A well designed cage works great, almost no maintenance, just poke the
growing tips back inside.

An example...
http://www.gardenerssupply.com/Shopp...&RecGroupNum=1
I found them slightly cheaper elsewhere, but you could build similar.

I let my tomatoes grow wild, no pruning. I end up with 6-7 foot tall 2
foot wide bushes. The ones by the porch steps I actually ran string
down to the cage and they grew up the string after filling the
cage--then I had to tie them. But if I have to tie a few vines that
are 9-10 feet in the air I'll struggle with that extra work.

The trick is large openings on the cage. I have big hands and getting
to any fruit has never been an issue. I see my landlord's staked
tomatoes. He pinches, ties them, they sag, they droop. Eventually he
just leaves them however they are. Never an issue with these
particualr cages.

And they are folding and re-usable. They were worth the investment.
I'm looking at buying another four this year to deal with my expanded
garden.


Steve Calvin wrote:

Bill B wrote:

Dave wrote:

This year I planted my tomatoes in holes filled with mulch and as a
result I'm getting bigger plants than I am used to. The problem is
keeping them tied up. I need so much material to tie them that I have
started using twine rather than the traditonal cloth strips torn from
old sheets. Is twine the standard for those who don't use cages?

Thanks

I have always used twine, not sisal, for tying up my tomatoes. Never
had a problem.

I use twine as well, I tie a loop around the plant and leave it very
loose, secured with a square knot and then tie the other end of the
twine to the stake. I have the cages but they are a p.i.t.a. as fas as
I'm concerned. Just try to get at the fruit at the bottom of the plants.
Just another gimmick to get $ outta your pocket. Geeze, how did folks in
the old days every grow 'em without all of this fancy stuff? ;-)

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph