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Post by daylilydude on Jan 17, 2014 12:42:26 GMT -5
When planting your maters which do you prefer and why?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 17, 2014 15:22:45 GMT -5
My favorite method is to build big tall trellises and weave them through the mesh (6"-7" square mesh) as needed as they grow. In the rainy, humid climate I have, this lets the foliage spread out so it dries faster after rains. The big mesh also means I can reach through to pick. I also use some big metal cages, and they work fine as far as support goes...but it can stay really wet in there. Last year my trellised plants stayed healthy longer than the caged ones. I've never tried the Florida weave, but it seems to me it would bunch the foliage together much like cages do. I don't use stakes mostly because if I used stakes, I'd have to keep the suckers pruned off. I like to let the plants grow suckers so they can make tomatoes on the suckers. I'm not trying to grow a prizewinning tomato, just a lot of tomatoes.
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Post by paulf on Jan 17, 2014 16:41:03 GMT -5
Concrete re-inforcing wire cut and made into a circle about 2 1/2 foot diameter. Had some in Iowa that lasted ten years before we moved and left them for the new owner. Came to Nebraska and so far eight years old and going. Every year they get a bleach bath to kill pathogens. Had a chance to buy 50 broomsticks that are used as a center stake when the seedlings are small. I also use a plastic tape to secure branches to the cage if necessary. For security from wind blowing the cage over I use couple of 4 foot electric fence posts driven into the ground a foot or more and wired to the cage. A tornado won't knock over the cage. The spaces are big enough to pick even the largest tomato I have grown. A watermelon grew inside a cage once and it would not fit through the 4 inch space, though.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Jan 17, 2014 21:50:40 GMT -5
The Florida Weave. I'll use cages for random lone plants, but I love the convenience of the Florida Weave. It works better than I thought it would.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 17, 2014 22:46:29 GMT -5
I have a 40 ft, 32 ft, and a 20 ft fence made of concrete reinforcement wire, and this is where I grow most of my tomatoes, as well as my beans, cukes, peas, and other vining plants. I move them from year to year, but the tomatoes are probably still growing too often in the same places - something hard to avoid in home gardens.
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Post by stratcat on Jan 17, 2014 23:45:25 GMT -5
I use both cages and stakes on each individual plant until I run out of cages. As my plants are crammed, the cages protect the plants from me. As I have over 100 cages, that goes a long ways. Lots of my containers on the back lawn just have stakes. Dwarfs in containers near my driveway have stakes.
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Post by timothyt on Jan 18, 2014 5:36:29 GMT -5
I primarily use CRW cages so marked that as answer. But also use trellis, arbors, stakes, the railings, posts, and pickets of the deck, clotheline strung between arbors or posts, random lengths of electrical wire or conduit, pvc or galvanized pipe left over from jobsites, etc., just about anything I can get my hands on!
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Post by coppice on Jan 18, 2014 9:34:33 GMT -5
Trellis, fer tomato it has to be a trellis.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2014 2:24:23 GMT -5
We usually use cages made of concrete reinforcing wire. It is sturdy, lasts a long time. Sometimes we have to stake the cages down with T-posts because it gets so windy here. The holes between the wires are large enough to reach through and get the tomatoes.
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Post by daylilydude on Jan 19, 2014 16:43:28 GMT -5
I'm another with the CRW cages, cause I'm just to lazy to have to go out and tie up my plants... looks too much like work...
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Tressa
Junior Member
Posts: 37
Zone:: 8
Joined: January 2014
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Post by Tressa on Jan 19, 2014 16:56:50 GMT -5
I prefer cages. I tend to wait too long to tie them when using stakes, and end up breaking stems I didn't want to loose.
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billh
Pro Member
Posts: 231
Zone:: 6a
Joined: December 2011
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Post by billh on Jan 19, 2014 18:27:05 GMT -5
I always used corral panels so I marked other. After learning what a Florida weave is I think I'm going to try that, sounds easy.
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Post by rdback on Jan 24, 2022 15:11:41 GMT -5
So, I read THIS article about Florida Weave and thought I'd do a search here to see what you folks thought of it. I tried it probably 15 years ago, but only half-halfheartedly. Seemed to take to much hands on for me. I, like some of you, use CRW cages. I do 12 in a row, anchored with 3 T-Posts and 1/2" rebar running through the tops of the cages. I use tie-wraps to tie cages to the rebar. This setup has withstood 60mph wind gusts and not moved an inch.
