photo of one bed with florida weave

[valereee]

Here's a photo of my first bed using florida weave:



That's rear, left to right: Ceylon, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Matina

front, left to right: Persimmon, Mr. Stripey, Sophie's Choice

The bed is 3' x 6'. I bolted on (2 5" eyebolts/wingnuts per stake) a pressure-treated 8' 2"x2" so I can go up as high as I want. I bolted them because we have such heavy clay here that I figured if I could pound them in deep enough to hold the weight, they were going to be permanent parts of my landscaping. This way I can take them down if I decide to rotate tomatoes out of this bed.

So far I like the florida weave. Once I'd done the construction, it's easy to keep up with.

Val

[Rena]

Nice pics, please keep posting as they progress

[angelique]

Dang. I guess I have been doing the Florida weave all wrong. Oh well, I'll save your picture as an example for next years tomatoes.

[Adenn1]

Val:

This is my first year using the floriday weave...will have to post a picture of mine.

One question...is that jute you are using?

[valereee]

Adenn, it's certainly jute-like, at any rate. It's labelled as 'garden twine.'

Angelique, don't assume I know what I'm doing! This is the first time I've used it. How is yours different?

Val

[Adenn1]

Here is my first try with Florida Weave...true test will come when the plants get bigger. So far...so good.

[valereee]

Adenn, looks good! How tall are your posts? I decided to go with the full 8' length of the 2x2 posts because I always ended up with tomatoes flopping over the tops of my cages, but I suspect that as the weave gets taller I'm going to end up flexing my posts enough that the lower strings get loose! Do you have metal posts on the ends and one of those heavy plastic stakes in the middle of the rows?

kctom, thanks for the advice on the nylon! If my twine starts to deteriorate over the summer, I'll replace it with nylon.

Val

[Adenn1]

Val:

The two end posts (grey with red top) are 6' heavy duty steel fence posts. The middle green one is a 7' medium grade steel post--the only one I had left to use...but it works fine.

I wish the posts were all 8'...but this is what I had and did not want to search or spend any more money on posts. I will probably have to prune the tomatoes as the get past the top of the posts.

I am using jute and have some concerns about it lasting through the season. I found on Ebay someone selling #48, 3mm hemp twine...heavy duty stuff...but do I want to spend nearly $30 on it? May try to find farm store around here and see if they offer something else than jute.

[giardiniere]

I found plastic baling twine at our Home Depot. It was $1.99 for a 240' roll. There is a Tractor Supply about 30 miles from where I live, and the next time I am near it, I will stop and see what their prices are for larger rolls.
So far, the Florida Weave is working for me. My end posts are 6½' steel T-posts. The posts in the middle of the row are 7' posts. I had removed a 50' section of chain link fence a few years ago, and I cut the top rail of that fence, into the 7' sections. It's coming in real handy now.

[valereee]

Adenn, I'm not sure how I'm going to wrap my twine when I get up past about 6' on my posts anyway, as I'm only 5' tall myself and the bed is raised a foot, LOL!

[BrokenAppleTree]

Hi All,
I used Fla Weave last year with Jute and it worked just fine. By the end of the season, some of the first "weaves" had broken and fallen off, but the newer twine at the top seemed to hold the plants up just fine. I liked the ability to cut the twine off the posts and put the whole thing in the compost pile (plants twine and all).
I had about 5 1/2 feet of T-post above the ground and all the toms grew past the top.
I'm doing everything the same this year. I've been a little more careful to prune the suckers off the bottoms of the plants this year. That should make things a little nicer in the long run.
By the way I also have 3 plants between each post and 33 plants total. I'll try and post pics later this week of what the current setup looks like.

Best Regards,
Brian

[Adenn1]

Val:

You may have to get those stilts that painters and dry-wallers use

I know going the nylon/poly route would eliminate any deterioration issues...but I like the idea of just cutting and leaving the jute in the beds...to be covered later with organic material.

As KC notes...the T-posts are the way to go...I just could not find any larger than 6'...maybe some more searching is in order. I will have do some pruning to keep things under control.