Many cherry type tomato plants get to be real monsters, and sungold can get to be huge. There really isn't a need to tie it to the stake just now, but you will want to do so fairly soon. Once it starts sprawling, there is a greater chance of breaking the main stem when trying to tie it up.

Betsy

Thanks, Betsy! Great advice. I didn't know that cherry tomato plants were like that--I was expecting the opposite! Not to say I wanted it to be small, I have plenty of room there for just the one plant. I hope it gets big and produces well! It had a rough start with some bad frost damage early on, but it's making a big comeback, so I'm crossing my fingers that it will do okay in the end.

You are likely going to need several stakes for the Sun Gold. One stake definitely won't support it alone as it will develop several large secondary stems as well. I'd start tying its main stem to at least one now placed as closely as possible to the plant. Then add at least 2 more stake in a triangle pattern or 3 more in a square pattern now while the root ball is small.

Dave

I like the idea of multiple stakes. You will definitely want to stake it. My Sungold just started producing alot of tomatoes. Put the stake in now so you don't injure alot of roots.

Thanks, guys! I'll add more stakes asap! I know generally where the root ball was planted, so I think I can avoid the majority of it if I'm careful.

That's why some go to cages. Staking becomes alot of work.

I agree with what ZACKEY said:

"You will definitely want to stake it. My Sungold just started producing alot of tomatoes."

I stake mine, when I do transplanting

Cant tell the size of the stake from the pic but make sure you use stakes that are tall enough to do some good later in the season. You will want at least 6 ft stakes. I have seen pics of 10ft tall Sun Golds! A 4 ft stake buried a foot in the ground wont be of much help by July.

Agree with Ed about the cages (and we don't mean the 3 ring things). Some plants just don't lend themselves to staking.

But if you use tall enough stakes and space them in a square pattern 2-3' square then you can 'create' a cage by tying string around from stake to stake.

Dave

deleted duplicate post

This post was edited by digdirt on Tue, May 28, 13 at 10:53

Thanks, guys. I don't really have the money to go out and buy a cage, but I have a crapload of 6 ft tomato stakes, so I'll be using those.

Digdirt, if not the three ring kind, what kind of cages do you mean? I have only ever seen the three ring kind.

"I have a crapload of 6 ft tomato stakes"

Those may not be long enough! You will probably want to drive them into the ground at least a foot, so that only leaves five feet above the soil. But if you can find a way to securely attach one alongside the top of the other one (overlapping a foot or two) then you might have enough height.

The cages Dave was referring to are usually referred to as CRW (concrete reinforcing wire) ones that gardeners make. You can search on CRW Cages and pull up lots of threads with pictures and perhaps some with directions.

Other "not the three ring kind" of cages are Texas Tomato Cages, Really nice, fold flat, but pretty expensive.

I hope that helps.

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Tomato Cages

Yeah there are all sorts of different types of tomato cages available. The 3 ring things are the worst of the lot.

Dave

We have used large wire and made it into a cage that has rectangular holes in it. Easy to pick the tomatoes with this one. We didn't reinforce it with concrete and it stood up ok. We bought it at the feed store.
Sungolds get 10 feet tall! Weo!! I have a large Sungold now that is sending out fruits like crazy. It is the first time I grew one of those. It will be in my garden every year now. It has multiple trunks on it.

I'm growing Sungold for the first time this year, too. It's still small right now, but in preparation I have connected two 5' "Ultomato" cages to support the lower and middle branches, with plans to tie taller branches to 8' stakes angled toward a nearby fence to encourage them eventually drape over the top. This worked last summer when I had an 8'-10' "Chadwick Cherry" that wanted to take over the entire garden, so I'm hoping it will work again. That and selective pruning, LOL.

Kathy

I read here about concrete reinforcement (40" by 84" ?). I bought one from HD for $7.20(pls tx) and made a cage (with some left over.) It is sturdy stuff. Made longer legs by cutting the bottoms horizontal section off. And also drove a steak and tied the cage to it. If you know how to do it, it is worth it. I might make couple of more, one slightly smaller in diameter and one bigger, so they can be into each other for storage. The only draw back it that it is about 3 feet after driving the legs into ground.

Sorry for the hijack of this thread but at the moment I am not able to start a new topic. This is somewhat related. I have a few extra seedlings this year that I am wanting to plant but do not have the cages and have been considering staking my Roma's to free up some cages. There are only six of them and they are all in a row 5 ft apart. Has anyone tried staking or weaving these, and what is your preferred method?

With regard to the length of the stakes, is it likely that my plant will get that tall living in a cooler climate (summer averages mid 70s)? If it does get that tall, would it work to wind the remaining vine around a string between two stakes (the way they string them in hot houses, only horizontally)? (The vine would make an upside-down L shape, roughly.) I don't really have any options for taller supports or anything, since I already blew my garden budget on other stuff (soil, seeds, plastic liners, plants, etc.). Would a sturdy horizontal string be supportive enough, should it come to that?

