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Tomato cage is like Bruce Banners shirt when he turns into hulk..

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Posted by prachi 6b (NJ) (My Page) on
Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 23:21

Ok.... I put this one in the "good problems" category... as well as the "you knew this might happen and didn't plan properly" category.

Another of those live and learn things.....

I have 4 tomatoes in a 4x4 raised bed (I know you can roll your eyes at me.... what a newbie thing to do.... really I've never had tomatoes grow this big... I've also never grown in compost)

I am using these tomatoe cages:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gilbert-Bennett-48-in-Tomato-Towers-Tri-Fold-901284DPT/202295649#.Ud9ysW1BuHM

I'm sure I'll figure something out but thought I'd just post and see if people had any blog posts, articles or thoughts on some make shift supports for unruly tomatoes.

As the fruit ripens I will be pruning them but really I've let them go so far that a lot of them have fruit (and are being partially supported by the cage and the neighboring tomato plants)... I'm going to prepare 2x4 or 2x6 raised beds for toms next year... I totally understand the value of this now.

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RE: Tomato cage is like Bruce Banners shirt when he turns into hu

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  • Posted by laurell 8 - Washington (My Page) on
    Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 11:58

Hahahah, that was my second year growing tomatoes. I built a trellis frame around my raised bed and grow them in a straight line against the edge of the bed, and use paracord-thickness rope to twirl 1-2 stems up around. This requires going out every few days and pruning off additional vines, but I'm at 6' tall with a couple of them and it's easy to see what's going on with each plant that way/get adequate air circulation.

http://www.homeindisarray.com/2013/07/its-jungle-out-there-photo-heavy-garden.html

http://www.homeindisarray.com/2013/05/the-tomato-bed-2013.html

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RE: Tomato cage is like Bruce Banners shirt when he turns into hu

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I recommend 2x4 beds (for 2 plants) or 2x6 beds (for 3 plants). In the mean time you could do what I did for my cages...securely zip tie 8' stakes to each corner and then add some trellising twine.

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RE: Tomato cage is like Bruce Banners shirt when he turns into hu

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njitgrad... actually I did take note of how you extended your cage to the 8ft stakes when I was searching for ways to support my tomatoes beyond the cage. :)

As for the bed size.. I will definitely be giving my tomatoes "their own home" next year.... so 2 by X size works where x= 2ft/plant.... that is good to know I've got to measure the area I have.

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