre told
me
to get the 8" pots so I did. Now I gotta go spend some more $$$. As
for
cage, waiting for pics of your homemade ones.
"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
news "Ottawa" wrote:

I got the same problem with a few of my plants. I have them in 8-10 "
pots.
It is supposed to be raining a lot today. Should I have taken them in?
Also, is a cage necessary for cherry tomatoes? My plants are about
20"
tall
now but no flowers or anything. Should I worry? Someone told me its
because
I need to pollinate them with another plant?

If you have a very wet season you might want to do that, or fierce
winds--since it si young still. But protecting plants too much form
wind and elements makes them weak. That's why indoor seedlings have to
be hardened before set outside.

I've never done tomatoes is less than 12x12x12" pots. I think Tomatoes
will grow to whatever size root zone your provide. SO the smaller pot
will limit the size /crop. Also the smaller the pot the more it needs
watering and the hotter the root zone becomes. All tomatoes need
stakes or cages. You can make them or buy them. Staked tomatoes
usually need more pinching of the additional vines. With a good cage
you just let the plant do its thing and train the vine into the cage.
Only towards end of season do I pinch out the extras to focus
attention on the remaining fruits.


"Alan" wrote in message
oups.com...
A couple of weeks ago I planted out my tomato plants into containers
on
a south facing patio. Now I've noticed one of the plants is wilting.
It
seems to recover if moved into shade. It's ok for water.
Anyone an idea what could cause this. I've read about virus's
causing
wilting, but usually its describing the symptoms at a later stage in
the plants growth. The plant is only about 30cm tall, and I've used
fresh compost from the garden center, although the cheapest
'compost' I
could buy.
Thanks, Alan.



DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/