Are any of you still using the Florida Weave, or have you changed your opinion of it? Just curious. I'm considering maybe trying it again, but not too seriously lol.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 24, 2022 15:32:37 GMT -5
Florida Weave probably works well if you limit the number of stems you allow and/or your climate is not too rainy in the tomato growing season.
In my case, I have two short tomato seasons each year (rainy season disease problems end the spring/early summer season, and frost ends the late summer/fall season). To maximize yield, I let my tomatoes branch out as much as they want and set all of the fruit they can during those short seasons.
That means I have sprawling plants with stems everywhere. If I tried to use Florida Weaves for support I'd be compressing all of those stems together in one big mass. That would limit airflow to the center of the plants and make me unable to penetrate to the middle with sprays for pests and diseases. That would mean I'd lose my plants earlier each season, probably before I got any fruit.
Instead I spread out my plants by weaving and tying them along a tall, wide trellis. Most recently I cut the number of plants I grow in half by only growing one indeterminate tomato plant per Earthbox and trellis...that actually increased my yield. The plants get better airflow, I can spot pest and disease problems earlier, and sprays penetrate to all parts of the plants for more effective control.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 24, 2022 17:19:21 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL I am going to try your method of one tomato plant per SIP, at least with the larger ones. I was thinking of putting some other things on both ends of them - some onion sets, for scallions, which I figure shouldn't get in the way, and the onion might actually help the soil, against soil borne illnesses.
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aqua
Pro Member
Posts: 295
Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
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Post by aqua on Jan 24, 2022 17:42:12 GMT -5
Everyone here has so much more experience than me, so my answers might not count.
I have two garden places: one in the heart of suburbia, the other out on an old hunting lodge, on the Suwannee River. Heart of suburbia gets stakes, string, some tall support cages, long sticks woven thru the cages. Wild land was Florida Weave last year, with some cotton stakes (from cotton I grew) and sweetgum saplings added in as support.
You should see the disaster of a cage I've built for pole beans - but it's all an adventure, I suppose.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jan 24, 2022 17:46:11 GMT -5
I tried many methods in the past and those methods would probably work well now that I don’t grow many plants, but back then I would be growing 300+ varieties and trying to cage them all was a lot of work. After a year or two, I started letting them sprawl. Not as productive, but not as much work either.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 25, 2022 8:40:52 GMT -5
I only grow 10 - 15 tomato plants so cages are good for me. It keeps the plants off of the ground and gives them a lot of airflow with very little interaction from me except that I do remove low hanging branches to keep them off of the ground.
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Post by september on Jan 25, 2022 16:01:40 GMT -5
16 ft stock panels, most cut to fit my 12 ft beds. Tomatoes trellised up in a row. Bush beans, onions, broccoli etc grown on the other edge of the beds.
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aqua
Pro Member
Posts: 295
Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
Joined: March 2012
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Post by aqua on Jan 25, 2022 17:33:17 GMT -5
September, I love that pic. Everything looks so young and green and full of hope. september,
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Post by paulf on Jan 25, 2022 17:53:57 GMT -5
Concrete re-inforcing wire cut and made into a circle about 2 1/2 foot diameter. Had some in Iowa that lasted ten years before we moved and left them for the new owner. Came to Nebraska and so far eight years old and going. Every year they get a bleach bath to kill pathogens. Had a chance to buy 50 broomsticks that are used as a center stake when the seedlings are small. I also use a plastic tape to secure branches to the cage if necessary. For security from wind blowing the cage over I use couple of 4 foot electric fence posts driven into the ground a foot or more and wired to the cage. A tornado won't knock over the cage. The spaces are big enough to pick even the largest tomato I have grown. A watermelon grew inside a cage once and it would not fit through the 4 inch space, though. This is my response (#2), and it is still the same even though those cages are now 16 years old and ready for season 17. And for those newcomers who have not seen photos of my early garden with the cages, I have included one from last year or the year before. My avatar shows a grown up photo of the tomato plants. It looks like that younger photo of me needs to be changed to convey the "real" current me. Maybe next gardening season I will figure something out.
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Post by spike on Jul 13, 2022 10:39:58 GMT -5
In late here but I used stakes for the first time ever. Have always used cages in the past. I have always had horrid luck with cages. Trying to stick them in the ground there is always a rock that causes issues, then the plants out grow the cage, which is a good thing, but bad for the cage. So far I am happier with the stakes.
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