Lesson Learned: Tomato Cages!

In the past the flimsy store-bought tomato cages have worked out fine. I had 4 or 5 and only made a few more cages out of fencing to supplement what I had. I guess that my tomato plants from past seasons just weren't very hardy and the store-bought cages could support them.

In my new garden I have SUPER tomato plants! They are tall and heavy. The little tomato cages just collapsed under their weight, especially in the strong winds that often come up through the valley. Once the tomato plants are large, you can't remove the cage without tearing up the plants, so I bought and, with Mark's help, cut rebar into 40 inch sections. I hammered it in the ground and wired the cages to the rebar. I was able to do that with only breaking off one little tomato! It wasn't easy!

My lesson for next year: do not use the flimsy tomato cages! I will use fencing to make all of my tomato cages and secure them to rebar before the tomatoes get large!

Home-made tomato cage wired to rebar.