Florida weave a long way from Florida - Page 2

ChrisK · June 5, 2014

I think you may not be happy with the performance of those stakes by the end of the season trying to hold up that many plants. I have used 2x2s previously with only two plants between and now I use ~3x5 landscape timbers because of the weight.

KarenO · June 6, 2014

You may be right ChrisK. time will tell. Canadian tomatoes cant's get as big and tall as your southern ones so that might save me. Trouble is I can't build anything permanent here as this plot is in a community garden. I'll Jerry-rig something to hold them up til September if they start to topple. bamboo stakes, guy wires and tent pegs...who knows, its an experiment
lol!
Karen

KarenO · June 17, 2014

2 weeks later, with a second row of twine added to support the tomatoes that are growing pretty well despite our cool spring. Tallest are about 3.5 feet already , starting to bloom with a few fruits set. Thanks for all the advice, I'll post a pic every now and then to see if they stay standing through the whole season.
Karen

luigiwu · June 17, 2014

They look great - super healthy! What did you mulch them with? (the yellow stuff?)

KarenO · June 17, 2014

Thanks! Those are pine shavings sold as pet bedding. Keeps the moisture in nicely and prevents soil splash up onto the foliage when it rains. A large compressed bale runs about 10.00 in the pet area at Wallmart. One bale provides a surprising amount of mulch and it is clean and weed free. This is about 2.5 -3 inches deep and it took about 1/3 of the bale to do this so about 3.30 worth. once it has been watered down it stays put even in the wind out in the open garden. At the end of the season I'll just rake it across the garden and work it in as organic matter.
Karen

lycomania · June 18, 2014

Looks wonderful, Karen!

KarenO · June 30, 2014

decided to add more support in the form of 6 foot hardwood stakes between the 8 foot coated metal poles. These plants are going to get heavy when they (hopefully) load up with tomatoes. There are fruits on Terhune, Dester, Margaret Curtain, Sweet Ozark orange, Rebel yell, Coustralee, and purple dog creek. Slowpokes are Pamplemuse and 7/8 of my F2 Delicious crosses out in this garden but they are blooming and the weather is great so they should set some this week. It's only the end of June so they are doing well from my perspective and in my area.
K

tam91 · July 1, 2014

Looks great!
If you ever do consider metal T-posts, they are not permanent, I take mine out every fall.

KarenO · July 1, 2014

Can you show me a photo and where can I get them (in Canada) please.
KarenO

Salsacharley · July 1, 2014

You can set up guy wire supports at your posts to provide lateral stability. You space is awesome indeed. I wish I had some cool weather (not asking for frost).

KarenO · July 1, 2014

that's what I was thinking Salsacharley, If it starts to lean, I think it will lean forward toward the flowers and then I could stake it down from the other way like tent poles to help keep it upright. My plants won't get as big as southern ones as my season isn't long enough here so I think this will work but its an experiment so may well need some tweaking.
Karen

ddsack · July 1, 2014

Karen, dcarch (who seems to have disappeared from the message board for a few years now) always had interesting ideas for nearly everything. He had a support system that worked for him and depended on only two heavy duty posts at the ends, but had a system of guy wires and turnbuckles to keep it all tight. Have a look: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=5160&highlight=posts

Maybe you can adapt parts of his system.

As far as the T posts, since you are in Alberta, I would think that any farm or ranch supply store that carries stock fencing/barbed wire etc. would have them. I think they are called T posts because when you look at them top down, you see a T because of the way the metal is formed. As opposed to U posts, which are not as strong because because they are just a thinner single piece curve.
What they look like -
http://www.southernstates.com/catalo...cessories.aspx

KarenO · July 1, 2014

Thanks Dee! I will get some t posts for next year. Not sure I'm enough of a engineer to build dcarch's support system but it\s pretty cool.
Karen

tam91 · July 2, 2014

I think your hardwood stakes will probably hold, I am a little worried about your end poles. I had something that looked like that, and they were not strong. But maybe yours are much better.
I've gotten away with T-posts at the ends of the rows (takes the most stress) and strong wood stakes within the rows, if you don't want to invest in all the T-posts right away

