A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Suggestions to keep toms off the ground

Hi all! Having a productive year. So much so that the toms are so heavy they are weighting down the vines until the toms touch the ground! Anyone have any good suggestions on how to stake or tie up the branch that holds the toms without hurting it too much?
Thanks!

I did my tomatoes in the greenhouse last year and tied them up to the beams across the top of the greenhouse. Do you have something where you can just attach a string of some kind and bring it down to the tomatoes?

I do. They are next to a fence. I know I will try to tie them up, but I hope I don't choke the stem holding those big fat tomatoes!

I'm just tying them up with the orange baler twine. Did quite a few today again, guess I'll see what will happen once my tomatoes get big.

By far the best method i've found is using cages around the tomatoes. You don't have to tie them up like with stakes, they just sprawl through the wire. I use netting which has holes about 4 inches. It's fencing mesh about 5 feet high and i cut lengths 3' long. Wrap it round the plant, secure with a short stake and it supports the tomato plant with no fuss.

I too went out to home depot & baught myself 10 10ft long pvc coated steel rods that are about 1.5" in diameter. They are plenty sturdy to support the weight, I cant even bend them with all my force by hand (of course i'm not standing on them either!!). They were 4.50$ each, so it adds up, but theyre pvc coated. They dont rust, and will last many a season I presume. Right now my tallest tomatoe plant is growing almost 6ft. tall with blooms & just over gumball-sized fruit. I dont presume any problems!

GL!

you can also use old pantyhose to tie plants with. :)

Any type of tomato tape or nylon pantyhose will suffice. when used should be configured in the numeral 8, to where you have the stalk in one loop and the "stake" or to whatever you are fastening it, in the other loop. The loop around the stalk should be cradled under the "fruit appendage."