A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Stakes or cages for tomatoes? Your preferences??

Just curious what you pros prefer and why? I have never used stakes before.. but I bought some.. 5' tall and made of bamboo. I have cages, but they are kind of a pain as my tomatoes seem to grow up against the wires sometimes and I have to be VERY careful to avoid breaking them trying to get them free. =/

I've used cages and stakes.. Mind you there is no desire here to grow the larger tomatoes because our season isn't long enough to ripen them. I did like the cages better though.

You can also shove your tall bamboo stakes into the tomatoe cages for double support.

I've used both, and both are fine with me. I mainly use the stakes just for the simple reason we have access to used stakes that are pretty much free. then I tie the plant loosly to the stakes with strips of old t-shirts so they can move some with the wind and not break. stakes, are easier to store in the winter than the cages - take up less space.

Ciao all-

I grow mostly indeterminate tomatoes, so my 8 ft. cedar stakes work very well for this purpose. Duane sinks them 1 ft. into the ground and they withstand the forces of severe winds associated with summer thunderstorms very well, not to mention heavy fruit burden during peak production. For determinates, I use 5 ft. metal tomato spirals and I tie the plants to these as they grow. If you tend to like to prune suckers off your plants, you can just train the plants up the spirals without tying. For dwarfs, I use a 4 ft. bamboo stake sunk into the 5 gallon containers I use. I have to stake the dwarfs because of either thunderstorms causing them to topple over or also fruit burden if they happen to be a heavy fruited dwarf like New Big Dwarf. I could probably get away with using those cheapo metal tomato cages for the dwarfs, though.

Cheers,
Julianna

Julianna,

I'm interested in the dwarf tomatoes for my sister in Atlanta, that only has a small balcony to express her 'green' thumb. :wink: The balcony is south-facing and gets very hot from May until the end of September. Is there a dwarf tomato that she could grow in a container in that environment? She has told me she misses the tomatoes we use to grow here at home. She says the "store bought" don't taste as good.

Tiny Tim tomatoes are container plants that grow only 12 inches high, they have the sweetest little cherry tomatoes..I grow them every year.

Ciao Kalar-

Sure, there are many dwarfs that would do fine in that kind of environment. In fact, there's quite a bit of research being done right now to create larger-fruited dwarfs so people like your sister who have very little space to garden can enjoy larger tomatoes like those of us who can grow monsters. There are quite a few in the cherry, saladette, and slicer category, though. What are her tastes?

Cheers,
Julianna

Can they tolerate high temps...95?

Can't see why not as long as they can have some shade provided in extreme heat. They say tomatoes are a hot weather tropical plant.....mind you I've never seen weather that hot in my life so I couldn't be sure.

She likes a very flavorful tomato that's not very tart. All of us in the family like that combination whether large or small tomato. She would be thrilled to have a small salad tomato with a lot of flavor. yum yum

Tomatoes that are in the ripening stages can split/crack in the 90's temps. And they can get what they call "scalded".

That reminds me. I was reading a site earlier and it mentioned a dwarf plant that's very bushy and the flowers are kinda hidden in all that. The concern was whether the bees could find the flowers for pollination. If there was a concern about that then it must have been a determinate plant, right? If there was a bushy dwarf like that in the indeterminate variety, it wouldn't matter about the 'hidden' flowers and the foliage might help protect the fruit from the direct sun. hmmmm Or do I have that backwards?

I do use the internet a lot to research my questions but it takes an awful lot of time in some cases. Even if/when I find a tomato type, for instance, that 'sounds' like it meets her criteria for handling heat, how do I know what it tastes like? The plant nurseries can say anything online. Know what I mean? :wink:

I use cages and also let around half(40) sprawl. I have good luck with both although the sprawlers here in the hot dry wind will produce more. I have lots of temps in the 90's and lots of times 20-30 in the 100's. I have found some that do ok in the heat. Of the smaller ones I would recommend Heartland a det.. Husky Red has done ok and New Big Dwarf. But these are all 6-12 oz. tomatoes. Will have to think about the small salad type. When I think of one will add it. JD

Well I prefer the biggest cages but can't afford them. I have had spirals for years but don't really like the one stem growing requirements. This year I am using one giant stake, several spirals and several large cages. I am using my 'bean towers' for tomatoes this year and made my own trellises for beans (I am very proud of them). Menards has the big strong tomato cages for $4.

Hmm.. I don't buy the big cages either. I have smallish cages.. and I honestly think they are a pain in the rear.. I am going to try the stakes this year.. and I liked the idea of the torn tshirts!

I bought a few cages several years ago. They seemed to be most helpful for large, bushy tomatoes insofar as keeping them supported. If the plants got too tall for them, I just stuck a very tall stake inside to support the top part.

If a body wants to buy stakes, I would recommend the 8' ones right off the bat. That way you have the height if you need it.

Ciao Kalar-

A small salad tomato with a lot of flavour in the short dwarf/determinate category would be Kimberley. I'm pretty sure Tomato Growers Supply carries that one. A flavourful dwarf cherry is Whippersnapper and a good determinate slicer is Black Sea Man. All of these are carried by commercial suppliers.

out of curiosity....how do you hammer an 8 foot stake into the ground? you get something to stand on?

