Ideas for staking cherry tomatoes?
Rich Campbell
Well the title about says it all. I decided to try
cherry tomatoes, specifically Sweet 100 and Yellow
Pear, for the first time this year. While my
Celebrity, Super Fantastic, and Merced are 3-4 feet
high the cherry types have already gone past the
tops of my stakes, about 5 feet above ground.
Should I add a taller stake? Any ideas? At this
rate I'll need a ladder by mid July!
--
Rich Campbell, USDA zone 7 (near Dallas)
It is possible to have a carefree garden
as long as you don't care what you grow.
Cathy Morison
> > Should I add a taller stake? Any ideas? At this
> > rate I'll need a ladder by mid July!
> >
> > --
> > Rich Campbell, USDA zone 7 (near Dallas)
Rich,
Not as silly as it sounds - why not use the ladder as a stake. I saw a
video recently of a hardener in Halifax (I think) who put a ladder over
her Sweet 100s and they simply grew up and over the ladder. I think I
might try it as soon as my little children are old enough to not try
climbing it all the time!
Cathy Morison
Michelago
Australia
Buddy
A step ladder or trellis would work very well for your Sweet 100's. We grew them
in a small greenhouse one year and they grew up one side, across the ceiling and
started down the other side! They are an "indeterminate" type of tomato, which
means they will keep growing (like a vine) until something kills them. You might
try making a simple A-frame structure out of poles if you have room and can
find the materials. In my area, Zone 2, I start pinching back the side shoots
that form in the leaf axils and pinching off new flower buds when we reach a
point in the growing season where I know that any new fruit formed won't have a
chance to mature. That is the only "pruning" I ever do on my tomatoes.
Hallie
On 11 Jun 1997 16:54:13 GMT, ri...@dskd3.itg.ti.com (Rich Campbell) wrote:
> I decided to try cherry tomatoes, specifically Sweet 100 and Yellow
>Pear, for the first time this year. <snip> the cherry types have already gone past the
>tops of my stakes, about 5 feet above ground.
> Should I add a taller stake? Any ideas? At this
>rate I'll need a ladder by mid July!
>--
>Rich Campbell, USDA zone 7 (near Dallas)
http://www.connect.ab.ca/~buddy/ngarden.htm
irc chat #prairiegarden on another.net
Tuesdays & Fridays at 6pm mountain time;
to access another.net see instructions on the above webpage
or use irc.another.net port 6667
LadyBlades
I grew the cherry tomato plant from hell 2 years ago! I staked it with a
long pole 3 tomato cages & lots of fabric strips. If I'd let it go it
would have been at least 8 feet!
Lynn
M & V
In <19970626011...@ladder01.news.aol.com> ladyb...@aol.com
Tomatoes are ground vining plants and if left to do so, will produce
much higher yields. The trick with tomatoes is to give each plant
plenty of room in order to sprawl along the ground. Especially a high
yielding variety like cherry. I have noticed that, when I allow my
tomato plants to sprawl naturally, I get much higher yields, than the
ones I have either on stakes OR in cages made of iron mesh and 6 feet
tall. And I get even HIGHER yields when I use a weekly foliar
application of liquid seaweed mixed with fish emulsion, molassas, apple
cider vinegar and epsom salts, each at one tablespoon per gallon of
water. I spray early in the morning when the stomata are not closed
by the heat of the day, and when the plants can ascimilate the trace
minerals I provide. Also, I feed the soil once in spring, again in
July (now) and again in fall...per label directions. I only use a slow
release certified organic granular feed...GardenVille Soil Food is
7-2-2 and has plenty of trace minerals for the microbial feeding
process IN the soil...not FOR the plants.
victoria
Victoria
1RealHope
Victoria:
Would this be similar to the all-organic soil feeding methods Don talks
about at http://www.bio-organics.com?
I'm using the Mycorrhizae Innoculant, Fish Fertilizer, and Trace Element
Volcanic Materials -- would you also recommend the Liquid Kelp?
Thanks! DavidC So. NH Zone 5
MA CAT TAC
Use concrete reinforcing wire to make cages 5' high and 2-3' wide. They
work great, but put them on ASAP as the tomato bush gets hard to work
with. Keep for next year and put them on early.
M & V
In <19970626232...@ladder01.news.aol.com> maca...@aol.com (MA
A lot of times you can get this material free, and recycle it. If you
see a construction site, just go up and ask if you can take the rusted
reinforcing wire. I have never been turned down. But definitely ask
before you take.
Victoria
Allison Wolf
In article <19970626011...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
LadyBlades <ladyb...@aol.com> wrote:
>I grew the cherry tomato plant from hell 2 years ago! I staked it with a
>long pole 3 tomato cages & lots of fabric strips. If I'd let it go it
>would have been at least 8 feet!
I have one of those this year -- and I'm growing in containers on my
balcony! I don't know what I'm going to do if the darn thing gets any
taller. I'll probably have to cut the tops off if it does, since
otherwise it would hit the balcony ceiling.....I've staked it with a
cage and some twine that runs between my balcony railing and ceiling.
Unfortunately, I feel like the tomatoes are taking *forever* to ripen.
Maybe I'm just impatient!
--
Allison Wolf, (math grad)
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Internet: all...@mathcs.emory.edu
UUCP: {rutgers,gatech}!emory!allison
Susan K. Wehe
I've always been concerned about my tomatoes outgrowing their five foot
cages. This spring, I had the pleasure of sitting in on several
lectures. One speaker addressed that very concern and pointed out that
if you're using a four foot cage that that's four foot the plant must
grow up and if it does overgrow the cage, four foot it must grow down
before it actually is in contact with the ground. He suggested letting
the plant naturally drape over the top of the cage and to take full
advantage of the staking or caging that you've already done by letting
it grow down toward the ground. I've decided not to worry about the size
of my tomato plants and just let them grow as big as possible.
Susan
JMAR858
Another idea is to use metal fence posts around the perimeter of you
garden, (tomato). Use chicken wire, large gage, to put over the top of
the fence posts. The tomatoes grow up through the chicken wire and this
eliminates the need for staking. Just be sure to use enough fence posts
to suport the weight of the tomatoes. I wish I could draw you an
illustration of the layout. It works great!!. I found this in an
"Organic Gardening" magazine and have been using this method eversince,
The fence posts go, say every two feet. I have 4X8 raised beds. I use
four fence posts on each side. I lower the chicken wire over the top of
the fence posts. I add several layers of chicken wire for the tomatoes to
grow up through. It works great. Let me know if you end up using this
idea next year. It has been working great for me for about 3-4 years.
This works great for all varities of tomatoes.