Toppling Tomatoes!! :(

koshki · July 24, 2012

Every year I have this problem. My plants (all indeterminates) get to the tops of their 6' cages and then the wind starts to blow.

Yesterday we had crazy wind all day, and my Black Cherry (now about 8' tall despite my topping it) crashed over into its neighbors, then into my peppers after I tried to move it to a more protected spot. The Bradley went completely over and I lost 7 fruit from it.

The only solution we have been able to figure out so far is to bungee-cord them together and attach the whole magilla to one of my DH's 65# weights. The problem with this is that the plants get crowded too close together, and after a few windstorms, he doesn't want to bother bungeeing and unbugeeing them any more. That's when disease really gets going.

Does anyone have a better solution to this problem? Of course, this is one of the reasons I'm so interested in the Dwarf Project, but I'm sure there will always be some indeterminates that I want to grow!

I've got 7 plants each in 18x18x18 containers.

July 24, 2012	#1
koshki Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Grosse Pointe Shores, MI Posts: 127	Toppling Tomatoes!! :( Every year I have this problem. My plants (all indeterminates) get to the tops of their 6' cages and then the wind starts to blow. Yesterday we had crazy wind all day, and my Black Cherry (now about 8' tall despite my topping it) crashed over into its neighbors, then into my peppers after I tried to move it to a more protected spot. The Bradley went completely over and I lost 7 fruit from it. The only solution we have been able to figure out so far is to bungee-cord them together and attach the whole magilla to one of my DH's 65# weights. The problem with this is that the plants get crowded too close together, and after a few windstorms, he doesn't want to bother bungeeing and unbugeeing them any more. That's when disease really gets going. Does anyone have a better solution to this problem? Of course, this is one of the reasons I'm so interested in the Dwarf Project, but I'm sure there will always be some indeterminates that I want to grow! I've got 7 plants each in 18x18x18 containers. __________________ Katherine