You definitely want twine that won't stretch. And it can be useful to have "guy wires" at the end of the row so the end stakes don't lean toward the middle (all that fruit is heavy). [Don't trip over the guy wires!]

The length of the stake depends on the size of your plants. About a foot should be underground, so a 5' stake will only support 4' of plant. The "average" indeterminate is going to be 6-8' by the end of the season -- though of course that depends on the variety and the length of your particular growing season (it would really be helpful to list your location and zone; I don't remember if you can permanently enter that when you post, or if you need to go to your user page).

I know of two sources which regularly include plant height. Ventmarin lists height in centimeters for about half the varieties I'm looking for. The site is in French, so you have to be able to recognize which numbers relate to height and which are fruit weight or another of their rather esoteric measurements.

Divide the height in centimeters by 100; multiply that by 39 (inches per meter), and that gives you height in inches.
http://ventmarin.free.fr/passion_tomates/passion_tomate.htm

The second site has a Cultivar Finder which lists variety height in general size ranges. Unfortunately we're not allowed to link to that forum or its Cultivar Finder.

Thank You and I live in Kansas, but I have now found 6 ft bamboo stakes. I am growing grape Tomatoes, Sweet 100, Big Boy Tomatoes, and Big Daddy Tomato Hybrid.
-TomAndJerryGardener

My list of the varieties I've grown has a 5-6' figure for Grape (most likely from Ventmarin); the year I grew Grape, my plant died of Late Blight in July; at the rate it was going, it would have reached 8' by frost.

Big Boy is 8' according to the Cultivar Finder and 8 1/2 - 9' according to Ventmarin. When I grew it two years ago, it got about 5' tall before succumbing to what was probably bacterial canker.

I haven't grown Sweet 100 or Big Daddy Hybrid.

Supersweet 100 will grow all over everything. I grew two of them using the Japanese Tomato Ring method last fall and they shot up past the six foot stakes and sprawled all over the compost "ring." At the end of the growing season, I couldn't even dump anything or turn compost the until I yanked them to make room for the spring tomatoes. All this growth was also in partial shade AND after losing some large suckers in a t-storm.

I depends on what tomatoes you are growing as to how big of stakes you need.

For my indeterminate tomatoes, I use 8 foot T posts and 8 foot wood posts. For my determinate tomatoes, I can get by with 4 foot posts.

In this picture, the 8 foot posts are in the background, the tomatoes in the front could have gotten by with 4 foot posts, but I didn't want to cut the 6 foot posts I had.

{{gwi:78616}}

I also use the Florida Weave, 1 stake between every two plants.

As far as string, I use polypropylene twine for Big round balers. Go to a farm store and buy it. Don't get something that stretches. Sisal will stretch and rot.

If all goes well tonight, I will be planting tomatoes in two high tunnels tomorrow!

Jay

I'm somewhat new to this, so pardon my question, but what is a Florida weave? Some special way of tying/staking a tomato plant?

Yes Duke39, it is a way to stake and support tomato plants. There are several ways to do it, I prefer a post every 2 or 3 plants and run the string down each side and rap it around the post. Others weave the string around the plant then back to the post. Here is a video of me doing my modified Florida weave on some tomatoes.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Weave, Kansas Style

I tried the Florida weave last year but I wasn't fond of it. I think it's probably my fault. Firstly, the varieties you are weaving in a row should be a similar variety. I found out how awkward it is to try and weave a hearty fast grower with a slower grower. For sure, don't mix determinates and indeterminates. Second, I found my rows to be too dense and lacking in air circulation to some degree. I probably could have improved on that somehow as well.

I was fortunate enough to salvage enough concrete reinforcing wire from another gardener who was quitting to make thirty good size cages, so I am going that route this year. If I hadn't scored all that raw material for free, I would probably try the weave again this year, just with more careful planning.

Speckledhound: You do bring up a good point. If you are plant 10-20 tomatoes, with 10-20 different varieties, they the Florida Weave probably isn't going to work well for you.

Last year I had a 1/2 row of Indeterminate and 1/2 semi-determinate (got 5-6 feet tall). The first few strings were on the whole row, then I only had to string the indeterminates after awhile.

For me it works great. I plant rows of 40 plants, the same variety and all is good.

Jay

I used this for a small, single-row application. I really liked it. I used the 8' T-Posts from Home Depot and pounded them in between 1 and 2' deep. They aren't going anywhere! I spaced them for two plants between each pair of poles (probably overkill).
I pounded the 2 on the ends of the row in at an angle to resist any pull towards the center they might experience. Everything turned out to be very stable in all the nasty weather we get here in NH.

I planted some burly indeterminates and this set-up kept them tidy. Any smaller, bushy types I would leave for a pot or its own free space (I have a husky cherry red that I can see already doesn't need a weave).

Would like to try Florida weave on my indeterminates. 5 are scions mated to a rootstock and may get bigger, others are a mixture of large heirlooms. I would like to space 3 ft between for air movement and 2 plants between uprights. That makes it 6' between uprights. 24 ft between ends and 5 post total The end ones angled I will use rebar to go deeper and 3 wood post in middle. Does that sound okay or is the 3' too far apart. Will try two rows this year.

Not one of the responses answered the original question of what type of twine to use. This is what I would like to know as well. What is the best twine to use that will not stretch. Is JUTE a good twine to use for the Florida Weave?

Jay answered that in his first post - said he uses the polypropylene baling twine, sisal (jute) will stretch. I've used the sisal b/c that's what our old baler took, it does stretch and by the end of the season (on field tomatoes, haven't grown in a tunnel yet) it was rotting. I did have short strands of the blue poly from bales I got from someone else that I used for mulch, that held up and in fact is still out there tied to the posts.

I did mine with garden twine last year. I only had four plants, but each of a different variety. Started with 5' stakes and had to add taller ones... the super sweet especially was a monster.

I'm in a different bed and squeezing things closer (1 SF, pushing it, will be pruning to 1 stem and using a tomato ladder) this year, so not weaving again. But I really liked it as a support system.

We are trying the FLA weave this year in our garden. We are using BALING twine. its a huge spool (about 20,000 ft) for less than 20 bucks. it is working out great. . its strong and doesnt stretch.

I do a sort of combination of staking and weaving (not FW).
True FLORIDA weave is not practical with, say, 3 by 6 ft raised bed, with different varieties. FW is good when you grow rows and rows of tomatoes. JMO