Concrete Mesh ~ - Page 3

jwr6404 · February 23, 2006

I'm not a seasoned Tomato Grower, I plant in larger pots and I fabricated 5ft tall cages,6" larger in diameter than the Pots, using 2" x 4" x 5ft fencing which is readily available at Lowes and/or HD. I chose the 2" x4" fencing as it would be much stronger and able to handle the weight of the tomatoes without bending and it is easier to form a circular cage. I then cut out larger holes at several locations that would allow for easy harvesting and pruning of the Tomatos. I have used the same cages for 4 years and expect they will outlast me as I'm 68 with only 40-50 years left,if I'm lucky. I live in the PNW and am also able to plant earlier by completely covering the cages with clear 6mil vinyl using electrical ties providing a quasi greenhouse for each pot.

Tomstrees · February 23, 2006

jwr6404 -

Pretty far from seasoned myself , lol ~
I'm still not sure what size mesh I have,
but I will take pics this weekend and post on
monday ...

~ Tom

jwr6404 · February 23, 2006

Tom
John 6A requested input from seasoned tomato growers, thought an input from an unseasoned source would be acceptable.

I like your Babe Ruth quote. I was going to add to my posts " If I ever get my sh*t together I'll be standing in it". I guess the fear of striking out got in my way.

geol · February 24, 2006

Tom thats one solid wall of tomatos. Thats how my cherries get (see my post in the "cage size" thread in gen. discussion). I don't prune them at all unless they start to invade their neighbors, and then it's still an optional judgment call. These are 30" dia. cages 5' tall.
Most plants adapt readily to any size cage you put them in.
19" dia. will work fine if you decide you want cages taller than 5'. You can always re-roll them if you change your mind (a 6 1/2 ft. x 19" dia. cage re-rolled the other way would be 5ft.x24" dia.)
I still don't know how to post pics (new on the computer) if I can figure it out, I'll try to get some up. Any tips regarding this?

Tomstrees · February 24, 2006

jwr6404 ~

yeah I saw that on the other forum / thread ~
looking good there too ...
isn't it ? lol ~
had to give Babe a shout out
for spring training starting up ~

geol ~

funny thing is - those plants on the right side of the garden
are a Juane Flamme(left),
and a yellow beefsteak variety (right) I'm working on ~
The yellow beefsteak just took over so much
I needed to get a 4 foot stake and
add supplemental support ~
you can't see the stake at all !! lol ~ Tom

tanagerzoo · February 25, 2006

Okay, My brain is spinning on all the math to figure diameter!

But I'll throw in my 2 cents.

In my garden, my tomatoes have a tendency to grow tall. Most grow between 6-8 feet so I knew that 5' cages wouldn't cut it for me. At Lowes all I could get was the 5' mesh. So this is what I did--not exactly cost effective, but I'm happy with what I have...

I rolled out 8 feet, cut it off. Then rolled it length-wise into a cage and then used pastic zip ties to secure the ends (in order to minimize lots of sharp pokey ends). So I now have 8 foot tall cages with an 18 inch diameter. Used them last year for the first time and they were a ROARING success! I had no problems with 18 inch diameters--worked well for me. I planted my tomatoes 39 inches apart and with the installed cages, I still had enough room to walk in between.

I don't clip off the ends for pokey bits to shove into the ground. I don't like having sharp ends, and frankly, I wasn't coordinated enough to shove an 8 foot tall cage into the ground. The wire would bend when it hit a rock or whatever. Instead, I just dug a huge 12 inch deep hole and then buried the bottom end of the cage.

