Tying Tomatoes

[Steve Calvin]

Nah, I just kind of tie 'em so that they stay up and not laying all over the ground. I'm not real big into snipping, pruning, etc. I just don't want 'em laying on the ground.

[mr gulash]

I use cut rubber bands for my tying, that way there's some stretch to it before it starts to impede the plant...

- gulash

[John Savage]

I made ties by cutting up the plastic carry-bags that every shop gives you. Slice a plastic bag into 1"-wide strips to make a lot of soft ties. Try stretching one of the strips to see how strong they can be. The bags aren't biodegradable so the strips last a season in the sun.

[TQ]

Here's my method for dealing with 10' vines..

[Dana Schultz]

I use cages for my tomatoes but for other plants such as clematis I use velcro. Just cut it to length and stick it on. I found it works great for a broken stem. Just cut a small piece and wrap it tightly to the stem. They mend very nicely on their own. The velcro is re-useable year after year and if a piece is too short stick two together. I love it.

And just where are you getting 10' tomato plants? My season must be way too short.

[kurtk]

I have built cages withc concrete reinforcement material. Cages are about

24" x 5' tall. Stake the cages with with rebar and tie wraps. Periodically put vertical reinforcement skewers as they grew taller. Probably twice per plant... Built a structure out of schedule 40 and covered with netting and tie wraps..

The result is healthy plants to 10' for the indeterminates, No birds to peck and ruin.. We are doing everything we can (freeze, can, dry and cook) to keep up with them!!!

I also cage my peppers a nd cucumbers.

What a bumper crop.

>

[xx1xx]

Kurt,

Wht you wrote is so interesting but I don't understand 1/2 of it.

First, what is concrete reinforcement material? Do mean ready mix concrete or tht wire mesh they use?

What does stake the cages mean?

What is rebar?

Vertical Reinforcment skewers; I assume are stakes and you use two per plant?

What is schedule 40?

What ere the indeterminates?

You say you cage peppers and cukes, and I can see why, but I guess you make them lower than whatever you made for the tomatoes. Is that correct? I just can't envision what you made. I'm new to this and don't understand all the terminology.

Are your cages enclosed at the top and if not, how do you keep the birds out?

[kurtk]

Wire mesh w/ ~6" squares. You generally have to buy it in rolls at the HD

Stake the cages with rebar into the ground so they are sturdy and can withstand the elements. Rebar is another material used for reinforcing concrete. It is available right next to the mesh

My bad, horizontal reinforcement skewers. I place them horizonrtally in the cages and bind with tie wraps. I then use pantyhose material and tie the tomato stalks to them.

Schedule 40 PVC pipe. Makes a dandy structure to accomodate mesh material to keep the birds out.

Indeterminate tomatoes are actually vines that continue growing in length throughout the growing season. Also referred to as "vining" tomatoes, indeterminate tomato varieties will also continue to set and ripen fruit until killed off by frost.

Nope, cages are all the same size.

I made the structure out of sch 40 and cover with netting.

I will be glad to send photos.

Kurt

[GarlandGrower]

Use cotton twine or velcro ties. Keep the stalks close to the post you are tying them on, or the weight will be hanging so far from the support that the first storm will tump them over. That's what happened to us this year. Hurrican season down here.

[GarlandGrower]

I would love to use cages, but here they would have to be 8 ft. tall and I'm not sure I want to store 20--8ft tall cages made out of rebar all winter long. The only tomatos we have that were around 4 ft. tall are the Romas.