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[christian1971]

Would redwood 1" X 1" X 6' wooden stakes be strong enough to support large tomatoes or wood t posts be a better alternative?

[TC_Manhattan]

Originally Posted by christian1971

Would redwood 1" X 1" X 6' wooden stakes be strong enough to support large tomatoes or wood t posts be a better alternative?

A 6 foot stake would need to be driven in the ground at least 1 foot, so at best you would have 5 foot of support. If that stake is only 1"x1", it would likely break once the plant got large enough and with fruit load. I used some 2"x2"'x8 foot poplar stakes last year and they withstood large plants with heavy fruit load. Those stakes were buried over 1 foot in the ground for stability.

Is redwood a very strong wood?'

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by christian1971

Would redwood 1" X 1" X 6' wooden stakes be strong enough to support large tomatoes or wood t posts be a better alternative?

Are they truly 1X1.
Here is the deal.
Wood is lighter and therefore will hold up more weight other than itself.
T posts have to not only hold up the tomato they have to hold up themselves and they are heaver.
If in containers wood or PVC.
If in the ground you can use a T post.
Does this make since.

[ContainerTed]

I've found a lot of things are "adequate" to support even heavy loads of tomato foliage ...... until I get a summer storm with high winds from downbursts or ......

I've made stacks and stacks of oak, poplar, hickory, etc. stakes and sooner or later, they will go down. So, I am in the middle of converting everything to metal "T" posts. These are usually used for fencing, but it's the only thing I've tried that will stand up to the harsher weather we get here.

[christian1971]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Are they truly 1X1.
Here is the deal.
Wood is lighter and therefore will hold up more weight other than itself.
T posts have to not only hold up the tomato they have to hold up themselves and they are heaver.
If in containers wood or PVC.
If in the ground you can use a T post.
Does this make since.

Yes that makes sense.

[christian1971]

Originally Posted by TC_Manhattan

A 6 foot stake would need to be driven in the ground at least 1 foot, so at best you would have 5 foot of support. If that stake is only 1"x1", it would likely break once the plant got large enough and with fruit load. I used some 2"x2"'x8 foot poplar stakes last year and they withstood large plants with heavy fruit load. Those stakes were buried over 1 foot in the ground for stability.

Is redwood a very strong wood?'

Where do you get 2" X 2 " wooden stakes?

[TC_Manhattan]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

I've found a lot of things are "adequate" to support even heavy loads of tomato foliage ...... until I get a summer storm with high winds from downbursts or ......

I've made stacks and stacks of oak, poplar, hickory, etc. stakes and sooner or later, they will go down. So, I am in the middle of converting everything to metal "T" posts. These are usually used for fencing, but it's the only thing I've tried that will stand up to the harsher weather we get here.

If you live "up north," you can use T-posts for tomato stakes in summer, then re-brand them as snow fence come winter.

[luigiwu]

I no longer remember whose garden this was but I've always admired how they did it... if I ever get land like this...

[cloz]

I used heavy duty closet pole hangers from the big box store and put one on each side of a 2x4 to give me 2 rows to drop strings from in each bed. The second pic shows I made use of the fence posts for the bed along the fence line. The pipe is 1 inch EMT (electrical section of the big box store). The height is 6 feet to the pipe and next time I will go to at least 7'. The pipe ends sticking out are convenient for hanging the hose on. Since there is about 8' between supports I do put a temporary support under the middle of the pipe as the weight on it increases. You could add a permanent support with brackets in the middle, but this works fine for me.

Cloz

[christian1971]

I admire anybody who created their own system. To take the initiative and follow thru. Im embarrassed to say that I never followed thru on much on anything in my life. With depression it can be a real challenge. That's one of the reasons I'm going with a smaller garden. It's not the size but the act of following thru. That is reward in itself. Getting tomatoes, now that is double reward.

[luigiwu]

Christian, you can do it. Myself and others on here have also talked about depression before. Start small - so its manageable. Everyone had different land/weather challenges and you'l figure out how to tackle yours soon enough. My situation, I don't have any land but I've made it work working everything in 5-gallon home depot buckets. And by making it all self-watering they can take care of themselves pretty much all the time since I work an office job with long hours...

[cloz]

As you can see, things are a little too crowded in my garden but my wife opposes expansion even though I have plenty of room to enlarge the garden. The tomato vines grow considerably higher than my 6' pipe supports and eventually work their way back down towards the ground.

Cloz

[Father'sDaughter]

After several years of broken stakes and toppled plants, I gave up and bought a bundle of 25 one inch by eight foot bamboo poles from Home Depot. For the first time I didn't have a single plant fall over last year!

[heirloomtomaguy]

I like 7ft steel T posts. They cost more up front but last forever. Plus you can drive them in alot easier and move them easier. At 7 ft you can chose to put 1 or 2 feet in the ground according to how tall your plants get. I will never mess with wood or bamboo again.

[Worth1]

Here is something to consider when using stakes and cages for tomato plants.
If you buy a 6 foot stake or T Post you are at the very most going to get 5 foot of use out of it because you need to have at least a foot or 14 inches of it in the soil.
Even the so called Texas Tomato Cages only gives you 5 foot of cage at the very most.
Then there is the type of soil to consider.
If it is deep lose sandy soil you will have to go even deeper.
From the top of the metal support blade to the bottom of a 6 foot T Post is 14 1/2 inches.

Worth