When do you cage tomatoes

By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article parts. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. Use metal tomato cages if you don't have a lot of space in your garden. Metal cages are thin and flexible, so you can squeeze them into a smaller space. This is especially helpful if your tomato plants are planted close together. Get tomato cages that are at least 5 feet 1. If you're growing a shorter tomato variety, like Santiam or Siberia, you can choose a shorter cage.

Choose a cage between inches Get a cage with a larger diameter if you're growing a large variety of tomato. Make your own tomato cages using concrete reinforcement wire. You can find some at your local hardware store. Make sure you can fit your hand through the openings in the wire so you're able to harvest the tomatoes.

Cut 3 feet. Attach each end of the wire to a stake and stake the cage in the ground around one of your tomato plants. Get one cage for each tomato plant in the garden. Each tomato plant should have its own cage to grow in. Part 2. Place a cage directly over one of the tomato plants. Without a cage, the plant can topple over or break completely under its own weight. After you first plant your tomato plants, you need to place a tomato cage around it.

Placing the cage in the soil when the plant has matured can damage the tomatoes, the roots and vines. Tomato plants should be spaced at least 2 feet apart in the ground, or one plant per pot, if using containers. For determinate tomatoes, the tomato cage should be at least 3 to 4 feet tall and, for indeterminate varieties, 5 to 6 feet. As noted, some indeterminate tomatoes will require a higher cage depending on their variety.

Plant tomatoes and water thoroughly. While the soil is still moist, carefully insert the wire caging stakes around the young tomato plant. Take care to center the plant in the cage and to make sure the stakes are placed evenly around the plant. Properly anchoring your tomato cage in the soil requires a bit of pressure. I usually recommend determinate varieties to people who want to grow tomatoes in containers, as indeterminate tomatoes require taller staking or cages and that can be tricky in pots.

If you want to grow indeterminate tomatoes in containers, it is best to grow them near a trellis or fence that you can train them up, or use very large pots that will allow large cages.

Determinate varieties that I have grown and found to be sturdy enough to not require staking include: Bush Champion hybrid , Raspberry Lyanna heirloom , Principe Borghese heirloom , and Oregon Spring hybrid. Determinate varieties also tend to be smaller fruit and often earlier fruit. Dwarf or patio tomatoes never need staking, but they only grow two or three feet tall and produce small tomatoes cherry size.

I have grown the Totem variety as a dwarf tomato and it did very well in an unstaked pot. Grow some tomatoes. Do what fits your space and your personal comfort level of maintenance.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. I like this system, but if you are growing indeterminate tomatoes, panels 16' long are only 4' tall, so raising the panels 6" is still too short. I try to purchase utility or feedlot panels which have squares the same size throughout though they do tend to be more expensive. They work well for beans,too, if you like to rotate crops. This, of course, means you need more panels and posts and the posts need to be longer , but we think it is worth it for a smaller family garden.

If you are growing for a food bank or farm operation it might be more or too expense, but for the small grower we like it better than 4' tall panels. I will try cages after reading your article.

The trellis can be a fence, lattice or other flat, wooden structure. As the tomato plant grows, tie it to the trellis to encourage upward growth. Depending on the structure you use as a trellis, you could install it in the garden long before the tomato plants are planted. If you use a temporary trellis to support your plant, it place it in the garden prior to, or just after, planting.

A benefit of using s wire cage is that it allows a tomato plant to grow naturally. The cage requires less handling than some other guards, which means less chance of damaging the plant. Additionally, the cage confines the plant to grow within the cage, which enables the leaves to shade the fruits and protect them from sunlight damage. Selecting or building a cage big enough for your plant is important.

Many purchased tomato plant cages are not big enough or strong enough to support large tomato plant varieties. Caged tomato plants require more space than tomato plants grown with a stake or trellis support.