"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...

Don't use stakes. Buy 5 or 6 foot high fence wire and make cages, as shown
in the pictures below. Two stakes/posts per cage. The branches grow out
the holes, and that's what supports the plants. Much of the fruit grows
inside the cages, so you have to cut a few holes to reach into for
harvesting. Other fruit may grow outside the cage and threaten to snap the
branches, so you might have to tie the branches to the cage occasionally.
I've been using these cages for 25 years. Correctly set up, they'll
withstand 60 mph winds.

http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c197/ancientangler/?

I made similar cages as shown in Joe's pictures but used concrete
reinforcing wire; six foot high with 4" x 4" squares. You can buy it by the
yard at most building supply places. I cut 4ft lengths leaving one side with
the 4" long horizontal piece free. I then bend the long wires securely back
around the vertical wire to form the cage cylinder. If you cut the bottom
piece of horizontal piece of wire you'll have 4" spikes to jab into the
ground when you set it.

When planting the tomato I first take an empty gallon milk jug, using a
heated ice pick I poke 3 holes on opposite sides of the bottom of the jug
just where it bends to form side to bottom. I bury the milk jug so about 4
inches of the top is exposed, I then plant two tomatoes, one on each pierced
side of the jug, then place the wire cage around the whole deal. I use one
of those long necked funnels (get it at the auto parts store) to pour in
water soluble fertilizer or just put the end of the hose in to fill the jug
when watering. Keeps water off the leaves and fruit and you don't loose any
to evaporation. The water stays deep where the roots can use it and the
plant doesn't stress from drying out. Even during the hottest part of summer
I don't water more than two, rarely sometimes three times a week.

I've been using the same cages for over 20 years, the 4 inch sized squares
of the 'fencing' are easy to reach into for pruning and harvest. I used 2
lengths of 5 ft rebar pounded next to each cage and zip tied it to the
wires. They've never blown over no matter how strong the winds, I have huge
yields of tomatoes and the initial investment divided by 20+ years makes
them about the cheapest and best tomatoes cages you can get.

In the winter I just clip the zip ties, pull the whole works out of the
ground, lean the rebar stakes in a corner of the garage and hang the
cylinder cages from the rafters till it's time to plant in the spring.

I plant early and during the colder days and nights of the spring and fall I
wrap a sheet of heavy plastic around the cage and clothes pin it in place
and pile some soil around the bottom. In the morning I open the top and
close it back up in the early evening to hold the heat. I can stretch the
season by about a month on either end of the growing season. During the
summer I just fold and roll the dry plastic sheets and keep them in a large
mesh onion bag.

Val