best cage/support - Page 2

Granite26 · March 24, 2011

I have looked online at the Texas cages and they do look nice. SInce I am running 500 cages the re-wire is much more economical for me. Now if I had just a few plants...I might be tempted to try the others.

TightenUp · March 24, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigdaddyJ

I own and use both the homemade CRW cages AND the Texas cages. CRW are good. Texas are OUTSTANDING! No comparison really. BMW vs Beetle

i hear ya. i find the price a little steep so the CRW will do. wish there was some middle ground.

BigdaddyJ · March 24, 2011

Granite, sure would be too much $ for 500 plants! I own 12 Texas and the rest homemade CRW's. I grow only about 25 plants. I try and pick which varieties will grow biggest and fullest based on the past. If it's new to me I read up. Don't always get my biggest plants in the Texas though...;-)

ChefJeff, we all must make decisions based on many factors. Buy the $400, $650, or the $1200 laptop for instance? The way I look at it is my buddies all golf. They'll spend $300 on a putter! I wouldn't spend a dime because golf bores me to crap! And of course they think spending $130 for 6 tomato cages is nutz! LOL We buy what we love I guess...

Here's some factors: Texas fold flat for easy storage, don't rust and don't require additional staking. This works for me because I'm not a handyman type and I'm a lazy gardener even though I love gardening if that makes sense and these babies arrive at your door ready to rock n roll! LOL

The CRW, you gotta go buy the roll, pay for gas, use your time to cut your hands up making them, (Yeah, I should have used gloves) and then gotta stake them as well because they will blow over once the plants get huge and full of heavy fruit when a strong wind follows a soaking rain. I have some going into year 18 now and the bottom wires are starting to rust completely off but still usable. So even though ugly as sin they still work. I figure another two years they will start falling apart in my hands. But then I order more Texas! ;-)

husker nana · March 24, 2011

We got our rebar from Menards. They had two different sizes of rolls. We purchased the smaller roll and ended going back to get the larger roll too. We also got some pvc to install in the cage so that we could water from the top to avoid splashing mud (prevent disease) on the leaves. I wanted to take as many precautions from disease as possible.

puttgirl · March 24, 2011

Those texas cages look good. Maybe I should invest in those. The CRW around here for sale is already so rusty, it doesn't look like it will last two years-plus I don't have anywhere to store them. The Texas is a bit pricey, but so is CRW. Maybe just get a few at a time...

recruiterg · March 24, 2011

Here's the link:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...&highlight=crw

salix · March 24, 2011

ChefJeff, as well as gloves and a pair of sidecutters, make sure you also have safety glasses, that wire likes to spring up at the most inconvenient times!

TightenUp · March 24, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by salix

ChefJeff, as well as gloves and a pair of sidecutters, make sure you also have safety glasses, that wire likes to spring up at the most inconvenient times!

both on the list

thanks

Pyrrho · March 24, 2011

I had some issues making CRW cages a few weeks ago, and began the following thread:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=17185

Overall, I'm really happy with the CRW cages, and with any extra material (if your only choice is a 150' roll) you can make extensions to make your cages 7' tall. For this, I'm using the 1/8" malleable wire rope clips Raybo recommends in the above thread.

Lastly, I use 9" plastic tree spikes to secure each cage to the ground (three spikes per cage). The spikes have a hook at the top to hold down the bottom 'ring' of the cages securely. These cages do not budge at all through the season, and I don't sacrifice 6" of the cage height to make prongs.

I hope this helps.

P.S.: While safety should be your first concern (eyes and hands), you should also know that the rust on the new CRW will get all over your clothes, so dress accordingly. After the first season, the rust darkens and won't rub off as easily.

husker nana · March 25, 2011

Granite
Pretty impressive pictures of your tomato garden. You've got really fine looking tomato's yourself. I can't imagine how you can manage to grow the amount (500 cages) that you do. Do you grow any other vegetables?

kevinrs · March 25, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pyrrho

I had some issues making CRW cages a few weeks ago, and began the following thread:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=17185

Overall, I'm really happy with the CRW cages, and with any extra material (if your only choice is a 150' roll) you can make extensions to make your cages 7' tall. For this, I'm using the 1/8" malleable wire rope clips Raybo recommends in the above thread.

Lastly, I use 9" plastic tree spikes to secure each cage to the ground (three spikes per cage). The spikes have a hook at the top to hold down the bottom 'ring' of the cages securely. These cages do not budge at all through the season, and I don't sacrifice 6" of the cage height to make prongs.

by tree spikes, you mean something like http://www.amazon.com/Tent-Stake-Pla.../dp/B001LZ73EY ? and just how big are you making the cages? I see others mentioning 5' of wire, getting 10 from a 50' roll and others saying they get less from a roll. I'm thinking I'll look and see what home depot has here, they don't list the crw on the website

FILMNET · March 25, 2011

CRW's if they rust in the ground like you say over the years, is your garden still organic?

kevinrs · March 25, 2011

rust is natural

ireilly · March 25, 2011

Iron oxide or iron hydroxide is why some soils are red.

