Tomato plants outgrowing cages

I have several caged indeterminate tomato plants growing in my garden. The cages are all about 5 feet high and one of the plants has already managed to grow past the top of its cage. I live in the Atlanta area and given that it's only May, I can assume that I can expect the plants to grow much larger.

Can anyone give me some advise as to what to do with these plants as they outgrow their cages?

Reply to
Landrey
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Stake them or just let it ride. I use concrete reinforcement material for my cages and it overflows every year. It is almost to the point here in Houston where the tomatoes will not set anymore so it is no a big issue.

Reply to
kurtk

I've had excellent luck tying them to 7' tall lengths of rebar pounded into the ground. They are sunk in 12" to 18".

Reply to
OmManiPadmeOmelet

"kurtk" wrote in news:S_1bg.89327$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com:

So what happens to your plants after they outgrow your cages?

And why don't your tomatoes set anymore? Is it too hot?

Reply to
Landrey

They continue to grow beyond the cages and spill over. Tomatoes will not set unless the nighttime temperature is below 70 degrees F

Reply to
kurtk

What I usually do is put in peripheral stakes around each plant and then tie up the vines to these stakes.

This year, I'm trying the Ultomato

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to see if they work better than my usual flimsy aluminum cages.

Reply to
Claire Petersky

Lash together three 10' poles into a teepee and set it over the cages. Tie the vine to the poles with fabric strips cut from old socks. I do it every year in VA and it works quite well.

Reply to
TQ

You'll just have to extend your cage somehow - I use trellis wire strung up to my house roof, and tie them along it as they grow.

Reply to
tenacity

using old socks for a source of strips to tie tomato vines with is brilliant! The vines are easy to crush or scrape with twine.

Reply to
tenacity

Yes, use whatever you have at hand. I can't afford all that expensive 'tomato paraphenalia'. We start out with cages, some small, some bigger. I use strips of old t-shirts, etc. and whatever metal bars we have collected from various places. Including old water pipes. Then I call them "tomatoes in bondage". They seem to like it.

Kimberly

Reply to
Kimberly

I use tomato cages for my cucumbers and sticks for my tomatoes (they are really branches from poplar trees that I cut down). and just tie the tomatoes a bit higher every time.

Reply to
Lynn

Well.... they are red.... and naked. ;)

Kimberly

| > Then I call them "tomatoes | > in bondage". They seem to like it. | >

| > Kimberly | >

| >

| |

Reply to
Kimberly

Cut your old socks in half length-wise, then cut those strips in half legth-wise again.

Walla! Four ties from one old sock!

Reply to
TQ

"tomatoes in bondage"?!!

LMAO!

Safe, sane, and consentual baby. Yeee-haw!

Cracked me UP.

Yeah, by the time they poop out at the end of summer, mine look like a giant spider on meth had camped out in my tomato patch, with ties of twine going everywhere to hold 'em up.

Reply to
tenacity

-snip-

I roll my own cages using reinforcing wire. It has 6" holes & last for many years with no protection. They are stiff enough that no stakes are needed. I bought a 100' roll at the Lowe's store many years ago.

I'm in NY so outgrowing a 5' cage is a rarity- but last year a Sweet

100 got to 8-9'. Whe it topped the 5' mark I just cut another 3' cage, rolled it and wired it to the top of the original. If it had gone even higher, I could have wired another atop that.

I use the soft wire found in the building supply store near the re-rod and re-wire to connect the cages- and to hold them together.

I never need any wire to hold the tomatoes to the cages, they just poke their arms through the holes and hold themselves up.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

At someones suggestion last year I used old panty hose. Worked just fine. Sue

Reply to
Sue

I use old sheets. They tear beautifully into strips, and decompose in the compost pile. I get mine (white, 100% cotton) at the thrift store- usually about $1 for a really threadbare one (which are the best, anyway).

-N

Reply to
Nightingale

Takes up too much room They get dirty & it makes them harder to eat right off the vine. Slugs love them. Chipmunks love them. They will rot where they contact the ground.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

"Lash together three 10' poles into a teepee and set it over the cages. Tie the vine to the poles with fabric strips cut from old socks. I do it every year in VA and it works quite well."

Here's a picture of TPs over cages taken last June...

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picture was taken in early August...
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Reply to
ToweringQs

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