Tomato Cages

[liralen]

I grew tomato plants from seed. Gave a bunch of them to Joan, and now I was faced with ever-burgeoning tomato plants. I found some four foot high, heavy-duty fencing, galvanized steel wire and found that with my hands in the shape they're in, they couldn't cut the fencing with wire cutters. Then I was reassured by the fact that John, even with his huge, strong, healthy hands, couldn't cut the wire with a wire cutter...

... so I bought myself some 14 inch bolt cutters, for about half the price of a high end electrician's wire cutter, and went to work last night. I measured out 54 inches of fencing, cut the stuff so easily it was very cool, and then bent the wires to make 18 inch diameter cages, which fit easily over the plants.

So my question now is, if the branches stick through the cage, do I just feed them back in or do I feed them back in after they've gone over some wire? i.e. does it need training or should I just be stuffing the plant back into the cage? Does any one know? They're all indeterminate tomato plants, i.e. they'll be growing indefinitely, but I don't know if that makes any difference as to the 'training' of the plant...

Comments

Letting it all hang out (of tomato cages that is..)

[tryptophan.livejournal.com]

I was told the branches could stick through the cage and fed back in if they get too long. Basically, that the cage was just meant as support for the branches and the stem but not much else. Now this is how my mom did it and she had great tomatoes but other people's methods and results may vary.

Letting it all hang out (of tomato cages that is..)

[tryptophan.livejournal.com]

I was told the branches could stick through the cage and fed back in if they get too long. Basically, that the cage was just meant as support for the branches and the stem but not much else. Now this is how my mom did it and she had great tomatoes but other people's methods and results may vary.

Re: Letting it all hang out (of tomato cages that is..)

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I guess my question is, do the branches get fed back after being wrapped over a wire of the cage? Or do they just get stuffed back through the same space they came through?

Re: Letting it all hang out (of tomato cages that is..)

[tryptophan.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I think I see what you're asking. I never stuffed anything back in. I let the branches grow out of the gaps as they will. I suppose, if the branches got long enought that they were sagging and in danger of breaking, I might feed them back in, but beyond that, I have just made sure that the main branches were all contained inside the cage (I stuffed the plant in when it was small).