Yes it will get that tall or taller but if you run strings around the stakes to make a cage the top can just drape back down over the outside of it. That is what those of us who use cages do. You'll see as it grows that it is pretty flexible.

Or as someone suggested above you can always make your stakes taller just by over lapping and binding 2 of them together. Easy to do.

Dave

PS: it really would help if you included your location or at least your zone in your posts. There is a box provided for that info with each post or you can just fill out your profile page and it will be included automatically.

Dave

Man, I didn't realize the zone thing! I put it in once and for some reason thought the computer would remember it. Anyway, zone 8a, northwestern Washington.

Jem,
Back to your original question -
When I put in seedlings, I tie them to a short bamboo stake. This is to prevent them from breaking in the case of strong spring storms/winds and is only temporary. They are supported by TTCs for the season.

SUNGOLDS: your better off growing them next to a mighty oak tree for staking. Last year I planted a couple for a family of 4 and ended up making gallons of golden tomato sauce to salvage as much as we could from an overwhelming harvest.

Cages would be your best bet. TALL ONES. My plants were bellowing over their 7 foot cages by the end of the year. A word of advice, once they're producing fruit, try to water the least you have to because they're thin skinned and split very easily. Very tasty variety. Enjoy the season,

elliot

This post was edited by michelliot on Thu, May 30, 13 at 10:12

I'm gonna have to figure out a way to cage it. It sounds like that's my best bet. I had no idea Sun Golds got so big! Funny too, because I was originally going to try to find a slicer, but I didn't recognize any of the names except early girl--which all looked terrible--beefsteak, and better boy--which supposedly don't ripen well here. I had read, in a book about gardening in our region, a list of varieties that grew well here, and the only thing I recognized from the list was Sun Gold, so I grabbed it. LOL!

There were some others that I wanted to try, but couldn't find them around here. I may have to order seeds and do my own starts next year.

"I already blew my garden budget on other stuff (soil, seeds, plastic liners, plants, etc)"

Is the bottom of that bed lined with plastic? As in you have a largish "container" that the plant is growing in? If so you may wish to take a stake, or rebar, or garden fork and poke some holes in the bottom of the liner before your tomatoes roots fill the container. It will need drainage or your roots will suffocate and the plant will die.

How large is that container? I think we all assumed you have a raised bed and the plastic we see was just there to protect the wood from soil moisture....

If what you have is a container of sorts, that plant will need more feeding than an inground or raised bed, because when you water the nutrients will be washed out of your growing medium. Container growers usually feed their plants every week to 10 days with a 1/2 strength balanced liquid fertilizer, because containers have no "micro-herd" to help the plant utilize bound nutrients.

And speaking of growing medium, what did you use in that bed?

As for the orginal staking/caging question, if you use 3 or 4 stakes around the tomato, and wind heavy twine or string around it, you will have an effective cage. A sort of cross between a cage and the Florida Weave method of support.

Or, you could buy one sheet of concrete remesh (CRW) that is 4 feet by 7 feet for about $8.00 (our local price) and roll it so that it is 7 feet tall and about 15 inches in diameter. Don't cut any of the edges, just use some other wire, zip ties, or clips of some kind to close the circle. Use your stake on the side that the prevailing wind comes from to keep it from blowing over if you get a wind storm. Two stakes would give you added stability.

Also, I wanted to send you an email, but you don't have anyway for someone to do so, so would you please click on the "My Page" link after my user name and send me an email? I have family in the Puget Sound area, and I'd like to make you an offer....

Betsy

This post was edited by bets on Thu, May 30, 13 at 11:02

I already put many many drainage holes in the bottom of the plastic. I learned that lesson the hard way a few years back! Yep, it is there to protect the wood. At least a little anyway, we do still get rain. XP But it's proven useful, since another wooden container that I planted was not lined, and it has already warped a great deal and will be useless next year--maybe even before the season ends.

Anyway, the container is (estimating) 2.5 ft x 3.5 ft or so. Maybe bigger. I'm not good at estimating. Basically it's an old dresser. The dresser had five average sized drawers... Anyway, it's a container on a concrete patio, since the landowners didn't want us to put a garden in the ground. So yeah, pretty much a giant planter, LOL! It doesn't have a bottom--another reason for the liner, since I was afraid the soil would just wash out the bottom of the box.

I put a layer of river rocks on the plastic, then soil on top. The soil is about 50% topsoil and 50% Miracle Grow garden soil. Not sure if it's relevant, but I trench-planted the tomato because of the shallowness of the container.

Do I still need to feed it with the Miracle Grow soil in there? So far it is growing fast (or at least I think it's fast--I'm not exactly experienced, LOL!). It had a setback during a cold snap, where virtually all the branches and leaves died of frost damage. It ended up being pruned down to the stem and a few beginning leaves. That happened four weeks ago, and now it's 16 inches tall again, so four inches per week--is that good? It has a lot of branches, but I am suckering it for air flow, since it's so wet here. I read it's good to open them up that way to cut down the chances of fungal disease.

