I also have small space, essentially 1-2 narrow rows with only 1 feet depth right next to a concrete wall. So essentially i couldn't fit any cage in the space. We contemplated different options online and finally settled on using 3-4 super long bamboo sticks or overgrown branches from one of our large pear trees (btw these "natural" resources work well because they are uneven or have node to hold the weave in place and they are free!), had them lean against the concrete wall, then weaved around the tomatoe plants. It wasn't the prettiest looking but our goal was to get the plants off the ground. It works out well and we have been using the same set up for 3 years now.

Found a picture online which is pretty much what we do:

The Gardener's Supply cages are useless for tomatoes. They plants are just too strong for them. I bought them many years ago and use them now for Delphiniums and Yarrow.

I like the PVC cages because it looks like you could pull them apart for storing. Right? If they are glued together, they would take up lots of storage room. We make ours with concrete reinforcement wire and use them for tomatoes, fruit trees and beans. We store them outdoors but space isn't a problem for us here at our farm.

My best tomato spot this time of year is a 3x10 space between the house and driveway. Basically a concrete container! I have eight plants in there, plus a rose and six peppers. I did the Florida Weave one year but couldn't keep up so it ended up being a big pile. This year I chose my varieties more carefully and am staking and pruning. I'm leaving the determinates alone and keeping the indets to one stem. So I only have half as many to keep up with.

Seems to be working so far; everything looks happy and lush and I have some flowers. Not monster 12ft x 4ft plants like some people grow, but I'm thrilled. :)

RyseRyse_2004 - yes, the cages are not glued together.
I store the bits and pieces under the house. One bucket
each for the 3 different types of connectors. The lengths
of PVC just get put into two piles.

They don't easily come apart sometimes. I have to pound
them with tools to undo them every fall. They're surprisingly
strong considering they're just pushed together.

qaguy, if I were to make PVC cages, I'd think about gluing the horizontal parts together and not gluing the uprights. That would save time and (hopefully) aggravation.

I'd store the uprights in 5-gallon buckets, with the horizontal squares around the buckets (think ring-toss). [If I stored them indoors, I'd use cardboard boxes rather than buckets.]

Do you set the bottom connectors over rebar, so the cages don't fall over? Or tie them to the fence, or otherwise stabilize them?

I've read that the gray tubing is more UV-resistant than the white tubing. How do your cages fare, UV-wise?

missingtheobvious - no reason you couldn't glue the
horizontal parts together. Whatever floats your boat!

My storage situation is in a very low crawl space under
the house. Only about 4 ft tall and access is through
a small window which is about 1 foot by 3 feet. It's
easier for me to break them down and store the uprights
horizontally.

I've put them back together so often that it only takes me
about 30 seconds to assemble each horizontal bit.

I pound the uprights into the ground 12 inches deep. Never
had one blow down yet. Of course, no hurricanes here in
SoCal either. But I did have an email from one guy who
did have a tropical storm (a real one downgraded from a
hurricane) come through. He had 3 different cages and
my design fared the best. The cages are actually quite
flexible, but sturdy.

I'm not sure what you're asking about the UV-resistance
of the pipe. Most of my pipes are over 20 years old and
they're holding up well. A few of them don't fit quite as
tight as most though. Could that be due to UV damage?
I just slap some tape on them to thicken them just a tad.

As far as the UV quality of PVC, always get the kind rated for hot water use. I found that out many years ago when I was cutting lenths of PVC for marking 100's of daylilies. They last almost forever and with the Brother Ptouch tapes, they were perfect markers.

I began using the Concrete Reinforcing Wire (CRW) in the garden for my tomato cages last season. they work GREAT!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_353630-46086-737624_4294692213__?productId=3351530&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar:1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar:1&facetInfo=

I used two sheets, spaced 18" apart, held them up vertically with PVC pipes, zip tied... The 4ft tall height kept up with the plants until August, and even when the vines exceeded that height, letting them flow over the top/sides, worked out just fine. Plenty of strength. A 7ft length of CRW should be enough to hold 4-5 tomato plants, spaced 12-16" apart.

I love those PVC towers. Will make some for my backyard for sure!

My side bed is in plain view of the street and I think my fussy neighbor across the street would have a conniption if I used PVC. Any suggestions for painting them? Or have you tried copper pipe? It's 10x more xpensive but if it's durable I don't mind! Maybe I'll make a copper stake this year and see how it weathers.

Do you use twine to trellis them to the sides of the conduit?

I bet that design could be used along with some trellis netting to make a tower for pole beans.

nialialea - there's specialized paint for plastic at the
hardware stores. It's in the spray can section. One brand
is Krylon Fusion.

I've had no durability problems with the PVC. Some of
the pieces are over 20 years old.

nialialea - not twine, but that green stretchy garden tape.

I reuse those too every year. I have a big bag of them
just sitting there waiting.

nialialea - I knew I had a picture of a painted one somewhere. Just took a while to find it.