Advice needed for Staking a Tomato

[HelixStalwart]

Next spring I will be starting a Paul Robeson tomato (black beefsteak, climber), but...

...it will be in a 14" terracotta pot, not directly in the ground.

This gives me a headache knowing how to stake it. This year at least, I can't put the Paul Robeson in the ground and I can't put trellis wires on the wall. It *has* to be in the container. Apparently it can grow up to six feet (or more in warmer climates). It is fairly cold here in Scotland, so I am not too worried about it becoming a monster. Also, this will be my first staked tomato so I have no prior experience of tall tomatoes.

So - how do I stake it? I'd guess the obvious choices would include... i) a single stake right next to the pot, lean the first vine over a bit and stake as normal - would it sag?

ii) make a tall tripod of three stakes lashed at the top, each stake fixed into the ground below the level for the pot but long enough to give some decent headroom for growing - would need about 7-foot stakes?

Please can you offer some advice. Because it's in a container, I can't use something like a Veggie Cage (from

Thanks.

[Lynn]

Hi, This season I used just branches from a few poplar trees we cut down. It worked great. Plant the stake when you plant your tomatoes cause later you don't want to cut off any root by doing this. and stake as you would normally do. every so often you will need to restake the plant higher. No need to tripod them My tomatoes plants were about 5-6 feet tall. I used the tomato cages for the cucumbers although I needed something larger.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

I used cages last winter for pots. I just tied them to a side stake in the ground to stabilize them.

Worked for me! :-)

Cheers!

[Dwayne]

I would build a cage out of fence wire with large holes to allow you to reach in and pick the tomatoes. You can make it 16 inches around so it would fit over your pot, and 4, 5, or 6 feet tall. I used the 4 ft tall one and they came out the top, but not enough to be a problem. Go to a store that will sell it by the foot rather than by the roll.

Dwayne

[Roger Boughner]

I grew them in 25 qt pots with fence wire wrapped around the pots. Twisted the wire below the rim with pliers until it was tight then twisted a row of wire above the rim some so the wire couldnt fall down to the ground. this worked great. The fence even made good handles for moving them around. Some training of the plant as it grows and your in business. Mr. Stripey stood about 7 or 8 feet tall and drank 2 gallons of water on hot days, but they were good. Or you could always cut a hole out of the bottom of a 5 gal bucket. About 4 to 6 inches diameter. Lay the bucket on its side and fill about half full with potting mix. Insert Tomato plant thru hole with the top sticking out the bottom. Put several layers of newspaper around the base of the plant in the bottom of the bucket to keep dirt from gettinh thru the hole. Fill the bucket as good as you can while its on its side. then carefully hang it up and finish filling with your potting mix. Now your plant is hanging from the bottom of thr bucket. Plant some carrots or something.(I like leaf lettuce) in the top just because you can. Your plant will not need any support it will grow from the bottom of the bucket without any problems.

[TQ]

For tomato, you need a pot that's at least 5 gallons (3.8 liters). Drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

Once the plant is established, I'd stick a 54" (137 cm) cage in the bucket. These cages are narrow and should fit nicely inside the container.

Since you expect the plant to reach 6', the cage alone won't contain it, so you'll need to construct a tee-pee over it. I use 2-3" oak or maple sapplings about 10' in length, but you could get away with slightly shorter ones.

[GA Pinhead]

I used concrete reinforcing bar this year. A tripod of them would be sturdy, everlasting and tall enough. Don't know if you can get it over there though.

John!

HelixStalwart wrote:

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

Uh, 5 gallons would be closer to 20 liters... ;-)

I used some 3 gallon pots last winter and they worked ok, but only because the root system grew out of the holes and into the ground. That stabilized the pot too!

5 gallon would be better, I agree.

That will work, but I find it easier to contruct a circular cage around the pot out of 6 ft. farm fencing wire. The 2" x 4" mesh makes it so I can pick tomatoes thru the wire if I need to.

Cheers!

[TQ]

You're right. That's what I get for using an I-Net site to convert units.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

It's ok! You had it partially right, but it's 3.8 liters PER gallon. All you had to do was multiply that x5.

I just cheat tho'. A liter is close to a quart so I don't worry about the small difference. 4 liters is one Imperial gallon.

I just wish the US would switch over to metrics and have done with it! Since I work in a lab, we use metrics there.

Cheers!