Comments on GardenDesk: How Do You Support Your Tomato Plants?

I have a retaining wall at the back of my yard tha...

2009-01-10T23:59:00.000-05:00

I have a retaining wall at the back of my yard that is 3 to 6 feet tall. I grow yellow pear tomatoes all the edge and hang the vines down the wall. I keep them trimmed so only the stems over the wall have fruit, and so they don't overlap each other. I get a lot of tomatoes, and they are easy to harvest. I wonder if you could build a tower from old tires and hang the vines down from the top if you do not have a convenient wall. :)

I decided to start my first real garden in 25 year...

2008-08-16T00:48:00.000-04:00

I decided to start my first real garden in 25 years in an effort to give solice for my father. He loves a garden and will sit for hours just looking. I started with 3 tomato plants and by the time I was done, I had 18 in the ground. Victorville weather goes in streaks between really hot and just plain hot. I drip water on a schedule and the plants really took off. But before I knew it I was watering too much. I think I over watered and it may be too late to fix. I use tomato cages for the plants and they are holding up well. I like the idea of the topless table and will give that a try next year.

Hi Marc,I have been enjoying your blog.I have been...

2008-06-23T03:19:00.000-04:00

Hi Marc,

I have been enjoying your blog.

I have been using florists wire frames to support my tomatoes this year. It's a good way to recycle.

This will explain.

Very informative and well done PostGlad I found it...

2008-05-02T11:59:00.000-04:00

Very informative and well done Post

Glad I found it on a Google Search.

After a few years of Truck Farming Lifestyle, we are back in it on a smaller scale.

Trying to share with many the Health and Wealth aspects of small plot Gardening.

You and you readers might enjoy the Video series I am doing weekly this year, on You Tube.

Growing Tomatoes for Health and Wealth, 2008

Thanks again for your passion about Gardening

We are called the "Plumbers" in our community gard...

2007-08-25T00:27:00.000-04:00

We are called the "Plumbers" in our community garden because we used steel water pipe to create a seven foot high trellis. We had this great old guy at our local hardware store cut the pipes to 10 feet and cut in the threads to assemble the structure. It unscrews at the end of the season for easy storaage. It resembles the tomato trellis ideamentioned in the article. We use twine strung from top to bottom and twist each tomato stem up to create one central vine, pinching off the suckers as you go. This means you will have less fruit but the fruit you do have will be larger and easy to access for harvest. This is for indeterminate tomatoes.

A few years ago I bought Texas Tomato Cages--http:...

2007-08-06T07:28:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I bought Texas Tomato Cages--http://www.tomatocage.com/

I LOVE them. They are strong, durable and can stand up to the heartiest indeterminate tomatoes. At the end of the season, I just fold them down and store them until the next year.

You can see them in action with my Brandywine tomatoes--a photo posted on my blog yesterday.

--Robin (Bumblebee)

Your post is very informative.I am writing about m...

2007-08-06T01:44:00.000-04:00

Your post is very informative.
I am writing about my tomato support as my next post:)

I take a different approach. I use metal pipe. I ...

2007-08-04T22:47:00.000-04:00

I take a different approach. I use metal pipe.

I weave the plants in and out of the pipes. I wish it was taller but it does pretty good. Except this year I waited a little too late to put them in and start weaving. It is hard to explain how they look.

Any other tomatoes I have that can't be done this way(because I don't have enough). I cage them.

Marc, I have posted a picture of my cages on my bl...

2007-08-03T23:05:00.000-04:00

Marc, I have posted a picture of my cages on my blog. I kind of like the looks of them, rusty or not. I noticed today that the chipping sparrows have a nest full of babies in one of the cages. I will have to stay away from that one for awhile!

An interesting topic. I suppose it depends on whet...

2007-08-03T16:18:00.000-04:00

An interesting topic. I suppose it depends on whether you are growing determinate or indeterminate varieties. Last year I had some success with my "tomato hedge" I just made a long framework of bamboo canes and tied everything in. It worked well.

Katie - Thank you for the kind words. Personally I...

2007-08-02T15:56:00.000-04:00

Katie - Thank you for the kind words. Personally I like tomato jungles - there's no harm in it as long as you can keep the tomatoes off the ground.

Ottawa Gardener - Same to you, jungles are fun.

vonlafin - I have read many books that cite the concrete wire tomato cages as the way to go. I've always been scared away from them because in the books they are always pretty, but at the hardware stores I've only seen rolls of rusty looking wire like you describe. I would love to see a picture of your cages.

My husband had some concrete wire left over from s...

2007-08-01T23:37:00.000-04:00

My husband had some concrete wire left over from some work we had done. Basically it is rusty fencing with large holes. I thought that I would give it a try. So far they are working great. The only problem is the tomatoes tend to be inside and you really have to search to find the ripe ones. I also trim any branches they fall outside the cage. I will try and remember to post a picture of the cages on my blog.

I am guilty of jungle this year. I did plan someth...

2007-08-01T22:41:00.000-04:00

I am guilty of jungle this year. I did plan something different but hey... it didn't work out. I love the weave idea!

This post is the most informative post I have come...

2007-08-01T20:12:00.000-04:00

This post is the most informative post I have come across all year! I too have a jungle of tomatoes and will certainly try the Florida weave next year. Thanks for an excellent post..!

Thank you Anthony and good job taming your tomato ...

2007-08-01T10:21:00.000-04:00

Thank you Anthony and good job taming your tomato jungle this year. You should post some pictures on Compost Bin.

Adekun - thanks also for commenting. As for the tripod method, do they tie the plants to the poles or tie to the top where the tripod or tepee meets? Do you have any pictures of this method?

Usually by this time of the year, I'm employing th...

2007-08-01T10:08:00.000-04:00

Usually by this time of the year, I'm employing the "jungle method". That's when all of my tomato plants take the shape of a giant mess of vines. :)

But this year, I'm staking, pinching and tieing a few times a week. I've never seen such order in my garden before. And it looks like I'll probably triple the amount of fruit that I usually get. No more jungle for me.

Nicely written post Marc. You definitely did you tomato homework this season.

It's good to see the methods in practice. I tend t...

2007-07-31T23:01:00.000-04:00

It's good to see the methods in practice. I tend too go with the weave, although everybody else around here seems to stick a few poles in the ground to form a tripod.

I'm the same way with the suckers. I have small ba...

2007-07-31T21:39:00.000-04:00

I'm the same way with the suckers. I have small bamboo poles that I stick in all over the place to tie up the branches that get away.

I like the PVC pipe idea as the base for your stakes.

I stake and tie but as the summer goes on, I lose ...

2007-07-31T18:59:00.000-04:00

I stake and tie but as the summer goes on, I lose track of the suckers so I am wildly tying up whatever branches I can. I may use the Florida weave next year.

I also use short pieces of PVC pipe as the base of the stake... they are easier for me to drive them in nice and deep, then I just drop the stake in the pipe.