SharonRossy · July 2, 2014

Wow, Karen wow, that's all I can say. And you have a greenhouse and cross develop tomatoes and use a community garden? You're amazing! I love the look of the Florida weave. I actually decided to more or less implement it this year even though I'm container growing and had put in cages. Makes it difficult but ii find cages just can't always hold them properly and inside containers it can get tricky, to say the least. But it looks beautiful! How's the weather? We're getting a hot one in Montreal and so far not that much rain. I'm worried when it does come it's going to be a bad one. Last year a lot of my tomatoes had broken stems and the cages almost came out of the containers.
Great stuff! We Canadiens have to make the most out of the short and ever changing forecast!
Sharon

June 5, 2014	#16
ChrisK Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 1,448	I think you may not be happy with the performance of those stakes by the end of the season trying to hold up that many plants. I have used 2x2s previously with only two plants between and now I use ~3x5 landscape timbers because of the weight. __________________ Blog: chriskafer.wordpress.com Ignorance more frequently begets knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. --Charles Darwin

June 17, 2014	#20
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	Thanks! Those are pine shavings sold as pet bedding. Keeps the moisture in nicely and prevents soil splash up onto the foliage when it rains. A large compressed bale runs about 10.00 in the pet area at Wallmart. One bale provides a surprising amount of mulch and it is clean and weed free. This is about 2.5 -3 inches deep and it took about 1/3 of the bale to do this so about 3.30 worth. once it has been watered down it stays put even in the wind out in the open garden. At the end of the season I'll just rake it across the garden and work it in as organic matter. Karen Last edited by KarenO; June 17, 2014 at 11:55 PM.

July 1, 2014	#23
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	Looks great! If you ever do consider metal T-posts, they are not permanent, I take mine out every fall. __________________ Tracy

July 1, 2014	#27
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,231	Karen, dcarch (who seems to have disappeared from the message board for a few years now) always had interesting ideas for nearly everything. He had a support system that worked for him and depended on only two heavy duty posts at the ends, but had a system of guy wires and turnbuckles to keep it all tight. Have a look: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=5160&highlight=posts Maybe you can adapt parts of his system. As far as the T posts, since you are in Alberta, I would think that any farm or ranch supply store that carries stock fencing/barbed wire etc. would have them. I think they are called T posts because when you look at them top down, you see a T because of the way the metal is formed. As opposed to U posts, which are not as strong because because they are just a thinner single piece curve. What they look like - http://www.southernstates.com/catalo...cessories.aspx __________________ Dee **************

July 2, 2014	#29
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	I think your hardwood stakes will probably hold, I am a little worried about your end poles. I had something that looked like that, and they were not strong. But maybe yours are much better. I've gotten away with T-posts at the ends of the rows (takes the most stress) and strong wood stakes within the rows, if you don't want to invest in all the T-posts right away __________________ Tracy

June 6, 2014	#17
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	You may be right ChrisK. time will tell. Canadian tomatoes cant's get as big and tall as your southern ones so that might save me. Trouble is I can't build anything permanent here as this plot is in a community garden. I'll Jerry-rig something to hold them up til September if they start to topple. bamboo stakes, guy wires and tent pegs...who knows, its an experiment lol! Karen

June 17, 2014	#19
luigiwu Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: ny Posts: 1,219	They look great - super healthy! What did you mulch them with? (the yellow stuff?)

June 18, 2014	#21
lycomania Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Zone 5b Posts: 179	Looks wonderful, Karen!

July 1, 2014	#25
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	You can set up guy wire supports at your posts to provide lateral stability. You space is awesome indeed. I wish I had some cool weather (not asking for frost).

July 2, 2014	#30
SharonRossy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Montreal Posts: 1,140	Wow, Karen wow, that's all I can say. And you have a greenhouse and cross develop tomatoes and use a community garden? You're amazing! I love the look of the Florida weave. I actually decided to more or less implement it this year even though I'm container growing and had put in cages. Makes it difficult but ii find cages just can't always hold them properly and inside containers it can get tricky, to say the least. But it looks beautiful! How's the weather? We're getting a hot one in Montreal and so far not that much rain. I'm worried when it does come it's going to be a bad one. Last year a lot of my tomatoes had broken stems and the cages almost came out of the containers. Great stuff! We Canadiens have to make the most out of the short and ever changing forecast! Sharon