Second year tomatoes gardner and wanting to avoid last year
mistakes... I'm going to plant 6 tomatoes plants in my raised bed,
last year I used stakes and it was a disaster, plants grew 6 feet and
up stakes weren't enough to support the branch so this year I want to
first of all do some buds snipping then have cages instead of stakes,
here my question what kind of wire (what size and height) should I
use? Is concrete reinforcing wire the way to go?
Thanks

On 13 May 2003 07:41:29 -0700, (Funky_gallo) wrote in
rec.gardens.edible:

Is concrete reinforcing wire the way to go?

Many people use this. 10 gauge.
--
Gardening Zones
Canada Zone 5a
United States Zone 3a
Near Ottawa, Ontario

Glad to see another Cherokee Purple fan!

I use the tallest and heavies gauge tomato cages I can find (I wish someone
made them from rebar!) and then place two or three tall stakes inside of
this so that the plants don't pull the cage over when mature. Also don't be
afraid to do some selected pruning of the plants.


"Funky_gallo" wrote in message
om...
Second year tomatoes gardner and wanting to avoid last year
mistakes... I'm going to plant 6 tomatoes plants in my raised bed,
last year I used stakes and it was a disaster, plants grew 6 feet and
up stakes weren't enough to support the branch so this year I want to
first of all do some buds snipping then have cages instead of stakes,
here my question what kind of wire (what size and height) should I
use? Is concrete reinforcing wire the way to go?
Thanks

On 13 May 2003 07:41:29 -0700,
(Funky_gallo) wrote:

Second year tomatoes gardner and wanting to avoid last year
mistakes... I'm going to plant 6 tomatoes plants in my raised bed,
last year I used stakes and it was a disaster, plants grew 6 feet and
up stakes weren't enough to support the branch so this year I want to
first of all do some buds snipping then have cages instead of stakes,
here my question what kind of wire (what size and height) should I
use? Is concrete reinforcing wire the way to go?
Thanks

I think the concrete reinforcing wire would be very good,
although hard to handle (to cut, especially).

We are using 'tomato cage wire' - this works, but requires
strong staking or the tomatoes will collapse the cage.

We bought it at a garden center/feed store type of place.
It's like welded wire fencing, but with larger openings so
you can put your hand through it and pull out a large
tomato.

I think that usually people who cage their tomatoes don't
bother to snip or prune them - I know I don't.

Pat

Hi Funky_gallo,

(Now, this is not in my mind spamming in case anyone is worried) It's
a post I read at another forum which you may find informative:

On Tomato Cages
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...553292330.html

Thank you !!!!!!!!!!! I love Cherokee Purple
Glad to see another Cherokee Purple fan!

I use the tallest and heavies gauge tomato cages I can find (I wish someone
made them from rebar!) and then place two or three tall stakes inside of
this so that the plants don't pull the cage over when mature. Also don't be
afraid to do some selected pruning of the plants.


"Funky_gallo" wrote in message
om...
Second year tomatoes gardner and wanting to avoid last year
mistakes... I'm going to plant 6 tomatoes plants in my raised bed,
last year I used stakes and it was a disaster, plants grew 6 feet and
up stakes weren't enough to support the branch so this year I want to
first of all do some buds snipping then have cages instead of stakes,
here my question what kind of wire (what size and height) should I
use? Is concrete reinforcing wire the way to go?
Thanks

"Funky_gallo" wrote in message
om...
Thank you !!!!!!!!!!! I love Cherokee Purple
Glad to see another Cherokee Purple fan!


Realy, I got over planting the localy availble set tomatoes,and started
from seed this year. I went with cherokee purple, mortgage lifter, and
brandywine. I am looking forward to seeing the produce, I have never eaten a
cherokee purple. Are they realy a heavy plant/? I have , rebar. cheap tomato
cages and stakes. I have only a few heavy cages. My question is, should I
dedicate them to the cherokee purple, or spread them evenly? I have 12 of
each. Len

Cherokee Purple plants get fairly large and the fruits are on the large
size. The plants are fairly productive, although not as productive as a
hybrid. I use the large size round tomato cages commonly available and stake
them in place with tall stakes. During the heavy fruit setting part of the
season, the cages my start to lean, but don't fall over. Ocasionally, I'll
place a smaller cage or two next to the main large one for additional
support.

Brandywine will probably be approximately similar to Cherokee Purple in
terms of support requirements. I'm not familiar with Mortgage Lifter.

JL

"len" wrote in message
...

"Funky_gallo" wrote in message
om...
Thank you !!!!!!!!!!! I love Cherokee Purple
Glad to see another Cherokee Purple fan!


Realy, I got over planting the localy availble set tomatoes,and started
from seed this year. I went with cherokee purple, mortgage lifter, and
brandywine. I am looking forward to seeing the produce, I have never eaten
a
cherokee purple. Are they realy a heavy plant/? I have , rebar. cheap
tomato
cages and stakes. I have only a few heavy cages. My question is, should I
dedicate them to the cherokee purple, or spread them evenly? I have 12 of
each. Len

On Fri, 16 May 2003 13:52:05 -0600, "JL"
wrote:

Cherokee Purple plants get fairly large and the fruits are on the large
size. The plants are fairly productive, although not as productive as a
hybrid. I use the large size round tomato cages commonly available and stake
them in place with tall stakes. During the heavy fruit setting part of the
season, the cages my start to lean, but don't fall over. Ocasionally, I'll
place a smaller cage or two next to the main large one for additional
support.

Brandywine will probably be approximately similar to Cherokee Purple in
terms of support requirements. I'm not familiar with Mortgage Lifter.


We grew Brandywines last year; four of 'em, from which we
got a total of TWO (2) ripe tomatoes. It was a disaster of
a tomato-year here. I didn't think that the two ripe
tomatoes tasted any better than other varieties either.

They all managed to collapse their round cages (tomato cage
wire) which were staked - they broke the (wooden) stakes.

This year, we're staking the cages with concrete reinforcing
rod (rebar). We're also not growing Brandywines again - I
think they are just not suitable for our short season and
cool nights throughout summer.

We still have tomato cage wire, otherwise I'd get rebar mesh
and use that.

Pat

"JL" wrote in message
...
Cherokee Purple plants get fairly large and the fruits are on the large
size. The plants are fairly productive, although not as productive as a
hybrid. I use the large size round tomato cages commonly available and
stake
them in place with tall stakes. During the heavy fruit setting part of the
season, the cages my start to lean, but don't fall over. Ocasionally, I'll
place a smaller cage or two next to the main large one for additional
support.

Brandywine will probably be approximately similar to Cherokee Purple in
terms of support requirements. I'm not familiar with Mortgage Lifter.

JL



Thank you sir,