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| I always have at least two of my tom plants in a earthbox... I usually cage them in the earth box. I have had a lot of success with this. Earthbox is having a sale on their staking system (which is fitted for the earthbox) It is basically a vertical trellis very very similar to the one described in Mel Bartholemews book square foot gardening (three conduits with nylon netting in between). I am debating on buying a staking system... any opinions on caging vs trellising your toms? I can see the trellis working for cukes or beans or peas but I need it to work for Tomatoes to... |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I'm not familiar with the Earthbox system, but I have done tomatoes in a square foot garden using the conduit & netting trellis. The thing with that setup is you need to prune to 1 or 2 main stems, which will reduce production. If the cages have been working well for you, then I'd stick to that. If it ain't broke... :) |
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| I am training on trellis this year in my EB. And prune to 2-3. Last year used Ultomato cages, no pruning. Worked well but fell over couple of times at the end of the season in very strong winds. Next season will decide - what method to use. |
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| Ahhh so with vertical you still have to prune ... thats my answer I will continue with the cages... I don't mind suckering when it starts fruiting but not sure I want to keep on top of pruning it ... thanks! |
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| I am using a vertical trellis and am not pruning. The only thing I do is do a little bit of a 'Florida weave' within the structure of the trellis to keep things in tighter so they don't run amok. Plants range between 3ft and 5t. So far, no issues. I have 2 rows of 28ft each. |
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| thanks mambooman... I actually don't mind doing ongoing "weaving" while it grows... (I like fussing over them anyway so this would work). More to think about thanks. |
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| This year I sprang for some cattle panels which I bent into a gothic arch shape ('the cathedral of tomato worship'). It's really easy to train the vines; I have a few stubborn plants that need tying, but the majority of them get woven into the holes of the panels. Other plants like cucumbers and pole beans love these panels as well. If you notice in the left of the picture I have some netting; I'm growing cukes and pole beans on that netting while the tomatoes occupy the inner spot, growing up the cattle panel. My mistake this year was to make the net trellis as close to the tomatoes as I did; I shoulda put it a few inches to the left so the tomatoes don't interfere with the other plants. Oh well, live and learn. The link has a discussion of using cattle panels for trellises. These panels will probably outlast me. They're around $20 each at Tractor Supply. |
Here is a link that might be useful: cattle panel trellises
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| I actually call mine the 'Tomato Kingdom'. It will look very similar to yours once I put the arches on this weekend. |
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| Very nice design. arley. I am sure it also works for many vine type crops. Tomatoes, although naturally are NOT climbers, but can be trained and tied down. |
This post was edited by seysonn on Thu, Jun 20, 13 at 1:26
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| oooh love the cathedral of tomato worship... So I ended up not buying the vertical trellis system.... I'll stick to my cages. Although I am inspired to reinvent my tomato supports in my raised beds :) |
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- Posted by Hudson...WY Z3 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 19, 13 at 21:27
| Awesome! I love cattle panels for trellises and use them everywhere for everything! They are strong and adaptable! |
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