Making Tomato Cages from Concrete Mesh - Page 6

meadowyck · June 17, 2012

Tapout, I wish you lived down here, I could put you to work

Byron · June 19, 2012

I guess I don't understand the bending. The CRW comes in rolls so it naturally makes round cages. I bend the end wires back to hold the ends together. It takes me about 15 minutes to make a cage.

Athena · June 19, 2012

That's fine if you need/want round cages...some of us need rectangles.

treeshaker · June 19, 2012

i use a 1x2 about 5-6 ft long-put it in ground on south side and north side about8-10 in deep then tie top and bottom with some fine wire. they can take some really strong winds until they get really big(the plants) then i might put in another stake.with the dominent south winds 2 stakes are usually enough.

Worth1 · June 19, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athena

That's fine if you need/want round cages...some of us need rectangles.

Since the area of a 2 foot diameter circle is 3.14 square feet and the area of a 2 foot square is 4 square feet.
I can see where the square or rectangle would have more room for tomato for a given space taken up.

I wish the Texas Tomato Cages were square, I might just have to work on that.

For some reason I think the name Texas Tomato Cage puts people off.

It has been a dream of mine to produce a real tomato cage that was expandable both vertically and horizontally plus storable and most of all affordable.

Worth

Tapout · June 21, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

Since the area of a 2 foot diameter circle is 3.14 square feet and the area of a 2 foot square is 4 square feet.
I can see where the square or rectangle would have more room for tomato for a given space taken up.

I wish the Texas Tomato Cages were square, I might just have to work on that.

For some reason I think the name Texas Tomato Cage puts people off.

It has been a dream of mine to produce a real tomato cage that was expandable both vertically and horizontally plus storable and most of all affordable.

Worth

I have a million ideas on how to make better cages hehe its just the matter of getting around to it. For example for a round CRW cage instead of making one continuous cage make two "half round cages" then just bend one part of the cage to hook onto the other to make a complete circle. Now when the season is over all you have to do is unclip the two parts of the cage and its now stack-able also ever procrastinate on caging your tomatoes and by the time you get to them its a chore to try and get the cage around your toms without breaking stems. well now you can procrastinate all you want because is you have a two piece clam shell style crw cage you can just walk up to the plant open the cage up and clamp it around your plant. ---> ( )

Byron · July 4, 2012

The CRW cages are naturally round. I just bend the wires around the opposite end to hold the cage together. When I get put it on the next year I just unhook the wires and openir up and pull it around the tomato plant and bring the two ends together and hook the two ends together.

atlbry · July 30, 2012

I jsut got a free roll yesterday from the builder. he said are you sure you want a whole roll it is heavy?...lol yes i want to grow more MATERS! I did give myself a slight scratch across my right wrist and when i was moving it across the driveway and dropped it I um well put three deep scratches down the side of her car. Being it is the passenger side and we have two boys I don't think she will put 2N2 together and ask me. sorry ladies. I don't steak mine tie them down etc. when i did my hole for my tomato plant I make it deep and wide, place my plant in and Bary it. Then when it grows more I place my cage around the little plant and bury the plant some more and bury the bottom of the cage making a berm around it. Dirt is on the bottom ring so when the roots start to grow around the bottom ring as the plant gets large it holds it in. the down side to this after a few years they tend to rust and break but you can flip it ever other year and when they get short you stack them on top of each other and use the wire to hold them together. like cans at the store they stack. You could meke your cages like a tepee. just cut the wire like a V or a slice of pizza with a bite taken out of it then you could stack them slide them into each other like the cheap/expensive tomato cages that don't hold a large plant up worth anything... I may try this on my next day off. and use them for pole beans and cucumbers. hmm anything that vines.

Riceloft · August 7, 2012

I've been looking for a place that sells CRW/remesh/etc near me and have not had any luck so far. I may break down and see if Lowes or HD can special order it for me.

Byron · August 7, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riceloft

I've been looking for a place that sells CRW/remesh/etc near me and have not had any luck so far. I may break down and see if Lowes or HD can special order it for me.

