Tomato Plant Support Methods

[PhilaGardener]

Do you have a picture you can post, Jonnyhat? Your solution sounds interesting!

Vladimír, I'd love to see one of your spirals too!

[Gardeneer]

UPDATE:

I am going to use also stakes on about 10 plants . So that is 10 out of 53 .

[frankcar1965]

I'm doing a modified FL weave using wire rope instead of string. It looks to be a great deal better since there is no stretch at all and it should last a long time since it is galvanized. The modified part is that I string it up and then weave the plant through instead of the other way around. I think this might be my method if it works like I think it will. My father always used cages but I did not want them all hanging around everywhere, I'll just leave the wire rope up.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by frankcar1965

I'm doing a modified FL weave using wire rope instead of string. It looks to be a great deal better since there is no stretch at all and it should last a long time since it is galvanized. The modified part is that I string it up and then weave the plant through instead of the other way around. I think this might be my method if it works like I think it will. My father always used cages but I did not want them all hanging around everywhere, I'll just leave the wire rope up.

Dont cheap out on the end support posts.

Worth

[FarmerShawn]

After trying several methods, I've settled on 6' Hortonova netting, with a post every three tomato plants. I generally prune to two stems, and tie them to the trellis with a tape tool. I think mine is called a "Max Tapener." (Dumb name, very cool tool!) In the hoophouse I use hanging strings, again pruning to two stems.


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[frankcar1965]

Yep already found out about that. I used a 2x4 as a jig I guess you might call it and attached it across the top of the end posts then used that to pull them all tight at once and used a turnbuckle wired to the ties that outline the garden. If I works out I may concrete the posts in, they're the heavy t-posts, or even go for something more substantial. It's working great so far and I have smallish ping pong size tomatoes already. This is very early for me.

[Worth1]

You dont want to concrete T posts they will rot in no time.

Go down a least 2-1/2 feet and sink 6 inch to 8 inch posts on each end.
Even people that use T Posts for fencing dont use them on corners and ends.
You want the wire fiddle string tight.

Just a suggestion.

Worth

[frankcar1965]

I thought you couold concrete them in if you did not embed the end into the concrete, but let it extend out of the concrete so it would not form a cup and hold water. This is what you do with fence posts even chain link or PT wood posts. These green posts I think will rust out eventually since they're just low quality steel from HD. Like this-

[Worth1]

Concrete is highly alkali and T posts aren't galvanized.
Got several in my yard I had to just pound the rusted end into the ground as far as I could.
Also they dont have much side load strength.
I was just talking about the end posts that the wire rope tension would be on.
If you look at grape vineyards you will see huge post on the ends.
If I were to do it here I would use cedar posts that are really a spices of juniper.
The T posts as you said are questionable as to quality.
They rot out fast here in places do to the soil.
Trust me I have put of miles of barbed wire fence.
Putting up the corners is the first thing you do and the most time consuming.
If it were me I would use solid wire not wire rope due to the cost.
Lust trying to help and in no way cutting down what anyone dies.

Worth

[frankcar1965]

I thought of wood too, something beefy but that is next year, we have acid soil so it is just rust out here. I got the wire rope 3/32in on ebay for, wait for it, 30.00 for 500ft including shipping! At HD or Lowes it would have been over 100.00, how they sell it for so low I don't know. I wanted something that was fairly thick but easy to handle. Ebay often comes thru when I have a project.

[Gerardo]

Mixed bag of support.

Determinate and dwarfs with bamboo stakes and dollar store trellises, attached to each other with plastic ties, creating a long row.

Indeterminates on RGGS tubes with 1/8 in galvanized wire running over the top, aprox 15 ft span. End posts are wood, concreted into ground, slathered with diesel on the buried part, and with some aggregate on the bottom created from broken-fractured concrete blocks. These have strings for now, clips soon.

An unintended consequence of having them on strings is the ease with which one can promote pollination; by simply tapping the end support or wire, the whole thing shakes at about the right frequency. Real easy to maintain, can't wait to start using the clips.

the other end of the wire2.png

one end of the wire.png

Plants in 25-30 gal rootpots get a CRW cage, about a dozen of them. Many years ago when they were re-doing the street from asphalt to concrete, the spot where my garden now sits was the storage site for the construction guys, and as "payment" they left two huge rolls of CRW, after a decade or two we've made it through one roll on various projects, and even with my numerous cages, there's still 1/2 a roll left, plans for a CRW pole bean tunnel are coming to fruition.

CRW promotes bushiness, and the rusty scrapes from reaching in get you thinking about when you had your last Tetanus shot, plus the larger plants come over the top and it can be somewhat time consuming to lower. Overall, a pretty low stress method with minimal time investment (except for the initial construction).

[frankcar1965]

Interesting you doubled up on the clamps, I though about it but did not and , so far they are holding fine. I have more clamps so I can add them if needed. I use a palm sander to vibrate the whole plant instead of just the flowers, I'm impatient.

[FlyingZ]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

How do you support your tomato plants ?<br />
Speaking for myself, I have done it mostly by staking and caging in the past. <br />
But this year I am going to do it differently . NO more cage, No more staking individually.<br />
<br />
Because I plant in rows (rather than in small raised beds ) I will practice :<br />
<br />
1- <b>Stringing, lowering and layering</b> (Just one row experiment).<br />
2 - <b>Florida Weaving.</b>. By this method I try to reduce the number of stakes by about 70%. For example, instead of using 3 stake for 2 plants I will use 2 stakes/poles for 4 plants. <br />
<b>Why Not Cages ?</b><br />
In my case, good cages are expensive to buy an/or to make. Any cage shorter than 6 ft is not effective. So you end up supplementing them by stakes. <br />
Cost is important consideration. Fifty (50) cages at $10 per cage would cost $500. <br />
Winter/off season handling and storage is yet another consideration. <br />
<br />
How are you supporting your tomato plants ? <br />
Please share your method(s) with us.

<br />
<br />
For the string method you should consider two rows then you can lean and lower in a circle. Other wise when you get too the end the last plant has nowhere to go. It's the method I use. Works great.

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[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by FlyingZ

<br />
<br />
For the string method you should consider two rows then you can lean and lower in a circle. Other wise when you get too the end the last plant has nowhere to go. It's the method I use. Works great.

Sent from my samsung SPH-L710T Using Ez Forum for Android

Thanks for pointing out.
It will be a while before i start lowering. Bu I have plenty of space at one end (north), towards which I will layer. So I have to do it in that direction.

[frankcar1965]

Ok I'm not understanding lean and lower, can someone explain it? In the past with the strings I just trained them along the top string, with the wire it should be easier at least as long as they last.