They suggest 3 to a plant.

I haven't tried those, but over the decades I've used various unsatisfactory metal tomato supports which had cross-pieces only 12-15" apart, and as far as I was concerned, that was too far apart.

Obviously it would depend which varieties you're growing, whether you prune, etc.

What's the diameter of the rings?

Not familiar with them. an you provide a link or photo? Agree with missing that unless it is a determinate I doubt 3 rings would support it any better than the common 3 ring so-called tomato cages - they are junk when it comes to most tomato plants. And a plastic clamp that "slides" gives me a picture of a fruit heavy plant just sliding right down to the ground.

Does it come with a stake or what?

Dave

Dave don't have a photo to post but the web-sight is ufseeds.com
Would love to get your feedback.

The ring diameter is 10.5x3.3.5 missingtheobvious. I plan to grow all indeterminates. Would appreciate your feedback on this as well since this will be my first try at growing tomatoes.
Thanks to you both.

If this is what you are referring to then I would give it a definite no.

{{gwi:1288783}}

Especially given the tomatoes you list in your plan to grow thread.

Cherokee Purple
Black Krim
Earl of Edgecomb
Brandywine Sudduth Strain
Black Cherry
Green Grape (not on your list)
Opalka Paste
Amish Paste ( not on your list)

Opalka. Black Cherry, Brandywine. Earl, Black Krim would all completely overwhelm them even if you used all 6 on the same post. They 'might' work for Cherokee Purple and Amish Paste as they tend to be somewhat smaller plants but you would still have to do extensive pruning and that cuts your production.

Dave

PS: I wouldn't waste garden space on Green Grape but that's just my opinion.

Thanks Dave will cancel the green grape. Don't care for Sun Gold which everyone seems to love, much too sweet for me. Any suggestions for a yellow and/or red?

Robin

To me, after seeing the picture, those tomato rings are not worth spending the money on them. For one, the rings are too small for the tomatoes that you want to grow. Strength is yet another issue. And how much they cost for a set of 3 ?
With a 84" x 48" CRW ( @ $7.50) I can make a sturdy cage , 15" diameter and 7ft tall. That is if you buy them by the piece. If you buy a roll of 200 ft. you can make about 30 cages. About $4. per cage. If you don't need that many cages you can use some of it for trelising.

JMO

Thanks for the feedback, have decided to go with cattle panels, no rings necessary. I thought that they looked too narrow for their ultimate purpose but needed a confirmation from some experienced growers. I really have appreciated all of the help and sage feedback that each of you have been giving me in each of my posts. Can't make too many mistakes with the guidance of pros.

Hi, I'm new to the Tomato forum though not to GardenWeb. I did use Tomato Rings last year. In my severe space shortage situation, they did work well. I am looking forward to the day I can use cattle panels!

I put the rings on 8' green stakes from Lowes, cut down to 7', and about 6-7 rings per stake. I bought the rings from ufseeds during sales. I think I paid about $3.30/ring. At the end of the season the rings looked fine, no noticeable wear or tear. I grew indeterminate varieties (New Girl, Better Boy, Indigo Rose and Sungold) and removed suckers pretty diligently to keep the tomatoes to one or two stems. However one stem of the NG grew diagonally across the Better Boy and the Indigo rose, so their stakes and rings had to support the NG as well. Once I lashed the stakes to our deck railings with zip ties, I didn't have any problems with stability (despite numerous thunderstorms).

I used the rings for peppers, zucchini and eggplant as well. The pic below was taken on July 7.

By September, my stakes were not as vertical as I would have liked, due to the weight of the plants. I had initially placed the stakes inside the Earthboxes because I needed to move them to allow for the deck to be resealed. Next time I'll keep the stakes on the outside of the boxes, lashed to the deck from the bottom up, so that the stakes are completely immobilized.

For the peppers, I used the rings on 6' stakes (much skinnier in diameter). I tied twine between the rings to provide additional support.

Great thread. I have a box of African Violet rings and I never thought to use them outdoors. I think they might work to help support pepper plants. I don't think they would support tomatoes.

Computer was down but back again. dsb22 great photos and some handsome looking plants. The rings have worked well for you but 6-7 per plant must have run you about $22.00 per plant, that is a lot of money to hold up one tomato plant Last year I too put stakes on the outside of my raised beds and held them down with 2 U supports.
Have no idea Lucille am a newbie myself.

Lucille, I haven't seen African violet rings in person so I'm not sure. You would just need to be able to secure the rings to something sturdy. I think I started to use the rings with the peppers when they reached about 18" tall.

Robinava, thanks, yes, definitely there are cheaper methods. Although I'll be reusing the rings, so I have to see how long they last to judge how cost effective they are. I would recommend them to someone who wants to grow indeterminate tomatoes in a small amount of space, where other methods won't work. This year I plan to grow some determinates, so I'm also interested in seeing if they'll work with those, without pruning.

This post was edited by dsb22 on Wed, Jan 22, 14 at 6:36

I love Golden Jubilees. They produce like crazy. They are a yellow cherry tomato.

I bought some of those rings and would love to know how it works out for others I havent used them yet

There are several kinds :

This:

OR THIS !!! :

Sey

haha the first one