The cost of trellising

Fred Hempel · February 25, 2015

I am trying to figure out how much of my field I will trellis this year. A few years ago I moved from sprawling to trellised plants because it was clear that trellised plants would produce more saleable tomatoes.

However, I am starting to think that financially it is better to let plants sprawl, and harvest even as low as 1/3 the "firsts" (with 1/3 seconds, and 1/3 complete "loss" compared to trellised plants).

The costs of trellising (mostly labor) are just way too high.

I realize this doesn't apply to gardeners and limited space growers, but is anyone else coming to similar conclusions?

I think I might limit my trellising to a few cherry tomatoes I am growing for market production.

February 25, 2015	#1
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	The cost of trellising I am trying to figure out how much of my field I will trellis this year. A few years ago I moved from sprawling to trellised plants because it was clear that trellised plants would produce more saleable tomatoes. However, I am starting to think that financially it is better to let plants sprawl, and harvest even as low as 1/3 the "firsts" (with 1/3 seconds, and 1/3 complete "loss" compared to trellised plants). The costs of trellising (mostly labor) are just way too high. I realize this doesn't apply to gardeners and limited space growers, but is anyone else coming to similar conclusions? I think I might limit my trellising to a few cherry tomatoes I am growing for market production.