Tomato Spacing / Bio-Intensive / Stake vs. Cage vs. ???

[Eric Rager]

I am located in Southern California, and I'm at my first attempt at some
of the recommendations in John Jeavons "How to Grow More Vegetables..."
book.

The book recommends a tomato plant spacing of 18". I have some tomato
plants that I want to transplant into my raised bed (indeterminate
type). Should I stake these or cage these or neither? They're awfully
close, is there a way of setting up a few bigger cages? Ideas???

Thanks in advance.

Eric Rager
era...@primenet.com

[Jon Shemitz]

Eric Rager wrote:

> I am located in Southern California, and I'm at my first attempt at some
> of the recommendations in John Jeavons "How to Grow More Vegetables..."
> book.
>
> The book recommends a tomato plant spacing of 18". I have some tomato
> plants that I want to transplant into my raised bed (indeterminate
> type). Should I stake these or cage these or neither? They're awfully
> close, is there a way of setting up a few bigger cages? Ideas???

I've totally given up on cages. The plants tend to overfill the cages,
which then have a tendency to topple; it's hard to get tomatoes from the
interior of a large cage.

This is the fifth year I've used a suggestion from the Cook's Garden
catalog: Take four 8' stakes and place them in a square maybe two feet
on a side. Lean them into each other, and tie the tops together with
some twine. Prune all the suckers from the tomatoes as they grow
("single stem" method) and tie the stem to the stakes as it grows. The
pyramid is stable under the heaviest winds and the heaviest tomato loads
with only a few inches of the stakes in the ground. It's easy to get to
the tomatoes as they grow, *and* there's plenty of light at the base of
the pyramid for basil or whatever.

--

http://www.midnightbeach.com - Me, my work, my writing, and
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs - my homeschool resource pages

[Gary Cooper]

On Tue, 15 Jun 1999, Eric Rager wrote:

> I am located in Southern California, and I'm at my first attempt at some
> of the recommendations in John Jeavons "How to Grow More Vegetables..."
> book.
>
> The book recommends a tomato plant spacing of 18". I have some tomato
> plants that I want to transplant into my raised bed (indeterminate
> type). Should I stake these or cage these or neither? They're awfully
> close, is there a way of setting up a few bigger cages? Ideas???
>

> Eric Rager

I recommend cages. Stakes would be second choice. A common mistake is not
to make the cages big enough: about two feet in diameter by five feet high
is a handy cage size for indeterminate tomatoes.

If you have a number of them planted in a row and fairly closely spaced,
you could also set up a fence (a trellis) and tie them all to that.

Gary

[Olin]

Gary Cooper wrote in message ...
> ...A common mistake is not>to make the cages big enough: about two feet in

diameter by five feet high
>is a handy cage size for indeterminate tomatoes.

I agree with respect to size. Mine are 18" dia made from 5' remesh. With
some of the big, rangy, indeterminate heirloom types I think the dia should
be 2-1/2 to 3 ft. -Olin
>

[lfo...@pipeline.com]

I have my tomatoes spaced 15" apart in rows spaced at 36". The plants are
neither staked or caged. I have stakes spaced between every 5 plants and a
wire strung along the top of the stakes. The wire is about 6' off of the
ground. I tie a 6' length of twine to the wire for each plant and tie the
other end to the main stem of each plant. As the plant grows the suckers
are removed and the plant wound around the twine.

This is the same method my father uses to grow tomatoes commercially in the
greenhouse. It allows for much closer spacing of the plants than with cages
and better support than stakes. This also allows for much easier harvesting
of the fruit as it ripens.

-- Larry
Twinsburg, Ohio

Eric Rager wrote in message <37668634...@primenet.com>...

>I am located in Southern California, and I'm at my first attempt at some
>of the recommendations in John Jeavons "How to Grow More Vegetables..."
>book.
>
>The book recommends a tomato plant spacing of 18". I have some tomato
>plants that I want to transplant into my raised bed (indeterminate
>type). Should I stake these or cage these or neither? They're awfully
>close, is there a way of setting up a few bigger cages? Ideas???
>

[MLW5844]

I use both. The cages are good for support early on, but the plants grow very
tall in MS. I went to a building supply place and had them cut me some 8' long,
3/8" steel rebar rods. As the plants outgrow the cages (even the tallest ones),
I climb up on a ladder, drive the rebar stakes into the ground, and let the rod
take over. The stability of this arrangement is extremely good.
Mike W.

[Gary Kimber]

Hi,

I use cages that I made from Concrete reinforcing wire! Cut a 10' length of
wire and make it into a round cage. This gives you a cage that is 5' high a
little bigger than 3' in diameter. These cages are free-standing, and have
never fallen over. I put one plant in each cage. Whenever a tomato plant
sends a branch outside the cage, I just push it back into the cage. There is
absolutely no staking or tying needed. The large openings of the wire make
it easy to reach in and pick the tomatoes.

Gary Kimber

Olin wrote in message <7k6bcf$2mk$1...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...

[Eric Rager]

Thanks to all of you who responded. I'll figure out a plan and let the
ng know how it worked.

-Eric Rager