They apparently don't understand what you want. It is something that they all keep in stock. It is Concrete Reinforcing Wire. It is heavy gauge welded mesh in about six foot wide rolls. They are always rusty looking and the squares are 6X6. It is usually in the area with the rebar and other concrete things.It makes sturdy tomato cages. I also use them for cucumbers, green beans, peas, etc. I make a larger circle and place around my bananas and fill it with pine straw and cover it to keep it dry in the winter. I cut the bottom wire off so the wires can be pressed into the ground with my foot to keep them upright.

Byron.

ScottinAtlanta · August 7, 2012

Unfortunately, that wire is too capacious to keep white tail deer snouts out. I have to buy the garden rolls with much smaller openings to preserve my mother's plants. They ate 68 green tomatoes 2 weeks ago, and stripped the plants down to stems. Squirrels on long legs.

Baja_Traveler · August 8, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riceloft

I've been looking for a place that sells CRW/remesh/etc near me and have not had any luck so far. I may break down and see if Lowes or HD can special order it for me.

White Cap has rolls of Remesh...

7860 E. Pleasant Valley Rd.
Independence , OH 44131
Phone: 216-642-9225
Fax: 216-642-9235
Hours: M-F 7:00am-5:00pm, Sat & Sun Closed

Riceloft · August 10, 2012

Thank you for the suggestions all. I'll look into them tonight and this weekend!

emcd124 · February 21, 2013

Any advice on how to make only a few of these for those of us with small gardens? I really only need six tomato cages, but I want nice sturdy robust ones like these! I'm tired of the wimpy ones. But the rolls are about $100 each, which is great if you're making 20 cages, but lousy cost per unit if you only need six.

Would this work? I see Home Depot sells a wire mesh panel that is 48 x 84 that is $7.50 each. But the problem is how to utilize it and wind up with the right height and circumference. If I bent it the short way around it would be nice and tall but only 15 inches across, which seems too small (people seem to say 20-24"). If I trimmed the long end a bit and bent it the long way, I could hit 20-24" diameter easily, but then it would only be four feet tall...could I stack two of them or would that make the top so weak it would collapse even if secured to a metal rod somehow?

The only other way of doing it that I can figure is to clam-shell two of them together upright, so it would be a sheet and a half for each, with the "seam" running vertically so you get 48+24=72 circumference and about a 23" diameter, with two seams joined together. Maybe a pain to make but would it be more stable?

I've never made these before so I'd love advice from those with experience what the best way to MacGuiver something for someone who doesnt need to buy a whole roll of the stuff...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/2020902...1v&R=202090219

Doug9345 · February 21, 2013

You can stack one on top of the other by wiring them together. You set one on top of the other and at every or every other point where the vertical wire meets the horizontal wire you take a piece of utility wire and wrap it around there and the corresponding point on the bottom one. Twist the wires tight with a pair of pliers and you should be good to go.

With 4' x 7' panels I'd be real tempted to make 2' square cages out of two of them. I'd put a right angle bend in the middle of each panel the long way, then wire the two halves together. When I was done with them for the season I'd cut the tie wires and I lay the two halves nestled together. The six cages would fit in a lot smaller space that six round cages.

June 17, 2012	#76
meadowyck Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooksville, FL Posts: 1,001	Tapout, I wish you lived down here, I could put you to work __________________ Jan “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” -Theodore Roosevelt

June 19, 2012	#77
Byron Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Byron, GA Posts: 24	I guess I don't understand the bending. The CRW comes in rolls so it naturally makes round cages. I bend the end wires back to hold the ends together. It takes me about 15 minutes to make a cage.

June 19, 2012	#78
Athena Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: So California Posts: 7	That's fine if you need/want round cages...some of us need rectangles.

June 19, 2012	#79
treeshaker Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: s.central kansas Posts: 35	i use a 1x2 about 5-6 ft long-put it in ground on south side and north side about8-10 in deep then tie top and bottom with some fine wire. they can take some really strong winds until they get really big(the plants) then i might put in another stake.with the dominent south winds 2 stakes are usually enough.

