tomato staking, what's your favorite?

[desertlzbn]

Count me in for the CRW, I bought 7 ft tall wire last year, 200ft roll was about $250. It was a lot of money, but I can put the shade cloth on top of them and not have to use additional anchors/structures for shade cloth.
I set in t posts at the end of my raised beds, then run the wire through the cages and attach to the t posts.
will get pictures soon.

[camochef]

Originally Posted by WH_Conley

If I sound prejudiced, I am. I sell a lot of stakes every year.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=13279

I have seen the cages used and they work great, but how many feet of wire does it take to make a cage. Cheapest I found from Tractor Supply was "Field Fencing" at $159.00 per roll of 330 ft. Just guessing at about 4 feet that would come to about $2.00 per cage, plus tent stakes.

Camo, depreciate the cost over 30 years and that would be the cheapest way to go. Those cages are paying you now. At 53 I am not making many 30 year investments.

I am just guessing, by his post, that mich04 is just getting started on this size production and looking at initial cost as well as the end product. 1500 stakes would be $750.00 plus shipping. Cages would be, I need help with exact cost, $3000.00 to $3500.00.

Stake maintainence.

One thing to give you long life to a wood stake is go to the local rental place and rent a stake puller when you remove them from the ground. Give a few side bends to loosen the stake from the ground, that's when they break. Pulling straight up with a puller does not break near as many.

Let them dry in the sun, then smack them against a post or tree to get all the loose dirt off. Wash or dip the stakes in a mild bleach/water solution, dry and store inside a ventilated area, barn works great.

Hope this helps, I know a lot more about wood than Tomatoes, except I like them.

Your cost per roll is right on the money for this past year. The year before it was about $30.00/roll cheaper, it goes up about $20-$30./year lately. The past few years I've been buying two rolls per year. I get 52-54 cages /roll. tent stakes like I use are about $1.00/ea. So yes there is a substantial cost.
on the other hand if your tieing to stakes or fencing or overhead wireing, how much time are you taking to re-tie constantly as the plant grows, 1500 plants require an awful lot of labor to keep them supported.
I only have to assure everything stays within the cage. As the season progresses they grow out the top and cascade back over the outside of the cage. No labor, no ties having to be redone or cutting of nutrients.
and I'm 62, are you telling me I wasted my money the past few years? Should I expect not to see 92!
Camo

[WH_Conley]

and I'm 62, are you telling me I wasted my money the past few years? Should I
expect not to see 92!

. Let's hope you do. The way I have slowed down the last few years I doubt I will be doing much gardening at 83. Maybe supervising.(Where is the whip cracking smiley)?

In all reality, both stakes and cages have their place, just depends on a persons long term plans and initial cost. Stakes are cheaper up front to get started, and the big boys that raise by the acre must figure they are cheaper. That is who I sell to, the big operators that buy by the thousand or neighbors that buy by the dozen. Freight kills everybody else. Myself, I prefer stakes, mine are free, the crooked ones that I won't sell to a customer, my garden is not pretty. I have a neighbor that uses concrete wire cages. They are probably 20 years old, piles them up at the end of the garden at the end of the season he has a pretty 1/2 acre garden.

In the end I think a person has to learn all they can about the options and choose what is best for them.

P.S. I ran into an old friend that I sawed some oak stakes for in '97, he said he gave them away this year, he was unable to garden anymore. Said they were still good, little shorter than when new. He is the guy that gave me the tutorial on caring for them at end of season.

[rigdond]

I agree with Broken Bar. I use the long metal T posts too with heavy twine. The posts can be reused forever of years and the twine is inexpensive and very adaptable.

[Barbee]

For 1500 tomatoes, I'd probably use the sprawl method. Use straw around the plants and along the rows to keep the maters from laying in the mud.
Easy and cheap.

[camochef]

Barbee,
Obviously your not 62! Had to give up sprawling years ago, can't reach anything down on the ground anymore. If I got down there, I'd need a crane to get me back up.
Straw only makes it harder to find tomatoes in among sprawlers!
I can sit on a five gallon bucket, or my little folding stool and pick from cages, weed with my scuffle hoe, water, fertilize, prune, search for critters, etc. or just devour a nice juicy tomato if I feel inclined. I wouldn't be able to do any of that if they were sprawled.

[camochef]

Originally Posted by WH_Conley

and I'm 62, are you telling me I wasted my money the past few years? Should I
expect not to see 92!

. Let's hope you do. The way I have slowed down the last few years I doubt I will be doing much gardening at 83. Maybe supervising.(Where is the whip cracking smiley)?

In all reality, both stakes and cages have their place, just depends on a persons long term plans and initial cost. Stakes are cheaper up front to get started, and the big boys that raise by the acre must figure they are cheaper. That is who I sell to, the big operators that buy by the thousand or neighbors that buy by the dozen. Freight kills everybody else. Myself, I prefer stakes, mine are free, the crooked ones that I won't sell to a customer, my garden is not pretty. I have a neighbor that uses concrete wire cages. They are probably 20 years old, piles them up at the end of the garden at the end of the season he has a pretty 1/2 acre garden.

In the end I think a person has to learn all they can about the options and choose what is best for them.

P.S. I ran into an old friend that I sawed some oak stakes for in '97, he said he gave them away this year, he was unable to garden anymore. Said they were still good, little shorter than when new. He is the guy that gave me the tutorial on caring for them at end of season.

I agree about options and choosing whats best. I used to use stakes, rebar, 1x1 oak, and those darned green bamboo. It was a green bamboo that nearly took out my eye and left a hole in my forehead. I did pull every stake that day . I'm also cutting back to about 10% of my normal amount of planting this year as last year nearly did me in. .I hope everyone has a great season this year no matter what method the use!
Camo

[gardenfrog]

I've seen tomato cages used in tandem for larger plants. You place one cage like you ordinarily would, then attach an inverted second cage to the top of the first one. I could be wrong, but I thought I saw that used on one of Brad Gates photos on his website.

[Vince]

"How do you stake your tomatoes?"

Grow dwarfs and nearly not an issue!

[no charge]

As others have refered too, I use T-Posts' made from landscape timbers, with wire on each side of the T. Run another wire 10"s above ground level to tie drop strings too (use baling twine). Alternate every other strand to to opposite side. About once a week wrap new growth of plant around string. I desucker constantly, but one could add more drops as more stems grow.

[flashback]

I have a small garden of about 15 - 16, 18 gallon containers. I have tried single 10' stakes, cages, 10' rebar, and 3 10' rebar conected at the top like a tee pee.

The 3 pieces of rebar seem to work best. I have a freind that has a lot of bamboo on his farm that I will try this year. It is easier to tie the plant to three post instead of one. The cages, for me are sometimes hard to get to the middle of the plant.

John

[Barbee]

Barbee,
Obviously your not 62! Had to give up sprawling years ago, can't reach anything down on the ground anymore. If I got down there, I'd need a crane to get me back up.

Ha! No, I'm not 62, but not exactly a spring chicken either. And like you, I would not want to have to pick from the ground anymore but.....I would not want 1500 plants to stake, much less pick. Yikes, that is some major mater growing, and looking at costs only, with 1500 plants, I'd most likely sacrifice some fruit for the cost of stakes or cages. Just throwing ideas out there is all. I'm only growing 12 plants this year and use texas tomato cages for those. I figure I can crawl around on my knees and pick the low growers from 12 plants and only have to heave the old body up once

[stormymater]

Raised beds ( 20 inches high) & CRW cages (8' tall sunk 1 1/2' into the bed) for me! Growing the determinates & semi-determinates in 30 gallon containers - stakes there are salvage from house repair - funky but functional & free.