How do you stake tomato plants. Mine are spread across everything?

Question

I never had much luck with the wire cages they sell at farm stores. How can I stake them up. Do you use 2x4's and some wire or some rope and some 2x2's or what do you do?

Answer 1

It's necessary to stake them and train them as they are growing. If you try to do it after they are spread across everything it's too late. I use cages made from sections of "cattle panel". The galvanized wire panels with square holes all over. The store bought cages suck. I cut 3 pieces about 2 feet 6 inches long and tie wrap them together. It helps to drive a tent stake next to them to make them sturdy.

If you are using stakes just drive one about 6 inches away from plant stem and tie the branches to them as they grow. I know a guy that stakes and he buys his sticks from a coffin company. The sticks are scraps from making coffins.

Answer 2

Your probably going to need some 1/2 inch wooden dowel rods , you can find them at the hardware store. They look like a strait stick! Place them about 1 1/2 inches away from the main stem of the plant , as you follow the plant up the stem, start tying the plant semi loosely with some small string so that you plant will still grow, water ,then start enjoying the fruit of your labor!

Good Luck!!

Answer 3

I use stakes and cut up old pantyhose to tie them.  

Answer 4

I use wire that they use in concrete slabs. I cut it & tie it together in a circle. Make it about 18 inches across. then i drive metal fence post in the ground at each end of row & tie rope from one end to the other to hold them up.  You can buy the wire (I call it concrete wire) at most building supply stores.

Answer 5

For what is left of this growing season, stake them carefully on 1/2 inch plastic garden stakes - the green ones with the metal rod running through that allows you to bend them if necessary. Don't tie the plants too tightly -- they are already established in a more natural form and may break at this point if forced upright. Do not use wooden dowels, as they eventually rot and the green plastic stakes blend into the garden better and may be re-used for the next few decades for all kinds of purposes.

Next year, when you plant your tomatoes, use peony cages. These are a series of rings, through which the stems grow and stabilize upright. I have found these to be the simplest and best method by which to grow tomatoes without constant rearranging and tying off. For the most part, you can plant them and be done with them. But if you have a particular  stem or two that become tall and top-heavy with tomatoes (lucky you!) you can add a stake or two through the circles and tie the plant as needed.

Answer 6

I've had great luck with what's called 6x6x10x10 remesh.  It comes in rolls that are 5 and 7 or so feet wide.  You may be able to get it cut at the building supply store.  Cover the cuts with poly irrigation tube for safety.

I bend them into "L shaped panels, 2 foot by five foot.  They then are mated so the "L"'s are opposite and I wire it together.  Four rebar stakes in the corner wired up and it's not going anywhere.

Sometimes I put 12 " diameter cylinders within the rectangle.  it provides more support.

I've been doing this since the late '70's as an outgrowth of the square foot gardening movement.  grow up, not out.  

Here in Arizona where a veggie garden is measured in square feet, not acres, and water is horribly expensive, necessity becomes the mother of invention

I use this concept for pole beans and peppers, which can grow 7 feet tall since they're 3+ years old.