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25-03-2003, 02:44 AM

In article ,
(cab97) wrote:

Hi all, last year i caged my tomatoes with not much success. any
other ideas to prevent plants from falling over. How do you stake
them? Thanks for your help.

I like to stake my tomatoes too. I generally plant in large pots since
pots on the upstairs deck are safe from the deer. I have done it in the
ground as well, just not since we've moved here to wilderness-land.

I buy 5 foot stakes at the garden center. I have used the cheap redwood
ones that are like square dowels, or the bamboo pole ones as well as the
fancy twisty metal ones. Sink them deep or you will have your plants
pulling them over. I put them about 1 - 1 1/2 feet deep. I place them
fairly close (say 4-6 inches) to the plant right after I plant the
tomato. As the tomato grows I use the plastic tie stuff that looks like
a roll of masking tape to tie the plant to the stake every 8 inches or
so. I am also one of those who pinches out suckers.

Many growers scoff at staking and pinching out suckers, but it's cool
and foggy here and this method seems to give the plant more light and
thus more tomatoes for me.

If your cages are falling over they are likely not large enough for your
plants. The ready made round ones must be for peppers or something
because tomatoes generally get too big and heavy for them. I'm sure if
you checked the old post via google you could find good direction for
making sturdy cages out of wire mesh.

good luck
marcella