Christine

sweetwm007 · February 27, 2006

as someone else mentioned, pi x diameter. i would not use anything smaller then 30". some crw is 5' in length and some is 6'. if your squares are 6" it is a no brainer. cut of the bottom horizontal wire and that leaves you with 6" to put in the ground. a lot of people use 18" re- bar and tie that to the cages after driving them into the ground. if you are planting indeterminates they will surely go over the top. if you can live with that, ok. if not, build some more cages the same diameter and cut them in half and join them with some wire ties on the top of your 5 or 6 ft cages. crw cages are very good. with plants like SFT and others that are determinate, i would just stake with bamboo or re- bar and go from there. i use 1/2" copper pipe with caps cause i like the patina and the copper look in the garden. you can do whatever you want in your garden. that is what makes it so nice. CEO and President. ain't nobody in charge but you. don't waste your time re-inventing the wheel. as you can see, a lot of us have done that before!!!!!!! be original and do something better and everyone will listen.
william

Tomstrees · February 27, 2006

wow ~ thanks to everyone for the input ~ I'm going to give this my best shot ... I'm going to be able to squeeze 20 (inch in diameter) 5ft tall cages in my garden and try stakes for what ever plants are left w/o cages - I did get a look @ the garden this weekend as well as the mesh - Looks like I do have the 5ft mesh from Lowes ~ I'm going to build them once the weather gets warmer ... I did start my plants yesterday ~ wow ; Its starting to get real exciting ~ Tom

tjg911 · March 1, 2006

18" diameter is really pushing the limits of too small. i suggest 20" min 24" works well. i had mine 28" diameter and one year the plants really filled them up but another year 28" was too wide and a lot fell down. i have now decided upon 24" as being a good width. when a cage is too wide the plants can fall down from the weight of the tomatoes if you don't hang enough branches thru the mesh for support. 18" may work BUT you'll need to pull branches thru the grid in the am and pm in the fast growing heat of mid summer. it is really amazing how fast those branches lengthen in 70+ degree nights, get 2 days of rain and the branches have grown beyond the ability to bend them back thru the grid. i like 24" diameter.

do not cut anything off the bottom! you'll lose 6" of cage height. you have to anchor the cage with rebar (i use 2 5' 1/4" rebar stakes per cage driven 2 1/2' into the ground) or wooden stakes.

to my knowledge crw comes in 5' not 6' lengths.

to cut an 8' length and then ROLL it lengthwise to make an 8' tall cage is very clever but crw is very difficult to bend! it will take 2 people i'd think to do that but it is a great idea. my tomatoes are topped at 6' and flop over the cage top.

for those unexperienced handling crw i warn you to wear long sleeved shirt, long pants and leather gloves (a must!) when opening a new roll and even cutting off an opened roll, glasses would be an extra safety measure. seriously, crw is under tremendous tension. when unrolling it you need someone to stand on it or something heavy to anchor it. i have cut up a few rolls so i have experience handling it. it is excellent stuff tho expensive. just respect it don't fear it.

tom

tjg911 · March 1, 2006

yeah, but john, where would anyone find that!

Tomstrees · March 1, 2006

lol ~ I'm going to take everyones advice with handling this
material as just loading it into my car was dangerous !
lol ~ will use protective outerwear as nec. ~ Tom

giardiniere · March 1, 2006

There's a construction site, across the street from where I work. Today they delivered at least 100, 8' x 20' sheets of concrete reinforcement wire. I walked over and told one of the constrution workers that those would make some dandy tomato cages. He said "they sure would", and they'd probably have quite a few left over.

Tomstrees · March 1, 2006

all joking aside - this really sounds like
a 2 person operation ~ Tom

tjg911 · March 2, 2006

i make my cages by myself. i don't cut 8' and then roll it lengthwise that's gotta be tough! i put a 90 gallon trash can on the lose end to anchor it then roll out several feet. i stand on it and cut it with bolt cutters BEING CAREFUL TO OBSERVE WHEN THE LAST CUT IS MADE I HAVE 1 FOOT ON EACH SIDE OF THE CUT OR STAND ON THE SIDE THAT HAS POTENTIAL TO KICK BACK. this is common sense and you'll figure it out when you do it. just beaware (and you are now) that crw is dangerous if handled in a haphazzard amnner w/o regard to it's potential danger.

