Are you wanting to keep out animals, or are you just wanting to use it as a fence?

Are you wanting to put wire over the T bars to secure your tomatoes?

I use grocery bags to tie my tomatoes up. They work great. Easy to make and use.

See my photo with instructions showing how to make the tomato ties.

Karyl

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo With Instructions to make tomato ties.

Wow! This post is great I never thought of using grocery
bags as ties! And now I am really sorry I threw out all
my bags last week. I alwasy have to go in search of fabric
I am not going to use to tie up my tomatoes. I won't have
to do that next year or for the rest of this year for that
matter. I have cages the smaller size...BIG MISTAKE...my
tomatoes are already bigger than the cages..taller and
coming out the sides. I have had to tie some branches to
the cages in effort to keep them from saggin. But the
tomatoes that are coming on so far look great!This is a
pic of my grape tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I was thinking of just making a long fence of chicken wire and t-posts. I would then tie the tomato plants to the fence to keep them upright and off the ground. I will try out the bag method as that is really cool!

Hi Candiecane,

Some people put a tomato pole in the center of the tomato cage. When the tomato vine goes over four feet they tie the tomatoes to the stake.

Karyl
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Hi Nip-n-tat,

You will probably need several stakes between the T posts. I suppose the chicken wire will work if it is pulled tight.

Tag those tomatoes so you know what you are growing.

See my aluminum tags that last for years. Tie them to the fence wire over your tomato plant. I make my tag, and put it in the pot, and when I transplant it I tie it to the pole.

Karyl
=====

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo and Instructions to Make Tag.

Karyl, your info and pics are very helpful! Those tags might just solve my problem w/ all the plants I need to be labeling, roses, clematis, etc. Thanks for sharing.
Nip, I, too, am trying to figure out how I am going to tie mine up (fortunately, I only have about 25 to worry about). I'm thinking about using a combination of bamboo stakes and fencing. Maybe I'll work on it Sun. Brandy

Trellises require frequent tying of vines. Cages do not. Chicken wire is too small for the grower to get his hands through.

Hi Brandyray and all,

Have you used the tags yet? For roses, and plants that last for years use the heavy aluminum. Make them heavy and they will last for years.

You might want to use the tripod style poles for a few of your tomatoes and see how you like them.

One of the advantages is that when it freezes you can cover them easly. As there is more ground that is warm under them they don't freeze as easy as one on a stake.

Hi Nep-n-tat,

Cut some ties and see if they will be easy to tie to your chicken wire. They are so thin it shouldn't be much of a problem. It would probably be easier to just tie them to a tomato stake.

Karyl
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Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Stakes Tripod Style

Karyl,
So much for listening to your grandmother the seasoned
gardener! She told me that after using bamboo as stakes
for tomatoes not to bother trying because the ties
just slipped right off where you tied them. I have had
such a time with my tomatoes and spent so much money
trying to keep them upright as they grow. We have a
thicket of bamboo on some family land that would cost me
zero dollars. I think I will just have to make a trip down
there AGAIN and get more smaller bamboo and try the
tripod like you have shown. My plants are too big this
year already but I will try this next year. Thank you so
much for posting this pic, now I have renewed hope that
I can have healthy tomatoes that dont topple over next
year. Now if I can just keep them from having bloom rot,
the spray hasnt worked so far and neither has the lime?
Oh well if I get at least as many as I did last year I
guess I am doing good.