Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops. They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.
These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

I did something similar. I drove around where there was new construction
sites. They always have tons of that heavy gauge wire mesh on 6 inch centers
for concrete reinforcement. They are glad to have me take it away, always with
oral permission. I cut it with a heavy wire cutter (may be a bolt cutter?) and
leave one side with the wire sticking out and bring the whole thing into a
circle and bend the sticking out wire around the stationary wire and I have a
cage. I've also used it to make compost bins.


On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 16:46:42 GMT, Dave Adams wrote:

Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops. They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.
These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

in article , Dave Adams at
wrote on 6/15/03 9:46 AM:

Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops. They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.
These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

Here are my suggestions;

1. post a picture, and let us know where.

2. Are you interested in selling them?

3. How much would the cost/

Bill

Dave Adams wrote in message ...
Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops. They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.
These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

Sound good to me. But I can't see any reason to change from bamboo
canes outdoors, and long strings indoors.

Mike.

I tried a new strategy this year.
I planted twice as many tomatoes plants as we
needed. We're just letting them run wild, no
stakes whatsoever. So a few get rotten, big deal -
we have more tomatoes than we can eat &
zero stress:-)

Gene



"Dave Adams" wrote in message
.. .
Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops. They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.
These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

In article ,
wrote:

I tried a new strategy this year.
I planted twice as many tomatoes plants as we
needed. We're just letting them run wild, no
stakes whatsoever. So a few get rotten, big deal -
we have more tomatoes than we can eat &
zero stress:-)

Gene


You are in good company. Dr Carolyn Mayle the author of 100 Heirloom
tomatoes for the American Garden claims she does that too on hundreds of
plants!! I staked every tomato I was growing with a t-post, went out and
tied them up just once and then out of laziness have let them sprawl. So
far I have not lost any fruit to spoilage.

Roland

Seems kind of labor intensive and expensive compared to using plain ol'
reinforcing wire fashioned into a cage. Although, like you said, portability
and durability are a plus! I'm sure NASA would be proud of you! : )

S


"Dave Adams" wrote in message
.. .
Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops. They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.
These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 16:46:42 GMT, Dave Adams
wrote:

Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends.

These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

It's a lot easier to make cages from concrete reinforcing wire. They
do take up more space than your hoop method, but if you really had to
store them in less space, you could always unhook the ends so that the
cages open, and then stack them flat. Mine have lasted at least 10
years and I didn't do anything to rust proof them.


******* Remove NOSPAM to reply *******

We just bought heavy-duty cages at the Natural Gardener.

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

Dave Adams wrote:

Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops. They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.
These cages are heavy duty. What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

Go for 6 feet.

Two words for you... Lee Valley. They not only have the three sided
folding cages but several other types also. I'm trying out the tomato
spirals myself this year, they look indestructable. www.leevalley.com

jcm

Dave Adams wrote in message ...
Fellow Gardeners,

After my own disappointments with the flimsy wire cages available for
holding up tomatoes,I decided to make my own. Here is what I've come
up with. They are made of 1/4" round rod and welded on the ends. I've
taken cable clamps and welded the U-shaped threaded ends to the hoops, so
that they can be disassembled for shipping and storage. They assemble
easily in about a minute with with a 7/16" wrench, socket, or even pliers.
They are four ft. tall, but I will also be making them 5 ft. with the
option of 4 hoops.

They are finished with penetrol for rust-resistance.

What is that? A paint? A metal finish? A plastic?

What do you think?(Any response is more than
appreciated)

Well, ok, you asked for it..... :-) I think they are pretty good, they
look large and sturdy, plus u-bolts are a good idea too.

The picture you have posted is very large (bytes wise) and will probably
**** more people off than will look at it. Some people download all posts
and others may not be able to see the size of the post depending on the
browser. Both of these conditions lead to unexpected waiting time. If the
newsgroup does not have "binaries" or "pictures" in the name then usually
posting pictures is unwanted. Normally you would post the pic some where
else (like a yahoo club/profile or your ISP site) and provide the link to
it.

OK, more about the picture......the legs look crooked and the rings could be
welded differently. Also it looks like it could use a lower ring. When
welding the rings I would not lap them over each other, instead I would tuck
them inside or better yet weld them end to end at the same point your
welding on one of the u-bolts.

Did you have to bend the rings into circles or do they come rounded? I just
made some cucumber cages from 1/2" re-bar and I bent it with a conduit
bender.

I know the plants don't care about the above but people must look and like
your product before they will buy it. I like what you did, I'm just trying
to be helpful.

I bought some large and heavy duty tapered cages at Earls Mays last year,
maybe paid $3-5 each!! So there is a market for them.

Cheers,
Jim

Yeah, in the past, I purchased 3/8" rebar, cut to ~ 3+' lengths
and painted then with green enamel paint. They last for years,
are easy to hammer into the ground, east to tie, easy to pull
out & store - and inexpensive. Like I said, now I just plant extra
plants & do nothing whatsoever :-)

Gene





"Joe Doe" wrote in message
...
In article ,
wrote:

I tried a new strategy this year.
I planted twice as many tomatoes plants as we
needed. We're just letting them run wild, no
stakes whatsoever. So a few get rotten, big deal -
we have more tomatoes than we can eat &
zero stress:-)

Gene


You are in good company. Dr Carolyn Mayle the author of 100 Heirloom
tomatoes for the American Garden claims she does that too on hundreds of
plants!! I staked every tomato I was growing with a t-post, went out and
tied them up just once and then out of laziness have let them sprawl. So
far I have not lost any fruit to spoilage.

Roland

and one ate three of our cats ...


"N. Woolley" wrote in message
...
I see by your address that you are in the UK? Tomatoes here in central
Texas grow HUGE! Like over five feet tall and maybe 3-4 feet wide. A
bamboo cane would never hold that!!

I've used the cement reinforcing wire bend into a circle and it's lasted
forever. I also cut off the bottom so I have the prongs pointing down
that I can stick into the soil to help support the cage. Now, I just
can't grow tomatoes 'cause I moved into the city where there are MORE
deer and even tomatoes don't stand a chance.

-Nancy

I see by your address that you are in the UK? Tomatoes here in central
Texas grow HUGE! Like over five feet tall and maybe 3-4 feet wide. A
bamboo cane would never hold that!!

I've used the cement reinforcing wire bend into a circle and it's lasted
forever. I also cut off the bottom so I have the prongs pointing down
that I can stick into the soil to help support the cage. Now, I just
can't grow tomatoes 'cause I moved into the city where there are MORE
deer and even tomatoes don't stand a chance.

-Nancy