favourite tomato staking methods

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by muttabuttasaurus, Jan 23, 2004.

  1. muttabuttasaurus

    muttabuttasaurus Junior Member

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    As most of you reading this board are in the southern hemisphere I'm guessing that most of you are in the middle to the end of your tomato growing time and that the task of staking tomato plants will be at the front of your minds. I'm wondering what you all do for this purpose.
    I'm wanting to find something that is easy and hardly requires any work in the heat of summer, and won't cost me hardly anything, but I'm curious to hear all of your ways.
     
  2. Chook Nut

    Chook Nut Junior Member

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    Hi Mutta,

    I am quite lazy when it comes to staking tomatoes.... i know it comes down to which varieties are determinate and indeterminate!(meaning those that need staking and those that don't). So i choose those that dont need staking like your cherry tomatoes which i have just sown and are still in punnets. As for the Roma tomatoes (which like cherry toms are fruit fly resistent), i had them grow where they want to. I was lucky that they grew into my pidgeon pea, lavender and citronella geranium bushes, which kept them off the ground and away from bugs! So that is my method.... at least a lazy one :p

    I should point out that my neighbour(who is 60yrs old) grows his in one long row supported by metal rods on each end with wire running from end to end and a length of shadecloth covering the whole row, seeing as we get more than enough hours of sun and high temperatures for summer(43C a couple of weeks ago!). The variety he grows is called 'Bullock Cart' which he says is no longer sold as a commercial variety which i was lucky enough to be given some to save the seeds from. These are whoppers of tomatoes!

    Thats it from me anyway.... i am trying to avoid the total heat of summer and starting them only now which should all be harvested b4 we get our first winter frosts and then grow the next batch after the frosts and b4 the heat of summer. I have a Fowlers Vacola kit now and hope to preserve the excess :)

    Cheers... Dave
     
  3. Meg

    Meg Guest

    My answer to all staking problems....tripods!
    Put a few close to each other and your tommies can stretch between them....or you can even join the tops of your tripods together to make a large frame. There is no need for tying, as the branchs can cling to the overlapping tops of your tripod bits. For stuff like snow peas, I like to also wind a spiral of wire all the way around the tripod so that its got a series of "steps" to take it to the top.
    cheers,
    Meg
     
  4. muttabuttasaurus

    muttabuttasaurus Junior Member

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    Thanks Chook Nut & Meg for your feedback... I like the idea of tripods except even though they are supposed to be very solid my personal experience is that they blow over a lot... (is probably an operator error I know) and it is pretty windy here in southern New Mexico... I love the pidgeon pea etc trellis. That's pretty good. NItrogen fixer and mulch provider right there. But the equivalent thing that grows here that I can think of is Mesquite and it has all these gnarly thorns such that one would have to go very slowly or sacrifice blood to get at the fruit! and our little backyard has nothing but lawn in it, so for this season I'm going to have to stick something in the ground.
    The tomato we've started in pots is "Brandywine" which is an indeterminate (?) variety; well, you've gotta stake it. I'm thinking I'll just go to the tip and see if I find any inspiration there... but please, readers out there must have some more novel ideas for us!
     
  5. muttabuttasaurus

    muttabuttasaurus Junior Member

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    Just found this on the garden web that Alextacy pointed out to us...
    RE: Tomato Cages
    Posted by: Paul2101 z6 MD (My Page) on Sun, Jan 4, 04 at 17:36

    I was talking to an old greenhouse guru the other day. He slowly rambled on about this very special method of growing tomatoes. My brother and I listened intently for this ancient wisdom.
    He slowly began to describe his method, "take a viagra tablet and crush it into a cup of water. Give each seedling just a sprinkle. Now when you plant these into the field, they won't need any staking at all. They will stand straight up - no support needed."

    The old guy just stood there with a very serious look on his face until we all bust out laughing. I still giggle when I ponder the old mans serious face.

    So I guess we don't need ANY cages :)

    Paul

    -muttabuttasaurus :laugh:
     
  6. Guest

    I use wooden stakes, then have to tie the tomatoes up continuously. My father-in-law has tubes of wire mesh that he drops over the tomato plant when they are planted, then forgets about them. The tomatoes grow through the mesh. The tubes are probably 30-40cm diam. I will adopt this method, because it is easier than stakes.
     
  7. d_donahoo

    d_donahoo Junior Member

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    i've had a couple of tommy toes that i've tried the cage method with - works a treat.

    but - i think the decemeber heat really took it out of our first tomato planting (oct) - they have been hit by white fly pretty bad, haven't bounced back and all fruit - while ripening, is rather small.

    :( - but the capsicums are flourishing.

    cheers

    dan
     

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