"BenGman" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm wondering: If your tomatoes are growing on the ground, wouldn't
they get full of bugs that would eat them? And Lyn, how do you keep
all your tomato plant branches on one stake? I tried the same thing
this year, but there was too much foliage to put on one stake and i had
to squish all the branches on to three stakes (which still didn't work
very well).
Next year, i'd really like to grow more tomatoes, but cages seem like
the best thing, becasue the foliage will grow inside the cage and it
won't touch the ground. Any thoughts?

Ben


All sorts of things will happen to them if they are growing on the ground.
If you are a small time tomato farmer, then you will want to get a high
yield from what few plants you have. Cages are the answer here. If you are
larger scale, than it is possible to take the hit with the plants on the
ground as your yield will still be substantial. Quantity through numbers.

Yes my tomatoes do outgrow the cages. Not a big deal. My biggest problem
with loss is the birds! I have built a structure that allows me to drape
bird netting around the tomatoes. I believe that I only lost one or two
tomatoes this year as compared to previous years where the loss was
substantial even a kluged netting process.

Kurt