I actually take a weeding fork and use a rubber mallet to tap the fork into the ground (I 'pound' it if the ground is kinda hard :wink:). The fork is about 10 inches long not counting the handle but I push it in a little past the bottom of the handle if I can. Then I 'stir' the handle to make a little bigger entry point and stick the stake in there and push it in as far as I can and then climb on my kitchen step stool and pound it some with the mallet to get at least a foot of the stake into the ground or slightly more. It's not as hard as my description sounds. And any kind of pointy thing that can stand up to being whacked a little and is long enough to create a 'passage' to get the stake started will work.

I don't always need the height but when I do I'm glad I have it.
My sister never uses anything less than 8 ft. stakes. And for whatever reason she always needs nearly all of them. Her maters go to the moon! She swears she doesn't do anything differently from what I do. hmmmmmm I wonder.

Fabulous! Thanks so much for the suggestions.

In the Organic Gardening mag it suggested getting the wire that holds up concrete or whatever, and bending it into a circle. It said the real serious growers do this and it sounded cheap. They also leave wall o waters on the whole season. But I found it odd that no one recommended using red mulch or red trays or that kind of thing and the article was about getting the earliest tomato.

If you're talking about rebar (the 'wire' that holds concrete), that stuff would be very difficult to bend. That is unless they've come up with a lighter, more flexible form of it. The rebar I'm familiar with would take a muscle-bound man at the very least to bend it.

I'm not sure I know what you mean about 'wall o waters.' Forgive my ignorance. Can you elaborate on that?

They were probably talking about concrete reinforcing wire. You can buy it in rolls or sheets. I always buy either 100' or 150' rolls. Then you cut it to length and bend it around and make a circle. They work great except take up room when storing.I have around 40 and some are over ten years old and still in great condition. If you need more information I can tell you more about making them. JD

I realize they used the words "concrete reinforcing wire." I wasn't aware of a bendable wire used for that purpose. I only knew about 'rebar.' I stand corrected and educated at the same time.

That's actually a very good idea. But, like you say, storage might be an issue. Seems to me that after they're bent a big hook would be sufficient and just hang them on that....unless there's something else I'm not understanding.

Yes, please do tell me how to make them. Thanks.

You can use chicken fence wire, it bends easy and is very cheap. Most hardware stores carry it, it comes in diiferent widths and lengths.

Yep concrete reinforcing wire sounds like what I should have called it.

Wall o waters are like this:

or you can get red called kozy coats:


They are a pain in the back to fill but protect from very low temps and warm the soil and get you early tomatoes! I have the red and green kind now, but I have them on my melons/peppers. I like to put a couple peppers and some tomatoes out early with the ones I have then later plant the rest once it is warm. The two peppers I did that to last year were much bigger and produced more.

Those are cool beans!!!

Kalar I had tiny tims in my greenhouse a few years ago and they grew just great in 95 degree weather.

I do stakes I get my hands all scratched up on cages

I will try to take some pictures of mine in the next few days and get them posted. They have worked very good for me and also very economical. JD

I will surely pass that along. Thanks bunches!

Question: Does your greenhouse have clear glass/windows or are they frosted?

My greenhouse is clear plastic on the roof...the stuff the use with UV protection and frosted on the sides. I'm in the process of getting some shade cloth for the inside. There are days when it gets up to 120 degrees inside, but even with that heat my "tiny Tims" carried a bunch of tomaotes.

WOW!!! 120 degrees!! Incredible! I'm thinking the UV filtering is the ticket.

I'll have to ask my sister if there is some way she can put some kind of sun-filtering overhang on her balcony. That may be the answer to all of her flower/plant growing problems. A lot of direct sun is not good for a lot of things, including people.

Well I am going to use both stakes and cages. I have 5 5' bamboo stakes and several cages from last year.. 5-7, not sure how many.. but I am going to have to get more of something.. cause I have 15 plants.

the cages work great.

Can you make a cheap trillis over it for sun?
Put up posts and use canvas roof or wooden slits across the top for shade.

Well my post kind of got hijacked.. I am having issues with my bamboo stakes now.. they are too smooth to tie my plants up.. the strips of tshirt just slide right down the poles. *sigh* So, I don't know what to do now.. I am thinking of some kind of long, thin wooden stakes.. I need to check the lumber company I guess. Grrr.

sorry you got hijacked!
Instead of buying new stuff for stakes, for this year at least, what if you cut slits in the bamboo...at an angle. you could wedge the t'shirt in the slit, then around the stem?

Thanks Cricket.. yes, that IS an idea.. Thanks. I will probably have to have hubby do it with the hand saw, I would probably end up cutting my fingers off..

How about drillin holes and put a string or wire thru and tie to that ?

I arent staking

I used cages for years---and I was always unhappy with having to reach in to pick my tomatoes. When the last of mine bit the dust, My DH mad me new ones--out of 'fence gate' heavy wire.---they are 2 sided shaped like a very wide V.or odd shaped L.--I tie my toms up to it and have access to all the fruit.--I think he should patton them.