Pyrrho · March 25, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevinrs

by tree spikes, you mean something like http://www.amazon.com/Tent-Stake-Pla.../dp/B001LZ73EY ? and just how big are you making the cages? I see others mentioning 5' of wire, getting 10 from a 50' roll and others saying they get less from a roll. I'm thinking I'll look and see what home depot has here, they don't list the crw on the website

It's hard to tell from the picture, but those should work. The stakes I use came from Home Depot (I couldn't find it on their site for a link). They're black, with a serrated edge at the tip, and a hook on the top like the tent spikes in your link.

When I did my first batch of cages, it was from a 50' roll, and I got eight cages. I forget what the exact diameters work out to, but I did half using 13 'squares' and half using 11 (this includes the horizontal 6" tines I bend to close the cage into a cylinder). With these different sizes, I'm able to store the smaller ones inside the bigger ones during the off-season.

You may get more than eight cages of you make them a bit smaller, but you also might find that the first and last bits of the roll are not useable.

March 24, 2011	#18
BigdaddyJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Zone7 Delaware Posts: 399	Granite, sure would be too much $ for 500 plants! I own 12 Texas and the rest homemade CRW's. I grow only about 25 plants. I try and pick which varieties will grow biggest and fullest based on the past. If it's new to me I read up. Don't always get my biggest plants in the Texas though...;-) ChefJeff, we all must make decisions based on many factors. Buy the $400, $650, or the $1200 laptop for instance? The way I look at it is my buddies all golf. They'll spend $300 on a putter! I wouldn't spend a dime because golf bores me to crap! And of course they think spending $130 for 6 tomato cages is nutz! LOL We buy what we love I guess... Here's some factors: Texas fold flat for easy storage, don't rust and don't require additional staking. This works for me because I'm not a handyman type and I'm a lazy gardener even though I love gardening if that makes sense and these babies arrive at your door ready to rock n roll! LOL The CRW, you gotta go buy the roll, pay for gas, use your time to cut your hands up making them, (Yeah, I should have used gloves) and then gotta stake them as well because they will blow over once the plants get huge and full of heavy fruit when a strong wind follows a soaking rain. I have some going into year 18 now and the bottom wires are starting to rust completely off but still usable. So even though ugly as sin they still work. I figure another two years they will start falling apart in my hands. But then I order more Texas! ;-) __________________ Farmer at Heart

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March 24, 2011	#16
Granite26 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Western WI Posts: 359	I have looked online at the Texas cages and they do look nice. SInce I am running 500 cages the re-wire is much more economical for me. Now if I had just a few plants...I might be tempted to try the others.

March 24, 2011	#19
husker nana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Wisc. 5A Posts: 197	We got our rebar from Menards. They had two different sizes of rolls. We purchased the smaller roll and ended going back to get the larger roll too. We also got some pvc to install in the cage so that we could water from the top to avoid splashing mud (prevent disease) on the leaves. I wanted to take as many precautions from disease as possible.

March 24, 2011	#20
puttgirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: SW PA Posts: 281	Those texas cages look good. Maybe I should invest in those. The CRW around here for sale is already so rusty, it doesn't look like it will last two years-plus I don't have anywhere to store them. The Texas is a bit pricey, but so is CRW. Maybe just get a few at a time...

March 24, 2011	#21
recruiterg Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Edina, MN (Zone 4) Posts: 945	Here's the link: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...&highlight=crw

March 24, 2011	#22
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	ChefJeff, as well as gloves and a pair of sidecutters, make sure you also have safety glasses, that wire likes to spring up at the most inconvenient times!

March 24, 2011	#24
Pyrrho Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 75	I had some issues making CRW cages a few weeks ago, and began the following thread: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=17185 Overall, I'm really happy with the CRW cages, and with any extra material (if your only choice is a 150' roll) you can make extensions to make your cages 7' tall. For this, I'm using the 1/8" malleable wire rope clips Raybo recommends in the above thread. Lastly, I use 9" plastic tree spikes to secure each cage to the ground (three spikes per cage). The spikes have a hook at the top to hold down the bottom 'ring' of the cages securely. These cages do not budge at all through the season, and I don't sacrifice 6" of the cage height to make prongs. I hope this helps. P.S.: While safety should be your first concern (eyes and hands), you should also know that the rust on the new CRW will get all over your clothes, so dress accordingly. After the first season, the rust darkens and won't rub off as easily.

March 25, 2011	#25
husker nana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Wisc. 5A Posts: 197	Granite Pretty impressive pictures of your tomato garden. You've got really fine looking tomato's yourself. I can't imagine how you can manage to grow the amount (500 cages) that you do. Do you grow any other vegetables?

March 25, 2011	#27
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	CRW's if they rust in the ground like you say over the years, is your garden still organic?

March 25, 2011	#28
kevinrs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Littlerock, CA Posts: 218	rust is natural

March 25, 2011	#29
ireilly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Dallas Posts: 344	Iron oxide or iron hydroxide is why some soils are red.