Anyway, if I need to feed it, when do you think I should?

ETA: I tried clicking on your page and your name, but it kept giving me error messages. D= My email is my username here @gmail.com.

This post was edited by jemsister on Thu, May 30, 13 at 16:05

You will probably get a helpful "talkin to" from the awesome tomato pros around here about the drainage problems of using topsoil/garden soil in a container. You can do a quick search and find many such threads. Last year my husband was feeling helpful and transplanted a Sweet Million tomato into a tub of garden soil and I was none the wiser...the plant did fine in spite of it.

I imagine the root space is pretty minimal if that is a standard drawer and it looks maybe only half full...could you fill it any more with a potting mix to give the roots more room to roam?

Hmmm, this is getting more and more complicated.

Kathy makes a good point that in such a shallow bed it will be difficult for anything to support such a big plant. But likely the far from ideal growing conditions - the soil mix, the plastic, that it is sitting on hot concrete in zone 8, and in a shallow bed will keep it smaller than usual. I'd suggest screwing a couple of the stakes to the side of the bed to help hold it up. Otherwise the whole plant is just going to lay over on its side.

And yes it will need regular feeding just like any container does since the nutrients leach out every time you water. And I agree with Jadie that you need to fill that box up with soil of some kind - preferably a soil-less potting mix but whatever. Right to the brim.

But yeah, for next year you would be better off with any of those varieties you named. Most any indeterminate slicer type variety will be a smaller plant than most indet. cherry varieties, especially Sun Gold.

Dave

"I put a layer of river rocks on the plastic, then soil on top."

Container grown plants don't need drainage substrate in the bottom, and in fact, don't want it. In every growing medium, in the ground, and in potted plantings, there is a level at which the soil's "wicking" ability to suck water upward (think about a paper towel dipped in water) balances the downward gravitational pull. This is called the perched water table. Below the perched water table, the soil is saturated with water, which can suffocate plant roots and encourage root rot. Above this level is usable soil. By adding a gravel substrate, instead of increasing drainage, you're actually moving the perched water table UP in the container, so the plant has even less room to grow. In other words, skip the rocks.

I guess you may want to consider this a learning experience. You might consider switching the plant into something more like a traditional container. I think even a 5 gallon bucket might be a better home for it than that drawer. Some people even take two 5 gallon buckets and make a sort of SWC (Self Watering Container) out of them. Either way, I suspect your tomato is going to be limited in its growth ability by the growing conditions of your container.

And really, we are NOT picking on you jemsister! We just didnâÂÂt have the full picture of your growing conditions, and as we get it, our advice does change to (hopefully) better fit your unique situation.

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Article that shows perched water tables

This post was edited by bets on Thu, May 30, 13 at 20:38

Is it a drawer, though, or the dresser itself with the drawers removed? I was assuming the latter when Jemsister described it as a dresser, but others seem to be assuming the former. A drawer would be fairly shallow, but an empty dresser frame, turned on its side, might have some depth to it. I'm just not sure how deep that might be.

Kathy

Thanks, guys, and no worries, I don't feel picked on. =) I'm a total novice at this, so as I always tell my son (we homeschool), this is how we learn. =)

I'm not sure if I communicated clearly before, but the tomato is not planted in a drawer, it's planted in a dresser. The soil depth is about a foot and a half or so. Hoping that will be good enough! No way to transplant it at this point, I don't have another spot for it. D= Here's a pic of the dresser, hopefully that will be helpful. Is it still too small? I trench planted it in the hopes that it would give the roots more room to roam...

Although I am in zone 8, it barely gets above 75 degrees most days, and maybe 80 at the peak of summer. Many people here have trouble getting their tomatoes to ripen because it doesn't get hot enough. (Or so they tell me. Last time I "grew" a tomato here it died of early blight. Me and tomatoes don't have a good track record. I killed one in Idaho, and I killed one here. LOL!)

Hope I can talk Hubs into getting more soil for the box. I'm sure it would be helpful.

I've got to find a determinate next year. LOL!

"The soil depth is about a foot and a half or so."

Ah, much better! Not as shallow as we thought. You yard looks fairly protected, so with that much growing medium, you may be able to stake in it just fine without it blowing over. But adding more would still probably be a good idea.

Betsy

Ah, I think that was my mistake taking the container for a drawer rather than dresser...sorry! Looks about as deep as you could want from a planter! I once did the same with a bookshelf. :)

Yes, 18" of soil is definitely on the right track. Adding more might be better, but honestly, given everything we've talked about here, I'd likely just let it go and see what happens

Regarding the weather, cherries seem to be less fussy than regular tomatoes, so they may actually be a better choice for you after all. I hope you'll keep us posted. :)

I will definitely keep you guys posted, and I want to say thank you all so much for the help and support as I figure out what the heck I'm doing, LOL!