"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
news
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.


The Gardener's Supply site also has tomato ladders. I ordered them last
year but after I got them I was skeptical about them. I called them and
wanted to return them, but they said to use it and if it didn't work to send
them back for a refund at the end of the season. Well, they worked very
well, and I ordered more this year.