[net.garden] tall tomato plants

dalka@ihuxe.UUCP (Ken Dalka) (07/03/84)

I like to use cages for my tomato plants. This works well except
as the season goes on the tomatoes tend to get taller than the
cage. This results in the top of the plant falling over and
sometimes breaking from its own weight. This year I made an
effort to get taller cages, but I can already tell that 
it won't be enough. What do other people do about this?
My cages are currently 4 feet high. (Yes, I know I could stake
the tomatoes but I like cages better)


					Ken Dalka
					ihuxe!dalka

gef@invest.UUCP (Gene E. Fowler) (07/04/84)

I use concrete reinforcing wire to make my cages. It comes in 5' wide rolls
which I cut into 7' lengths. This will make a 2' diameter cage. Yesterday
I had to make an extension to 7' as some of the plants are now 6 to 6-1/2 
feet tall. If they get much taller I will have to put another extension and
guy wires on the cages.

My largest varities are the Sweet 100, althought my Supersteaks are almost
as big.  I feed them lots of compost and liquid fertilizer (15-30-20
bi-weekly).

				Gene Fowler
				ihnp4!invest!gef

gap@drutx.UUCP (PetersEA) (07/05/84)

When my tomato plants get to growing above the tops of their cages,
I start trimming them back to cage-top level.  That allows the plants
to expend more energy on producing tomatoes rather than increasing
the plant size.

nosmo@pyuxqq.UUCP (P Valdata) (07/05/84)

I just pinch my tomato plants back so they don't grow taller than the
cage; this makes them fuller and we get a lot of tomatoes from them.

I have a different problem--deer are eating my zucchini, spinach, and
lettuce.  I don't want to put a real fence up until the fall, because
it will be a major project.  Does anyone know if deer would be
deterred by something makeshift, like a rope or wire around a couple
of stakes?
				Pat Valdata
				pyuxqq!nosmo

patel@uicsg.UUCP (07/06/84)

#R:ihuxe:-71100:uicsg:4800001:000:458
uicsg!patel    Jul  5 17:41:00 1984

    I presume you use the three or four ring basket.  To get a taller
cage, I put an inverted cage on the first one and tie them with wire.
Looks something like this:
			   /   \
                          /     \             Inverted Top Cage
                         /       \ 
			 \       /
			  \     /              Bottom Cage
			   \   /
                      ------------------- Ground

   -Janak Patel, U of Ill, Urbana
    ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsg!patel