I haven't seen 6' wide. But it would be nice. Baker Family Heirloom is my most vigorous variety. It is quite bushy and will reach 10' in a growing season. So, with 5' concrete reinforcing wire the plants go up and over, just reaching the ground before frost. My preferred width for a CRW cage is just a bit larger around than I can reach with my arms, so that would probably be about 7'. Narrower would be fine for less vigorous varieties.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Thanks George. I thought about making a few of them 7.5' tall by cutting a cage in half and attaching to the top of the 5' cage... but I'm kinda short so I think they might be too tall that way. I also have to decide how I'm gonna anchor them that isn't impossible to move around when I move the tomatoes each season.

Tara, I did make mine in various sizes so I could nest them. To nest them, you need for the smaller ones to be 6" smaller in diameter so they easily nest inside the larger ones. It has been a long time since I made mine, and I am not sure I remember the exact lengths of the pieces before I formed them into circular cages, but if the largest was 72", then the next one was 66" and the next one 60" and the next one 54".

It makes storage a lot easier. I match the larger cages to larger varieties and the smaller cages to smaller varieties. I have them in 4 or 5 diameters so I can nest a bunch of them to store them. I use the smallest size for pepper plants because my pepper plants often are so heavy by midsummer that they just flat fall over on the ground if they aren't caged or staked.

I have used everything on earth to stake tomato cages. My favorite stakes are green metal t-posts, but they have gotten a lot more expensive over the last 10 or 12 years. I have some of them that I use that are 8' tall and some that are 6' tall. I sometimes use the little ones that I guess probably are 3' tall, though I only use them with smaller plants. I've also used grade stakes that are 2', 3' or 4' tall, although the ones that are 4' tall have become hard to find. You also can use electrical conduit, sturdy bamboo, or rebar. Rebar is pricey, but I also use it to hold down the edges of floating row cover in winter and spring, so it is multipurpose.

I have a friend who makes his own stakes from cedar limbs he cuts from cedar trees when he is clearing them out of his pasture. The cedar limbs last a few years. He cuts a tapered 'v' shape at the bottom so they are easier to hammer into the ground than a limb that is cut flat across the bottom. I've used cedar cut that way for fence posts before and they lasted about 8-10 years and some have lasted 14 years without having to be replaced.

Dawn

Cedar stakes are perfect! My husband just cut down 2 large cedar trees today, with lots of straight branches. We're going to try that first until we can invest in more t-posts. I eventually want to put cattle panels down the middle of the long narrow beds so I can grow either vine crops or zip tie my tomato cages to it.

I think I'll start with the 72" bigger cages, cause those monster plants need it the most, and then go down in size from there. I have enough of the flimsy 3 ring cages for the less vigorous plants. I just know I have to do something more this year cause the 1 cherry tomato plant I had last year took up a lot more room than it should have cause we didn't do anything to cage it at first. We were out there in the late June heat trying to pick this monster up and put the flimsy white garden edging fence stuff around it in an attempt to keep it off the ground. Lots of good ideas here, I'm so grateful.

Taraleigh

I prefer to drive a t post in the ground and anchor the cage to it. But sometimes I use a breaker bar, make two holes and set a bamboo pole in each, for anchors. I then tie on to whatever I'm using as an anchor. One t post is usually enough. But if poles or stakes are used, then I use two.

George

I like 24" diameter the best and that goes for any cage. With that being said I've made anywhere from 18"-30" diameter cages. Without special ordering 5' wide will probably be all you will find. One contractor several years ago used some 6' wide on a project at my plant. I got some left over pieces. I checked into ordering it and it was so much higher I decided against it. I haven't seen any in several years so you might not be able to even get it now. I use everything from the smaller diameter reebar and rod posts we use for an electric fence to T posts. I consider the size of the cage and plant when choosing what to use. Usually one post per cage. I do use two of the smaller post sometimes. What I like about them is they are easier to pull out when needed. The smaller diameter posts work well for peppers and smaller tomato plants. Jay

I have about 20 tomatoes in pots with the concrete wire around them. We have stored it for years in the back of the house or simply around the pots. It is rusty but still works.

What do you do to support the tomatoes once they go out of the coge?

Sammy

I keep tucking the branches back in, not worrying if one occasionally breaks. But once they are quite large, I certainly don't sweat it, if they escape and become a little unruly. I only want production ;)

I am not opposed to pruning off branches which get in my way.

George

I'm going to let them just go up and over the side, and try making a couple cages 7.5' tall by putting a half cage on top of a whole one.

I really want to put cattle panels down the middle of all my 4' wide beds so I can either grow stuff up the trellis, or attach my cages to that. I'm going to have to do just one at a time since it would be pricey all at once.

We made our cages 2 ft in diameter and used two pieces of rebar per cage, ziptieing the cages at least 6" off the ground. I tuck the errant branches back in if I find them in time and if not I tip pinch them leaving any blooms on. When the tallest plants reach the top of the cage we just let them bend and hang back down. Like George, I am willing to prune off a branch if it gets in the way, especially the tip pruned ones after they bear--there are always plenty of branches that stay inside the cages.

Taraleigh, I use the little three-ring cages for pepper plants. Some of my three-ring cages were my dad's and they date back to the 1960s, so they are kinda precious to me since he's been gone for a decade now. He used them for peppers too, not for tomatoes. For tomatoes, he used the 5' CRW cages,

I let my tomato plants grow out of the cages. Once they are a certain size, you cannot prevent it other than by pruning them. It doesn't bother me at all to prune off a limb that sticks out into a pathway, but other than that I let them turn into a big unruly mob of plants. All the shade from all the leaves helps keep the tomatoes from sunburning. Some people like a neat, tidy garden. Well, I'd like one, but I don't have one. Mine is a big crazy jungle, but it produces like mad so I am okay with that. I guess the tomato part is always just-barely-controlled-chaos,. Tomato chaos is good.

Dawn