How Do You Support Your Tomato Plants?

Many of us are just entering one of the most favorite times of the year for gardeners;
The Tomato Harvest!

The tomato is to the vegetable garden what the lion is to the jungle - The King! Many gardeners who don't grow any other vegetables still raise a few tomato plants.

There is more written in the blogosphere about tomatoes than any other vegetable. I admit that even I have gone overboard writing about tomatoes. I have written about harvesting and eating tomatoes, growing tomatoes, types of tomatoes, early tomatoes, tomato pests and heirlooms versus hybrid tomatoes among other tomato topics. The topic we seem to leave out most of the time however is how we support those massive tomato vines. Moving back to our King of the Jungle analogy, tomato plants without the right kind of support can turn into a jungle!

So how do you support your tomatoes? Stakes or cages? Stake and Weave or some other system? Do you tie them up or use a trellis? Tomato Tepees? Do you have your own creative way of keeping those tomatoes off the ground?

I grow over 40 tomato plants each year. They are all spread out in my garden so I end up trying many different means of support. With some of the plants, I lazily plop down a store-bought cage around them. Except for determinant plants or bush patio types, this is a bad idea. They tend to eventually fall over like the one below on the left!

So other than store bought cages, I use three different types of support: The Florida Stake-and-Weave, Wood topless tomato tables, and a tie up each plant to a trellis method.

The Florida Weave is probably the easiest to do.

You put stakes in between each plant or every few plants depending on how closely spaced you tomatoes are. You then tie twine or clothesline from post to post, weaving in and out of the tomato plants. With subsequent twines above one another weaving the opposite direction, you can easily "suspend" your tomato plants.

My main advice here is to put the system in while the plants are still small. I waited till the plants were about to fall over and it was much harder to "weave" the plants.

Probably my favorite tomato support to use is my home-made "topless tables".

These don't look pretty, but they keep the tomatoes off the ground without any pruning, staking or tying. You could call them wood tomato cages. They are basically like frames for a table without a solid top. The tomato plant grows through the middle and the branches sprawl over the sides. I have experimented with making them double-decker like the one on the left, but I don't think it is necessary.

Lastly, I have what my family calls the tomato tower.

It is basically a very tall trellis in which you tie twine or clothesline from the top and then loop the other end around the base of the plant (you do not tie it to the plant). You then wind the twine around the central stem as the tomato plant grows.

This keeps the plant growing straight and upright. It works best if you keep the suckers pruned off of the central stem. I have used this method for years, but you can only support a limited number of plants this way.

Well there you have it. This post ended up being longer than I expected but when it comes to tomatoes, I just can't stop writing about them. If you are still reading, chances are you too are a tomato gardening fan!

So I would love to hear from you. How do you support your tomatoes? What are some ways you have tried that worked or didn't work? Let's make this a poll of what kind of support is most used by gardeners who blog or read blogs.

Thanks and Happy Tomato Picking!

Comments

[August 01, 2007 at 01:59 AM]

I stake and tie but as the summer goes on, I lose track of the suckers so I am wildly tying up whatever branches I can. I may use the Florida weave next year.

I also use short pieces of PVC pipe as the base of the stake... they are easier for me to drive them in nice and deep, then I just drop the stake in the pipe.

[August 01, 2007 at 04:39 AM]

I'm the same way with the suckers. I have small bamboo poles that I stick in all over the place to tie up the branches that get away.

I like the PVC pipe idea as the base for your stakes.

[August 01, 2007 at 06:01 AM]

It's good to see the methods in practice. I tend too go with the weave, although everybody else around here seems to stick a few poles in the ground to form a tripod.

[Anthony]

Usually by this time of the year, I'm employing the "jungle method". That's when all of my tomato plants take the shape of a giant mess of vines. :)

But this year, I'm staking, pinching and tieing a few times a week. I've never seen such order in my garden before. And it looks like I'll probably triple the amount of fruit that I usually get. No more jungle for me.

Nicely written post Marc. You definitely did you tomato homework this season.

[August 01, 2007 at 05:21 PM]

Thank you Anthony and good job taming your tomato jungle this year. You should post some pictures on Compost Bin.

Adekun - thanks also for commenting. As for the tripod method, do they tie the plants to the poles or tie to the top where the tripod or tepee meets? Do you have any pictures of this method?

[August 02, 2007 at 03:12 AM]

This post is the most informative post I have come across all year! I too have a jungle of tomatoes and will certainly try the Florida weave next year. Thanks for an excellent post..!

[August 02, 2007 at 05:41 AM]

I am guilty of jungle this year. I did plan something different but hey... it didn't work out. I love the weave idea!

[August 02, 2007 at 06:37 AM]

My husband had some concrete wire left over from some work we had done. Basically it is rusty fencing with large holes. I thought that I would give it a try. So far they are working great. The only problem is the tomatoes tend to be inside and you really have to search to find the ripe ones. I also trim any branches they fall outside the cage. I will try and remember to post a picture of the cages on my blog.

[August 02, 2007 at 10:56 PM]

Katie - Thank you for the kind words. Personally I like tomato jungles - there's no harm in it as long as you can keep the tomatoes off the ground.

Ottawa Gardener - Same to you, jungles are fun.

vonlafin - I have read many books that cite the concrete wire tomato cages as the way to go. I've always been scared away from them because in the books they are always pretty, but at the hardware stores I've only seen rolls of rusty looking wire like you describe. I would love to see a picture of your cages.

[August 03, 2007 at 11:18 PM]

An interesting topic. I suppose it depends on whether you are growing determinate or indeterminate varieties. Last year I had some success with my "tomato hedge" I just made a long framework of bamboo canes and tied everything in. It worked well.