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#1
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
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. |
#2
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
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#3
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
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#4
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
Hi. I have caged and staked them also, and was really disappointed. I
think the secret is the type of tomatoes you grow. Determinate don't put out growth that needs pruning. It should work well with staking. Indeterminate keeps putting out new growth, and cages should be the best, however, not the flimsy cheap ones you can buy just about anywhere. The best way is to get a roll of 3 to 4 ft fence and cut it in 6 ft lengths. Roll each piece up and hook it together. Use fence that has at least 4 inch square holes. That way you can reach inside and pick the fruit. Otherwise you have to pick it by reaching over the top and down inside the cage. On the bottom side, cut out the bottom strand of wire that is parallel with the ground, making a 4 inch leg, every 4 inches. When you have your tomato planted, you can set the cage over it and push it down into the ground 4 inches. If you live in a high wind area, you may still have to put two posts into the ground on either end of the row, and run a wire through your cages for additional support. Good luck. Dwayne "cab97" wrote in message m... 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. |
#6
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
On Mon, 24 Mar 2003 21:29:20 -0700, "Dwayne"
wrote: If you live in a high wind area, you may still have to put two posts into the ground on either end of the row, and run a wire through your cages for additional support. We don't live in a high-wind area, but we've found two stakes in each cage to be necessary to keep the tomatoes from collapsing the cages - just from their weight. Last year, our wooden stakes broke and the cages collapsed . They were made of tomato cage wire, made as specified in the post above (in the part I snipped). This year, we're getting some pieces of rebar (not the mesh, the bars) to use for the stakes. *That's* not going to snap, no matter how big the plants grow. I used these for my pole bean teepee last year and they worked very well for that purpose also. We have a cooperative lumber yard that will happily cut the rebar to our desired lengths. The lumberyard is just at the head of our street, and we bring the folks who work there zucchini and tomatoes when we have an excess. I don't know if lumberyards normally do this or not. Pat -- CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/ International: http://www.thehungersite.com/ |
#8
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
Pat Meadows wrote:
On 25 Mar 2003 02:12:14 GMT, (Frankhartx) wrote: From: (cab97) 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. Since you are virtually alone in your lack of success with caging it seems obvious that you didn't do it right. Explain actually how you went about the task and we may be able to set you straight. While staking is an alternative it involves more work and care. Not all alone. See my prior post. BTW, I've grown and staked tomatoes for at least 25 years, probably more like 30. Last year was the first year they broke the stakes and collapsed the cages and fell over. It was the accursed Brandywines that only produced two ripe tomatoes from six plants! I think they were out to get me all along.... It was just a disastrous tomato-year for us. Pat Shucks Pat, we get a decent crop of tomatoes about every two years. I have never been able to teach my wife that you don't have to drench everything in fertilizer every time you pass by the plant. Tomatoes get 12 - 14 feet tall and don't bear fruit. I now buy fertilizer in 5 lb bags, use it a couple of times and then hide it. VBG I might say that I used reinforcing wire cages for several years and they worked to a certain extent. I now use stakes exclusively and tie the tomatoes as they grow with good success. George |
#9
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
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. Stakes. I just keep adding stronger stakes as the plant grows. /z. |
#10
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
I stake my plants using 5/8" thin wall conduit which is
available at Home Depot for about $1.50 for 8' lengths. It can be cut to desired length with a tubing cutter. I paint mine green to blend in with the plants. They last for years. Just tie the plants to the pole as they grow. __________________________________________________ "Pat Meadows" wrote in message ... On Mon, 24 Mar 2003 21:29:20 -0700, "Dwayne" wrote: If you live in a high wind area, you may still have to put two posts into the ground on either end of the row, and run a wire through your cages for additional support. We don't live in a high-wind area, but we've found two stakes in each cage to be necessary to keep the tomatoes from collapsing the cages - just from their weight. Last year, our wooden stakes broke and the cages collapsed . They were made of tomato cage wire, made as specified in the post above (in the part I snipped). This year, we're getting some pieces of rebar (not the mesh, the bars) to use for the stakes. *That's* not going to snap, no matter how big the plants grow. I used these for my pole bean teepee last year and they worked very well for that purpose also. We have a cooperative lumber yard that will happily cut the rebar to our desired lengths. The lumberyard is just at the head of our street, and we bring the folks who work there zucchini and tomatoes when we have an excess. I don't know if lumberyards normally do this or not. Pat -- CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/ International: http://www.thehungersite.com/ |
#11
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
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#12
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
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#13
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Tomatoes to Stake or to Cage
On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 20:11:12 GMT, Bob W
wrote: On 24 Mar 2003 17:15:34 -0800, (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 use 8 Foot wooden long "furring strips" (8 foot by about 2 inch wide) available at Home Depot for about $1 a piece in the lumber section. They are cheaper than the short 5 foot tomato stakes they sell. Also the furring strips are not pressure treated with arsenic like the tomato stakes. I am reusing the same ones for the 4th year. They last pretty well, they are strong and cheap. Can you please explain the "furring strips"? Have never seen them in HD or Lowes. Thanks -----------== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----= Over 100,000 Newsgroups - Unlimited Fast Downloads - 19 Servers =----- |
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