tomato staking, what's your favorite?

[mich04]

I was looking on the forum and could not find much information on this topic. How do you stake your tomatoes? Pros and cons of each. I plan on growing a lot of tomatoes around 1500 and around 800 green pepper plants. So I am looking for ideas on being cheap and efficient, but at the same time not increasing the risk of failure too much.

[brokenbar]

I use 7' metal "T" posts, Tieing the plants with thick twine as they grow. I have a Bobcat so it is easy for me to pull them at the end of each season.
THis works well for me allowing more fruit to get sun exposure and ripen faster.

[Alberta]

I don't stake, I cage using reinforced concrete wire cages.

Alberta

[Farmette]

For 2 years, I have tried the "Florida Weave". You can google it, or research it here as I think we have talked about it. It was ok, but didn't hold branches as well as I would have liked soI am thinking of going to big cages or ? Another method I have seen is where there are stakes at the end of the row with a pole in between. Twine is wound up the tomato and attached to the pole. Don't know how this works and how it holds the branches up. I, too, would appreciate people weighing in on their favorite methods. I am planting @50 tomatoes so that would be alot of cages.

[brokenbar]

We plant nearly 500 tomatoes so cages would cost a bundle and I would have to store them outside in the weather during the winter. This is why I went to T Posts...

[camochef]

Originally Posted by brokenbar

We plant nearly 500 tomatoes so cages would cost a bundle and I would have to store them outside in the weather during the winter. This is why I went to T Posts...

I plant hundreds of tomatoes also, and I use cages on everyone that I've made from fencing.(4 ft american wire mostly). I store mine outside with no problems from the weather. Many of mine are thirty years old and still function just fine. I just keep adding to them every year. (not this year as I'm cutting back to about 10% for this year).
Camo

PS: I got rid of stakes a few years back when I almost put an eye out reaching for a brandywine and ramming my head into a stake I didn't see, which glanced off my glasses and put a hole in my forehead. I pulled every stake in the gardens as soon as I got off the ground and recovered somewhat!

[bigbubbacain]

I like Florida Weave in theory, but I can get great results using T posts to support 5'x6' stock panels with the 4" squares. I have more options this way for tying the plants up, spacing them on the grid, etc. I like to pinch the suckers until I have one long vine that will hang over the top of the panel and the I like the suckers go wild.

[brog]

Camo What kind of fenceing?

[brog]

Hi Mich I use 8 ft land scaping timbers for post put 30in. in ground 20 ft. between post.(any type of strong post will work) I put 2 strands of wire post to post(one at 3ft. and one at top. I tie toms to wire as they grow.
Good Luck Bill

[dice]

Some other ideas:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=10927

[WH_Conley]

If I sound prejudiced, I am. I sell a lot of stakes every year.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=13279

I have seen the cages used and they work great, but how many feet of wire does it take to make a cage. Cheapest I found from Tractor Supply was "Field Fencing" at $159.00 per roll of 330 ft. Just guessing at about 4 feet that would come to about $2.00 per cage, plus tent stakes.

Camo, depreciate the cost over 30 years and that would be the cheapest way to go. Those cages are paying you now. At 53 I am not making many 30 year investments.

I am just guessing, by his post, that mich04 is just getting started on this size production and looking at initial cost as well as the end product. 1500 stakes would be $750.00 plus shipping. Cages would be, I need help with exact cost, $3000.00 to $3500.00.

Stake maintainence.

One thing to give you long life to a wood stake is go to the local rental place and rent a stake puller when you remove them from the ground. Give a few side bends to loosen the stake from the ground, that's when they break. Pulling straight up with a puller does not break near as many.

Let them dry in the sun, then smack them against a post or tree to get all the loose dirt off. Wash or dip the stakes in a mild bleach/water solution, dry and store inside a ventilated area, barn works great.

Hope this helps, I know a lot more about wood than Tomatoes, except I like them.

[PaulF]

I also cage using concrete reinforcing wire. It's cheaper than cattle fencing and has done well for me. They, too, last seemingly forever.

[rigdond]

I agree with Broken Bar. I use the long metal T posts too with heavy twine. The posts can be reused forever of years and the twine is inexpensive and very adaptable.

[camochef]

Originally Posted by WH_Conley

If I sound prejudiced, I am. I sell a lot of stakes every year.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=13279

I have seen the cages used and they work great, but how many feet of wire does it take to make a cage. Cheapest I found from Tractor Supply was "Field Fencing" at $159.00 per roll of 330 ft. Just guessing at about 4 feet that would come to about $2.00 per cage, plus tent stakes.

Camo, depreciate the cost over 30 years and that would be the cheapest way to go. Those cages are paying you now. At 53 I am not making many 30 year investments.

I am just guessing, by his post, that mich04 is just getting started on this size production and looking at initial cost as well as the end product. 1500 stakes would be $750.00 plus shipping. Cages would be, I need help with exact cost, $3000.00 to $3500.00.

Stake maintainence.

One thing to give you long life to a wood stake is go to the local rental place and rent a stake puller when you remove them from the ground. Give a few side bends to loosen the stake from the ground, that's when they break. Pulling straight up with a puller does not break near as many.

Let them dry in the sun, then smack them against a post or tree to get all the loose dirt off. Wash or dip the stakes in a mild bleach/water solution, dry and store inside a ventilated area, barn works great.

Hope this helps, I know a lot more about wood than Tomatoes, except I like them.

Your cost per roll is right on the money for this past year. The year before it was about $30.00/roll cheaper, it goes up about $20-$30./year lately. The past few years I've been buying two rolls per year. I get 52-54 cages /roll. tent stakes like I use are about $1.00/ea. So yes there is a substantial cost.
on the other hand if your tieing to stakes or fencing or overhead wireing, how much time are you taking to re-tie constantly as the plant grows, 1500 plants require an awful lot of labor to keep them supported.
I only have to assure everything stays within the cage. As the season progresses they grow out the top and cascade back over the outside of the cage. No labor, no ties having to be redone or cutting of nutrients.
and I'm 62, are you telling me I wasted my money the past few years? Should I expect not to see 92!
Camo

[WH_Conley]

and I'm 62, are you telling me I wasted my money the past few years? Should I
expect not to see 92!

. Let's hope you do. The way I have slowed down the last few years I doubt I will be doing much gardening at 83. Maybe supervising.(Where is the whip cracking smiley)?

In all reality, both stakes and cages have their place, just depends on a persons long term plans and initial cost. Stakes are cheaper up front to get started, and the big boys that raise by the acre must figure they are cheaper. That is who I sell to, the big operators that buy by the thousand or neighbors that buy by the dozen. Freight kills everybody else. Myself, I prefer stakes, mine are free, the crooked ones that I won't sell to a customer, my garden is not pretty. I have a neighbor that uses concrete wire cages. They are probably 20 years old, piles them up at the end of the garden at the end of the season he has a pretty 1/2 acre garden.

In the end I think a person has to learn all they can about the options and choose what is best for them.

P.S. I ran into an old friend that I sawed some oak stakes for in '97, he said he gave them away this year, he was unable to garden anymore. Said they were still good, little shorter than when new. He is the guy that gave me the tutorial on caring for them at end of season.