tomato support

Errol · November 7, 2011

I need some good advise on best tomato support for tomatoes. I have always only grown a few plants and I just staked them, which is not that great for tall plants. for 2012 I am planning a 50 FT row of tomatoes, I don't care for the fence cage type. Has anyone ever used the nylon netting for tomatoes successfully? and if so, how did you support the netting?
thanks for any advise and help
Errol

feldon30 · November 7, 2011

Have you looked at Florida Weave?

tam91 · November 7, 2011

Another vote for Florida Weave.

Errol · November 7, 2011

thanks feldon30 & tracy, I have looked up the florida weave and it looks like something I may like. How many plants apart should the stakes be for inderminate tomatoes? Seems 3 to 4 plants ?
thanks again
Errol

tam91 · November 7, 2011

What I've read for instructions is to put stakes every other plants. I suppose you probably could stretch it, I haven't tried. What I do is put very sturdy metal T-posts at the end of the rows, then just cheap wood stakes in-between the plants. With a long row like yours, I think I'd use metal every so often. Here are some instructions, in case it's helpful:

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/public...asp?pid=FS1102

Mark0820 · November 7, 2011

Here is another vote for the Florida Weave. Up until this year, I always used cages. This year, I tried both the Florida Weave and cages. I prefer the Florida Weave and don't see myself going back to cages in the future.

I used 8 ft. t-posts (leaves about 6 1/2 ft. of stake above ground) after every two plants. However, you can use whatever size of post best fits your needs (Tractor Supply sells all sizes of t-posts.). You can also do a combo of wood and metal posts (your preference).

The only downside to the 8 ft. t-post was that I had to stand on a chair to be tall enough to pound the post in the ground.

cloz · November 7, 2011

I used the Florida weave for some of my plants this year and found it to work quite well although it was more labor intensive than cages or using an overhead secured dropper string to train the plants on. I found that you better not skimp on the end posts or they will bend in from the weight of the plants. The intermediate stakes could be anything (1" x 1" oak worked fine for me) but my end stakes were the smaller (cheaper) t-posts (I had them on hand) and they bent in at about a 30 degree angle by the end of the growing season.

saltmarsh · November 7, 2011

I've been playing around with a trellis system for a couple of years. It 's made from 1" x 7' pvc conduit for posts with 1 1/4" x 12" thinwall metal conduit used for anchors. The idea is to leave the trellis in place between plantings.
I like the openness of this system. Next spring I'm going to try a little different approach. Up until now I've been using tomato clips to support the vines every 8 inches or so and removing the suckers to two stems. Next year I'm going to let the tomatoes sucker as much as they want and attach a string and just one tomato clip to the first few suckers and wrap them around their string as they grow. This should form a basket of the plant to support later growth. Claud

afrance30 · November 7, 2011

Saltmarsh, that is an awesome system you have going!

saltmarsh · November 7, 2011

Afrance, thanks. It keeps me out of trouble.

b54red · November 7, 2011

Errol, I use a trellis system after trying just about everything else. I think with the higher humidity and temps of the south it would be better for keeping the plants more open and thus less disease prone.

I use a trellis made from 1/2 in. and 3/4 in. cheap electrical conduit held together by wire ties. Instead of driving the vertical posts deep and having the problem of pulling them out at the end of the season I just sink them about 8 to 10 inches and drive in a few diagonal supports which makes the whole trellis very stable. Since I plant in 4 ft raised beds I use a double trellis and plant staggered on both sides of the bed. It also works well as a single long trellis which needs more diagonal supports because of the tremendous weight of indeterminates in our long growing season.

mlp2147 · November 9, 2011

Saltmarsh,
Very impressive looking system you've got there! Can you tell me more about your heating set up? Feel free to PM me so as not to hijack this thread.
Thanks for your time,
Mike

November 7, 2011	#1
Errol Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: beech grove, tn Posts: 45	tomato support I need some good advise on best tomato support for tomatoes. I have always only grown a few plants and I just staked them, which is not that great for tall plants. for 2012 I am planning a 50 FT row of tomatoes, I don't care for the fence cage type. Has anyone ever used the nylon netting for tomatoes successfully? and if so, how did you support the netting? thanks for any advise and help Errol

November 7, 2011	#2
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	Have you looked at Florida Weave? __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

November 7, 2011	#3
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	Another vote for Florida Weave. __________________ Tracy

November 7, 2011	#5
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	What I've read for instructions is to put stakes every other plants. I suppose you probably could stretch it, I haven't tried. What I do is put very sturdy metal T-posts at the end of the rows, then just cheap wood stakes in-between the plants. With a long row like yours, I think I'd use metal every so often. Here are some instructions, in case it's helpful: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/public...asp?pid=FS1102 __________________ Tracy

November 7, 2011	#6
Mark0820 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 907	Here is another vote for the Florida Weave. Up until this year, I always used cages. This year, I tried both the Florida Weave and cages. I prefer the Florida Weave and don't see myself going back to cages in the future. I used 8 ft. t-posts (leaves about 6 1/2 ft. of stake above ground) after every two plants. However, you can use whatever size of post best fits your needs (Tractor Supply sells all sizes of t-posts.). You can also do a combo of wood and metal posts (your preference). The only downside to the 8 ft. t-post was that I had to stand on a chair to be tall enough to pound the post in the ground.

November 7, 2011	#7
cloz Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Southern Connecticut Posts: 435	I used the Florida weave for some of my plants this year and found it to work quite well although it was more labor intensive than cages or using an overhead secured dropper string to train the plants on. I found that you better not skimp on the end posts or they will bend in from the weight of the plants. The intermediate stakes could be anything (1" x 1" oak worked fine for me) but my end stakes were the smaller (cheaper) t-posts (I had them on hand) and they bent in at about a 30 degree angle by the end of the growing season.

November 7, 2011	#9
afrance30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 212	Saltmarsh, that is an awesome system you have going!

November 9, 2011	#12
mlp2147 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Holly Ridge, NC Posts: 8	Saltmarsh, Very impressive looking system you've got there! Can you tell me more about your heating set up? Feel free to PM me so as not to hijack this thread. Thanks for your time, Mike