Welcome to globalization and stagnant wages. Seems to be the pattern for everything since the 80s.

But thanks for the warning as I was considering this as a solution for a new garden area I'm planting in the next couple weeks. Do you have a brand name? Was it from Home Depot?

Everyone seems to love the Texas Tomato Cages....they're just so expensive. (American made good quality...but we can't really afford them anymore!)

RE-Mesh, or welded wire fabric as it is also called, comes in many different gages (wire thickness) and spacing. Its possible that the store you went to stocks only a small gage option. You could see if they will order you a thicker gage. The cost is not in the control of the store so much as it depends on commodities pricing etc....

As a generalization, you will find better wire at a farm supply store.

American made wire is much better than imported, but even that seems to be going down hill. I've had really good luck with Red Brand (Red Top) wire, but the quality costs. Worth it, as far as I am concerned.

1) It was Home Depot. There is no brand or label of any kind,
just what they had.

2) Only one gauge available at HD. I believe it's #6 wire.
A thicker gauge would have been a lot harder to work with.
In any case, I don't believe the problem was in the thickness
of the wire as much as in the quality of the steel. It is
just very brittle.

3) I had no idea you could get remesh at a farm store and
have never seen any there. Around here we have Agway and
Tractor Supply. I suppose I could have tried a construction
company of some kind. Had no idea you could get it by
brand and what I got was unbranded.

since china started scooping up everything in the metals markets, we have seen a huge decrease in quality, not just in welded wire, but also in sch 40 pipe. Most of this chinese pipe will NOT hold pressures and are prone to ruptures. This coming from a DoD welder/Metal worker, I can attest to this as FACT. We dumped train car loads (let me repeat : TRAIN CAR LOADS) back to overseas manufacturers. Most power plant repair facilities will NOT use chinese made steel, it's JUNK.

happy gardening :)

You can always try galvanized, however the welds break apart sometimes as easily.

And for those looking for smaller footage, look for sheets which often come in 5ft x 10ft sheets. Sheets are often available in galvanized as well as "bridge pale green."

I worked in the steel industry for 15 years so I am quite familiar with this product. The material is 10 gage wires with 6" spacing.

The home centers often sell very shoddy chinese made product.

You may consider shopping at a rebar fabricator or concrete supply yard.

Here is a link that might be useful: Buying tomato cage materials from a rebar fabricator

Wow, that is great advice about going to a rebar fabricator or concrete supply yard. I made 20 cages a few years ago, and they have been worth every penny and every minute I spent making them.

I can't imagine any better solution for growing tomatoes off of the ground.

I only wanted a few cages and I asked a friend who does concrete work if he could sell me 6 foot sections of the 5 foot tall wire. He cut it for me and I did the bending. This stuff is solid!! I do not know where his stuff comes from, but we live in Wisconsin and I think these cages will outlive me by many years.

Price was $150 here not long ago. Still worth it for cages that will last a lifetime.

My tomato cages are made out of game fence. It's lighter weight than re mesh. squares are about 8 X 8, so easy to reach through and work with the plants.

It's very easy to wrap into a circle and bend the wires to fasten.

My wire is 6 1/2 feet tall. It also comes in 8 ft tall. It could be cut down to make it shorter.

160 ft roll costs $116 at the farm supply store. I used it to build a deer-proof fence and the tomato cages are made from the scraps.

I only buy American made fencing. The imported stuff breaks when you try to stretch it.

Even if you have to buy more fencing than you need, just make the extra cages and try and sell them (craigslist is good for that) to recoup your costs.

dirtydan:
It's not 10 gauge, not at least what I got. I haven't
measured but I've worked with wire for a long time too
and for this 6 gauge sounds about right. If there is a
10 gauge product, I don't think I would want it for cages.

Thanks for your suggestion on fabricator or supply yard.

oregonwoodsmoke:
I could probably get game fence but it sounds too light
for this. Should probably look anyway.

To all:
Thanks for the suggestions. I just wish now I didn't
already have this stuff, which I will have to use up
before getting any more. I probably should have looked
around more but at the time "big box" seemed the easiest
way to go. It isn't, clearly, though a few years ago,
the last time I made cages, when you could get a 50'
roll, the wire was ductile enough and there was no
problem. Now, garbage rules. Sigh!

6 gage mesh and 4 gage mesh is available in sheets but I have never heard of rolls. If it was rolled, it would be too difficult to flatten for concrete work.

I'm pretty sure it's most commonly 10 gauge or 9 gauge. It's most often called 10-10-6-6, which stands for both wire gauges (10) followed by the two opening sizes (6".)

I don't have a wire chart handy to look it up but think it's around .125 or .135 or similar.

If you are in the northeast, Barker Steel had galvanized 5ft x 10ft sheets available. That size also works great to make 3x7ft ''pens'' 5ft tall that you can partition down the middle or other ways.

{{gwi:1309914}}

5x10 sheets also work great to make triangular cages, 1 plant in each corner, or cut the sheet in half to make two round cages just under 18'' diameter. Of course, you can also make stalls too.

{{gwi:1331199}}

Hope this helps.

The 5x10 sheets are already rusted sitting at Home Depot, is it ok to use them like that as I've seen ones standing and they are no longer rusty, or do you have to paint them or just not use?

The sheets sold at HD is about something like 48" x 82", priced $7.20(pls tx). You can only make one good cage out of it.

As far as rusting goes, just wear gloves while handling. The rust is not harmful to plants. Actually it might be beneficial. The draw back of non-galvanized material is that eventually they will rust out and fall apart. But that might take decades.

The 5x10 sheets are already rusted sitting at Home Depot, is it ok to use them like that as I've seen ones standing and they are no longer rusty, or do you have to paint them or just not use?

Remesh (aka CRW)? Yes they usually rusted and used that way with no problem. It is just an appearance issue not one of function. Rust (iron oxide) is a normal component of soil. But sure you can paint them if you want to.

There are many different kinds of galvanized fencing that can be used too as in Korney's pics above. Big hardware stores and lumber yards will have a wider selection of options than HD does. And how many cages you can get out of one panel or roll all depends on the diameter you want them to be.

OTOH if you are talking about cattle panels being rusted, that would be very unusual.

Dave

Do you have local Tractor Supply?

In my area the CRW is cheaper and a heavier grade than HD or Lowes.

You might also want to check Craigslist or another local advertizement place. We have the SC Market Bulletin here, which is all farm related.

I picked up a 100' roll of CRW and a 75' roll of galvanized steel fencing for $50 from a Craigslist ad a few years ago!