I have grown the early girl and better boy and they got to be over 6'. The tomato cages have to be secured to the wall as the plants got so large. I buy all of my plants from The Tasteful Garden at www.tasteful.com.

I haven't grown all of your varieties but husky may be OK in the 3' cage and Early Girl will likely top the 4' but perhaps not too badly.

Few (none ?? ) indeterminants will be contained in such cages. You can use a cage and stake combo or dbl stack your cages. With full grown plants weighing on them, you'll need to stake your cage either way.

Have fun!

Wow, thanks for the fast and scary reply :-) I'll try to reinforce the cages... Maybe, I will talk my DH into making the PVC supports... The problem is that he hates the idea of growing tomatoes...

~~~ The problem is that he hates the idea of growing tomatoes... ~~~

That could make things more difficult ... You can let them sprawl. When I used that method, I preferred to mulch fairly heavily with loose straw.

I saw some cages at Walmart or Home Depot recently that didn't look too bad. On the same design line as the basicly useless three ring deals but might be 5' finished with 4 or 5 rings and made of deformed #3 rebar. A little spendy compared to home-made Welded Wire Mesh cages but if you just needed a few or couldn't build your own ... they seemed well made. Large plants would still need an anchor stake but they would probably suit any determinant type.

The 42" tall green wire triangles sold by Walmart? I picked up 2 this year to experiment with. They are flimsy but aren't too bad for determinate varieties if nothing better available. But you have to tie each of the corners to keep them from coming apart - they are made to fold up at season end but they want to do it ALL the time ;) - and they will need at least 2 stakes in 2 of the corners to keep them upright.

Early Girl, Better Boy, Golden Jubilee can easily reach 6 feet or taller (all depends on your soil and fertilizing), Champion get 5-6'. The rest will do ok I think in smaller cages IF you stake the cages so winds don't lay them over. Good luck. Maybe once he tastes your tomatoes he'll be converted. ;)

Dave

If that person hates the idea of growing tomatoes, just give everything away that YOU don't eat. Don't give that person any, well, maybe just one chance. Sorry, I guess I am venting a bit. lol. Let's just say my friends are skeptic and most of them "say, why do you bother growing tomatoes". I am tired of trying to convince them or converting them. So I am going to give away whatever is left over to the homeless shelter instead. I was thinking about doing a taste test since I have about 20 plants, but I don't even want to invite these skeptics cuz I just don't want to hear it anymore.

Find people who will appreciate them. Most people who like tomatoes will come back to you for more.

If they say a tomato is just a tomato. Next time you grill beef, get yourself a nice filet mignon and the cheapest cut for the other person. If they ask why, just say I thought you say a tomato is just a tomato, so I figure you think beef is just beef ;-).

Johnny, you are cruel! :-) I like some of your ideas though...
I figured the circular cheap rebar supports are not going to do the thing.
The soil is not bad: old raised bed, with some new compost added. I am going to use the Tomato-tone organic fertilizer.
I think I'll try to make these PVC supports for the tallest tomatoes myself. I've seen pictures on this forum... Does not look to difficult to build.
Thanks everyone, that was very helpful!

alina,

Tomato plants will mostly grow as tall as you let them. Here is a "normal" Cherokee Purple that has surpassed 8 ft. on June 6, and continues to grow skyward.

{{gwi:1343846}}

Raybo

Raybo - you been slipping that monster steroids again? You're going to wake up some morning and find it pigging out at the kitchen table!!

Dave

Oh no.... Honestly, I did not expect anything like this when I planted these babies... Very healthy looking monster though! :0)
OK, I am afraid I do not get it again.
Tomato plants will mostly grow as tall as you let them.
How I can stop them??? I read that the top should not be pinched. I can not let them sprawl because my horisontal space is more limited than vertical. I am not prepared to get 5-6 tomato trees on that bed...
Thanks for the picture, that is impressive!

Monster is not the word I thought mine were big last year and that one eclipses them and in containers non the less that's very impressive. You're making me feel bad because I'm putting up a new support system for mine so I'm way behind on getting them in the ground but I'm sure that they'll catch up.

Raybo's going to have to call the Fire Dept. just to pick those tomatoes!

Wow for Raybo. The magic of Zone 8b working there. Great container garden. You are even saving on your electric bill. Instead of having to pump heat out of your house you are pushing up a Tom plant and growing fruit. You are lean and green.

Here in Chicago I have 2 foot plants. May was nothing but treading in the dirt tomato wise. The snap peas are 6 feet though, they loved May this year.

LMAO