July 4, 2012	#82
Byron Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Byron, GA Posts: 24	The CRW cages are naturally round. I just bend the wires around the opposite end to hold the cage together. When I get put it on the next year I just unhook the wires and openir up and pull it around the tomato plant and bring the two ends together and hook the two ends together.

July 30, 2012	#83
atlbry Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: newnan, georgia Posts: 10	I jsut got a free roll yesterday from the builder. he said are you sure you want a whole roll it is heavy?...lol yes i want to grow more MATERS! I did give myself a slight scratch across my right wrist and when i was moving it across the driveway and dropped it I um well put three deep scratches down the side of her car. Being it is the passenger side and we have two boys I don't think she will put 2N2 together and ask me. sorry ladies. I don't steak mine tie them down etc. when i did my hole for my tomato plant I make it deep and wide, place my plant in and Bary it. Then when it grows more I place my cage around the little plant and bury the plant some more and bury the bottom of the cage making a berm around it. Dirt is on the bottom ring so when the roots start to grow around the bottom ring as the plant gets large it holds it in. the down side to this after a few years they tend to rust and break but you can flip it ever other year and when they get short you stack them on top of each other and use the wire to hold them together. like cans at the store they stack. You could meke your cages like a tepee. just cut the wire like a V or a slice of pizza with a bite taken out of it then you could stack them slide them into each other like the cheap/expensive tomato cages that don't hold a large plant up worth anything... I may try this on my next day off. and use them for pole beans and cucumbers. hmm anything that vines.

August 7, 2012	#84
Riceloft Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Parma, Ohio (6a) Posts: 299	I've been looking for a place that sells CRW/remesh/etc near me and have not had any luck so far. I may break down and see if Lowes or HD can special order it for me.

August 7, 2012	#86
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	Unfortunately, that wire is too capacious to keep white tail deer snouts out. I have to buy the garden rolls with much smaller openings to preserve my mother's plants. They ate 68 green tomatoes 2 weeks ago, and stripped the plants down to stems. Squirrels on long legs.

August 10, 2012	#88
Riceloft Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Parma, Ohio (6a) Posts: 299	Thank you for the suggestions all. I'll look into them tonight and this weekend!

February 21, 2013	#89
emcd124 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: South Bend, IN Posts: 104	Any advice on how to make only a few of these for those of us with small gardens? I really only need six tomato cages, but I want nice sturdy robust ones like these! I'm tired of the wimpy ones. But the rolls are about $100 each, which is great if you're making 20 cages, but lousy cost per unit if you only need six. Would this work? I see Home Depot sells a wire mesh panel that is 48 x 84 that is $7.50 each. But the problem is how to utilize it and wind up with the right height and circumference. If I bent it the short way around it would be nice and tall but only 15 inches across, which seems too small (people seem to say 20-24"). If I trimmed the long end a bit and bent it the long way, I could hit 20-24" diameter easily, but then it would only be four feet tall...could I stack two of them or would that make the top so weak it would collapse even if secured to a metal rod somehow? The only other way of doing it that I can figure is to clam-shell two of them together upright, so it would be a sheet and a half for each, with the "seam" running vertically so you get 48+24=72 circumference and about a 23" diameter, with two seams joined together. Maybe a pain to make but would it be more stable? I've never made these before so I'd love advice from those with experience what the best way to MacGuiver something for someone who doesnt need to buy a whole roll of the stuff... http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/2020902...1v&R=202090219

February 21, 2013	#90
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	You can stack one on top of the other by wiring them together. You set one on top of the other and at every or every other point where the vertical wire meets the horizontal wire you take a piece of utility wire and wrap it around there and the corresponding point on the bottom one. Twist the wires tight with a pair of pliers and you should be good to go. With 4' x 7' panels I'd be real tempted to make 2' square cages out of two of them. I'd put a right angle bend in the middle of each panel the long way, then wire the two halves together. When I was done with them for the season I'd cut the tie wires and I lay the two halves nestled together. The six cages would fit in a lot smaller space that six round cages.