tom

Tomstrees · March 2, 2006

sounds like a gator after you make that one cut ! ~ Tom

February 23, 2006	#31
jwr6404 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: University Place, WA Posts: 481	I'm not a seasoned Tomato Grower, I plant in larger pots and I fabricated 5ft tall cages,6" larger in diameter than the Pots, using 2" x 4" x 5ft fencing which is readily available at Lowes and/or HD. I chose the 2" x4" fencing as it would be much stronger and able to handle the weight of the tomatoes without bending and it is easier to form a circular cage. I then cut out larger holes at several locations that would allow for easy harvesting and pruning of the Tomatos. I have used the same cages for 4 years and expect they will outlast me as I'm 68 with only 40-50 years left,if I'm lucky. I live in the PNW and am also able to plant earlier by completely covering the cages with clear 6mil vinyl using electrical ties providing a quasi greenhouse for each pot. __________________ Jim

February 23, 2006	#32
Tomstrees Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Bayshore Posts: 3,848	jwr6404 - Pretty far from seasoned myself , lol ~ I'm still not sure what size mesh I have, but I will take pics this weekend and post on monday ... ~ Tom __________________ My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~ H. Fred Ale

February 23, 2006	#33
jwr6404 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: University Place, WA Posts: 481	Tom John 6A requested input from seasoned tomato growers, thought an input from an unseasoned source would be acceptable. I like your Babe Ruth quote. I was going to add to my posts " If I ever get my sh*t together I'll be standing in it". I guess the fear of striking out got in my way. __________________ Jim

February 24, 2006	#35
Tomstrees Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Bayshore Posts: 3,848	jwr6404 ~ yeah I saw that on the other forum / thread ~ looking good there too ... isn't it ? lol ~ had to give Babe a shout out for spring training starting up ~ geol ~ funny thing is - those plants on the right side of the garden are a Juane Flamme(left), and a yellow beefsteak variety (right) I'm working on ~ The yellow beefsteak just took over so much I needed to get a 4 foot stake and add supplemental support ~ you can't see the stake at all !! lol ~ Tom __________________ My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~ H. Fred Ale

February 27, 2006	#38
Tomstrees Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Bayshore Posts: 3,848	wow ~ thanks to everyone for the input ~ I'm going to give this my best shot ... I'm going to be able to squeeze 20 (inch in diameter) 5ft tall cages in my garden and try stakes for what ever plants are left w/o cages - I did get a look @ the garden this weekend as well as the mesh - Looks like I do have the 5ft mesh from Lowes ~ I'm going to build them once the weather gets warmer ... I did start my plants yesterday ~ wow ; Its starting to get real exciting ~ Tom __________________ My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~ H. Fred Ale

February 24, 2006	#34
geol Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: NJ - 6/7 Posts: 109	Tom thats one solid wall of tomatos. Thats how my cherries get (see my post in the "cage size" thread in gen. discussion). I don't prune them at all unless they start to invade their neighbors, and then it's still an optional judgment call. These are 30" dia. cages 5' tall. Most plants adapt readily to any size cage you put them in. 19" dia. will work fine if you decide you want cages taller than 5'. You can always re-roll them if you change your mind (a 6 1/2 ft. x 19" dia. cage re-rolled the other way would be 5ft.x24" dia.) I still don't know how to post pics (new on the computer) if I can figure it out, I'll try to get some up. Any tips regarding this?

February 25, 2006	#36
tanagerzoo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Zone 7 Delaware Posts: 67	Okay, My brain is spinning on all the math to figure diameter! But I'll throw in my 2 cents. In my garden, my tomatoes have a tendency to grow tall. Most grow between 6-8 feet so I knew that 5' cages wouldn't cut it for me. At Lowes all I could get was the 5' mesh. So this is what I did--not exactly cost effective, but I'm happy with what I have... I rolled out 8 feet, cut it off. Then rolled it length-wise into a cage and then used pastic zip ties to secure the ends (in order to minimize lots of sharp pokey ends). So I now have 8 foot tall cages with an 18 inch diameter. Used them last year for the first time and they were a ROARING success! I had no problems with 18 inch diameters--worked well for me. I planted my tomatoes 39 inches apart and with the installed cages, I still had enough room to walk in between. I don't clip off the ends for pokey bits to shove into the ground. I don't like having sharp ends, and frankly, I wasn't coordinated enough to shove an 8 foot tall cage into the ground. The wire would bend when it hit a rock or whatever. Instead, I just dug a huge 12 inch deep hole and then buried the bottom end of the cage. Christine

