toml@rlgvax.UUCP (Tom Love) (03/29/85)
anyone got any advice on staking up tomatoes?
i'm looking at approximately 60 plants, by the time i thin out
all of my seedlings. my primary option, at this point, is to
find the cheapest wooden stakes i can get, and do it one per plant
at the time i put them out. my garden is going to look like a
closeup of the back of a nervous porcupine.
i'd be interested in hearing from folks suggesting alternate methods.
has anyone grown tomatoes on a fence-type setup? a net?
anyone out there who says let them lay?
let's hear it.
tom love
computer consoles inc - office systems group
reston, va
{seismo | allegra | ihnp4} !rlgvax!tomlbeth@gymble.UUCP (Beth Katz) (03/29/85)
Tom Love writes: >i'm looking at approximately 60 plants, by the time i thin out >all of my seedlings. my primary option, at this point, is to >find the cheapest wooden stakes i can get, and do it one per plant >at the time i put them out. my garden is going to look like a >closeup of the back of a nervous porcupine. > >i'd be interested in hearing from folks suggesting alternate methods. >has anyone grown tomatoes on a fence-type setup? a net? >anyone out there who says let them lay? With the small garden I've had the past two years, I've put in four 6-foot 1x1s and run cotton cord between the stakes to produce a net. I grow rather tall plants, so they must be turned down to the net when they get too tall. My family has always used tomato cages, but 60 cages would be a lot to make. Perhaps a wire fence down each side of a row would work. You would not need to make cages but would have the support and convenience of wire. Stake the fence so that it doesn't fall over and wipe out your crop. We used peat pellets for starting seeds but not for transplanting. I start my seeds in plastic egg cartons and then move the seedlings to plastic cups. Tomatos get 16 oz while some other plants get the 10 oz size. When I'm ready to put them in the garden, I cut off most of the cup's bottom leaving at least an inch of rim to keep the munching critters off the seedlings. Again, this works with a small garden (7x4, because I live in an apartment). I hope to move before the end of April to a rented house. One of our criteria for renting is that there be room for, and permission for, a nice garden. FLASH REPORT FROM THE GARDEN : Parsley wintered over well and is growing furiously. Sugar snap peas are about four inches high and climbing. Beth Katz {seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!beth
mmr@ritcv.UUCP (Margaret Reek) (03/30/85)
> anyone got any advice on staking up tomatoes? > > i'd be interested in hearing from folks suggesting alternate methods. > has anyone grown tomatoes on a fence-type setup? a net? > anyone out there who says let them lay? > Two years ago I tried an experiment with different methods of dealing with tomatoes; I too had ~60 plants and didn't relish the idea of staking all of them. I'll give you the low down on the approaches. I used rolls of tomato cage material from Sears for 3 approaches. 1) Using tall stakes, just unroll the stuff to form a tall upright fence. As the tomatoes grow, either weave them through the holes in the fencing or tie them onto it. This worked ok, but you still had to do some fiddling as the tomatoes grew. Also, be sure you have plenty of stakes and that they are at least as tall as the fencing once you pound them into the ground, otherwise the whole business tends to get top heavy and bend over. 2) A variation on the above was to put the fencing in so it formed a long series of S shapes - the idea being it would be like half a tomato cage without the work. This didn't work all that well. It would have been better if I had taller stakes, but even so you still have to eventually provide some support for the other side of the plant, so you have to tie them up in some way. I liked this less than method 1. 3) Make cages out of the stuff. I put the cage on when I first put in transplants. If you wait til the plants need the cage, you can damage the plants getting them in the cage. This is the only way I bother to grow tomatoes now. The tomatoes almost never need attention, they just grow up through the cage - the only pain in the neck part is when you do fall clean up; I found the best way is to pull the cage and tomato plant out together and get another person to hold onto the cage while you pull the plant out by the root end. During my experiment I also staked tomatoes and left some unsupported. The unsupported ones were more prone to slug damage than the others, which had no slug problems at all. Staking was a pain, and I had to keep removing the suckers to keep the plants in check. The unsupported ones made a mess by flopping in to the rows. None of the methods produced spectacularly different yeilds, so I decided to use cages and be done with it. Make the cages yourself, since you can do it cheaper and they are better quality than many of the store bought ones. Margaret Reek P.S. I also learned I don't NEED 60 tomato plants either. Anybody want some tomato juice?
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (04/03/85)
Just as an aside, don't try to raise 60 tomato plants unless you have a contract with Hines to take the surplus off your hands:-) At least, don't try it in New Jersey, the rascals will take over your whole garden. I usually put in about 6 to 8 plants and still have too many tomatos left over. Happy Garden. T. C. Wheeler