I made round wire cages some years ago out of the wire panels used for reinforcing concrete and at the time, I thought they were the solution to my tomato ‘cage’ issue - the old ‘funnel’ variety cages just weren’t working very well. The round ones have been used for at least 5 years until this year, when I cut 2 of them up & I’m using the ‘half round’ pieces as support for tying up my Celebrities. So far so good - really happy with the arrangement. I saw this article & took the idea of trying a not-round cage from it:
https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2020/05/10/stake-tomato-plants/
The issues I had with the round cages were two-fold:
- Although I constantly pulled tomato branches through/out of the round cylinder, I still ended up with a ‘column’ of dense growth inside the cage ... too thick to be healthy.
- The branches that were sticking out of the cage got heavy & then would bend over the wire. The bends were sharp & cut off the nutrition to the branch below the bend.
My tomatoes are grown for my folks since I am “allergic” to nightshades. I have cut back this year to 2 Celebrities & 1 Sungold so we’re not overrun with produce. I used to have about 8 plants & I canned tomatoes & made a lot of salsa for gifts. I guess I’ve gotten lazy & this year in particular, was a terribly late start due to knee injury/surgery so the garden is very limited.
I have done similar but leaving the cattle panel as one section along the length of the row and promise that my garden is full of weeds and grass unlike the one pictured.
I have also bent the panels in an arch planting the tomatoes on the inside and covering the arch with shade cloth.
Tying the plants is a pain so I opted for something simpler than that.
What I have done this year seems to work well. My cages are about 18” in diameter or so. Tomatoes seem to branch well enough.
I am planning raised beds for at least part of the garden next year hoping that helps with watering and weeds. I’ll plant Okra and beans on the ground though. I am conjuring a scheme for hot houses over the beds, maybe a cold frame but storage of those things is always a problem. Just the greenhouse may be best.
I have a lot of this kind of growth.
I use tomato spirals and tomato towers.
Back two months ago, I got a lot of suckers but didn’t remove them. They had green tomatoes on them! How could I; amirite?
I do this every year.
Now, it’s just a jungle of growth, and I can’t get in and harvest them all. It’s so dense I can’t even see the ripe ones without stepping on them.
I’m a sucker for them suckers.