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From: mmr@ritcv.UUCP (Margaret Reek)
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: staking up tomatoes
Message-ID: <1609@ritcv.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 30-Mar-85 13:24:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ritcv.1609
Posted: Sat Mar 30 13:24:00 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Apr-85 07:54:21 EST
References: <594@rlgvax.UUCP>
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Lines: 50

> anyone got any advice on staking up tomatoes?
> 
> i'd be interested in hearing from folks suggesting alternate methods.
> has anyone grown tomatoes on a fence-type setup?  a net?
> anyone out there who says let them lay?
> 
	Two years ago I tried an experiment with different methods of
dealing with tomatoes; I too had ~60 plants and didn't relish the idea
of staking all of them.  I'll give you the low down on the approaches.

I used rolls of tomato cage material from Sears for 3 approaches.

1) Using tall stakes, just unroll the stuff to form a tall upright fence.
   As the tomatoes grow, either weave them through the holes in the fencing
   or tie them onto it.  This worked ok, but you still had to do some
   fiddling as the tomatoes grew.  Also, be sure you have plenty of stakes
   and that they are at least as tall as the fencing once you pound them
   into the ground, otherwise the whole business tends to get top heavy and
   bend over.

2) A variation on the above was to put the fencing in so it formed a long
   series of S shapes - the idea being it would be like half a tomato cage
   without the work.  This didn't work all that well.  It would have been
   better if I had taller stakes, but even so you still have to eventually
   provide some support for the other side of the plant, so you have to
   tie them up in some way.  I liked this less than method 1.

3) Make cages out of the stuff.  I put the cage on when I first put in
   transplants.  If you wait til the plants need the cage, you can damage
   the plants getting them in the cage.  This is the only way I bother to
   grow tomatoes now.  The tomatoes almost never need attention, they just
   grow up through the cage - the only pain in the neck part is when you
   do fall clean up; I found the best way is to pull the cage and tomato
   plant out together and get another person to hold onto the cage while
   you pull the plant out by the root end.

During my experiment I also staked tomatoes and left some unsupported.
The unsupported ones were more prone to slug damage than the others, which had
no slug problems at all.  Staking was a pain, and I had to keep removing the
suckers to keep the plants in check.  The unsupported ones made a mess
by flopping in to the rows.

None of the methods produced spectacularly different yeilds, so I decided to
use cages and be done with it.  Make the cages yourself, since you can do it
cheaper and they are better quality than many of the store bought ones.

				Margaret Reek

P.S.  I also learned I don't NEED 60 tomato plants either.  Anybody want
some tomato juice?