February 27, 2006	#37
sweetwm007 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: yellville, arkansas Posts: 29	as someone else mentioned, pi x diameter. i would not use anything smaller then 30". some crw is 5' in length and some is 6'. if your squares are 6" it is a no brainer. cut of the bottom horizontal wire and that leaves you with 6" to put in the ground. a lot of people use 18" re- bar and tie that to the cages after driving them into the ground. if you are planting indeterminates they will surely go over the top. if you can live with that, ok. if not, build some more cages the same diameter and cut them in half and join them with some wire ties on the top of your 5 or 6 ft cages. crw cages are very good. with plants like SFT and others that are determinate, i would just stake with bamboo or re- bar and go from there. i use 1/2" copper pipe with caps cause i like the patina and the copper look in the garden. you can do whatever you want in your garden. that is what makes it so nice. CEO and President. ain't nobody in charge but you. don't waste your time re-inventing the wheel. as you can see, a lot of us have done that before!!!!!!! be original and do something better and everyone will listen. william

March 1, 2006	#39
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	18" diameter is really pushing the limits of too small. i suggest 20" min 24" works well. i had mine 28" diameter and one year the plants really filled them up but another year 28" was too wide and a lot fell down. i have now decided upon 24" as being a good width. when a cage is too wide the plants can fall down from the weight of the tomatoes if you don't hang enough branches thru the mesh for support. 18" may work BUT you'll need to pull branches thru the grid in the am and pm in the fast growing heat of mid summer. it is really amazing how fast those branches lengthen in 70+ degree nights, get 2 days of rain and the branches have grown beyond the ability to bend them back thru the grid. i like 24" diameter. do not cut anything off the bottom! you'll lose 6" of cage height. you have to anchor the cage with rebar (i use 2 5' 1/4" rebar stakes per cage driven 2 1/2' into the ground) or wooden stakes. to my knowledge crw comes in 5' not 6' lengths. to cut an 8' length and then ROLL it lengthwise to make an 8' tall cage is very clever but crw is very difficult to bend! it will take 2 people i'd think to do that but it is a great idea. my tomatoes are topped at 6' and flop over the cage top. for those unexperienced handling crw i warn you to wear long sleeved shirt, long pants and leather gloves (a must!) when opening a new roll and even cutting off an opened roll, glasses would be an extra safety measure. seriously, crw is under tremendous tension. when unrolling it you need someone to stand on it or something heavy to anchor it. i have cut up a few rolls so i have experience handling it. it is excellent stuff tho expensive. just respect it don't fear it. tom

March 1, 2006	#42
giardiniere Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Zone 6, Southeast Kansas Posts: 364	There's a construction site, across the street from where I work. Today they delivered at least 100, 8' x 20' sheets of concrete reinforcement wire. I walked over and told one of the constrution workers that those would make some dandy tomato cages. He said "they sure would", and they'd probably have quite a few left over. __________________ Dave

March 2, 2006	#44
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	i make my cages by myself. i don't cut 8' and then roll it lengthwise that's gotta be tough! i put a 90 gallon trash can on the lose end to anchor it then roll out several feet. i stand on it and cut it with bolt cutters BEING CAREFUL TO OBSERVE WHEN THE LAST CUT IS MADE I HAVE 1 FOOT ON EACH SIDE OF THE CUT OR STAND ON THE SIDE THAT HAS POTENTIAL TO KICK BACK. this is common sense and you'll figure it out when you do it. just beaware (and you are now) that crw is dangerous if handled in a haphazzard amnner w/o regard to it's potential danger. tom