Squirrel !!!

Sey, you think? The cage completely leaned over, too, and the bars popped off. I figured it was just the weight...but I guess it could have been our resident nutcase squirrel whom I have not seen in awhile.

By my count, I lost a total of 38 blossoms and 5 actual fruit. Also had to top 4 stems that had clearly begun dying, all wilted over and turning grey. But I got most of it back up and tied.

I really must learn to build something sturdier and more accommodating. I'm just not having any fun thing these huge plants to this small cage!

I drove 6' steel posts into the ground next to my cages then wired them to the cage.my cages are 7 ft high and the plants higher. The wind can get pretty strong here , I've had toppled plants in the past when I didn't do this

Grace, I did not notice the cage. Obviously the squirrel could not have tipped the cage. But squirrels have a habit of stealing and hauling away things.

Sey

I can't see any cage. What type/kind is it?

Dave

Do you have a dog? That's the sort of thing that my Labrador would do to get to the fruit - sigh!

Sey, they outgrew the cage pretty quickly....

Dave, it was this tomato cage from Lowes. Ya know, I planted these seeds June 1 per your recommendation on varieties good to fresh consumption and we all thought it might be too late. I really did not expect it outgrow these cages or have time to grow this big...and clearly, I was wrong. That CP grew straight into the BK. Once I started tying some long branches, I realized they're not from the BK but extending from the CP, lol.

I'm not entirely sure what I plan to do about all the blossoms on top once they fruit....it might look like a fountain soon.

It's all tied back up and the cage, due to the angle it fell over it, had to be tied diagonally to fence through the CP on the left--tying it straight backwards helped none at all. Ugly and ghetto as it gets but....oh, well.

Lab, my German Shepherds would totally demolish plants, too, until I trained them not to touch any plant. LOL but no, no dog at this time, unfortunately. No time.

Karl, I need you to come over and do the same for me. THANKS. LOL

Yeah saw those cages several years back - waayy too wimpy for most plants IMO. Tried the similar green ones a year or so ago too and not enough cross pieces for good support with indeterminates. Do ok with determinates.

Maybe a bit too close on spacing too but can't really tell from the pics. Looks like about 18"? If so that close only works with heavy pruning. But it looks like you will get some fuitr even with the late start and that is what counts. :)

Dave

Dave, I'd guess about 2 feet 2 inches. LOL Yea, it's not much. I'm not sure where my mind was but I had an enormous Zapotec here on the left empty spot. I pulled the plant but because it was so large with tons of flowers that produced ZERO fruit and since I had planned for three tomato plants here, I think I inadvertently planted these two squished up to the right. But I do prune my tomato plants heavily--not the suckers, per se, but lots of leaves. I have pruned off about a full plants' worth from these two plants more for air and light reasons, and now that it's September, I'll start pruning any new suckers, though I grumble the whole time while I do it.

Lesson learned re cages. I am going to have to come up with something we can "build" for this area. I amended the soil a LOT and I think it's paid off, but my equipment is clearly not working. I just couldn't find any really tall cages that looked sturdy. I've not had any success with the wire cages as they topped quicker than this, and I've had trellises in the past, but tying them was always dreadful. I bought extra bars and can also easily move the lower bars to the top, which I liked, but it doesn't work when you surpass the top of the cage itself, obviously. Lol

Dave, can you look at this thread? I'm at a total loss. All three BK seeds popped up so these were the other two that I put in containers. They are clearly in trouble...and if you don't know what's wrong, then I'll give up.

I admit I'm having a slightly difficult time picturing what you're describing, Humsi. But I also admit that I consider IKEA furniture a little confusing. :-)

IKEA tomato cages would be wonderful!!

I never used / liked cages. Yes, some could be sturdy, but still...

Me... FRAMES !

Grace,

I'm sorry I don't have a better picture, my cages are covered in tomatoes right now and you really can't see them well, using an old photo. Basically the concrete reinforcing wire comes in a large roll. We cut ours at 6' lengths, turned that into cylinders and used the cut ends of the wire to hold the edges of the cylinder together. You can see the T-posts along the right side of the cages on the picture. The cage is zip-tied to the post once it's sunk into the ground.

Daniel,

As you might be able to tell from the photo (or not! heh), my garden is on terraces on the side of a mountain foothill...the level of the cages is actually the top of the foothill. We get very strong winds here (Santa Ana) and I've not had a cage even tilt. If you were to zip tie a second post on the front of the cage, I'm pretty sure nothing short of an actual tornado would take it out. Your frames are quite beautiful and I'm jealous, though I think on my hill, full of tomato foliage, it would act as a sail :) Grace does seem to have a perfect setup for your system, and it's much prettier than mine.

Humsi, for ME the frames work the best. I tried to build them:
- simple,
- solid and
- long-lasting.
And I think I succeeded. Yes, it takes a little thinking, a few bucks, and some work. But the result is well worth it.
Imo, the frames offer the greatest versatility possible: you can arrange / re-arrange the branches the way you want – vertical, horizontal or even downward. Bigger the frame, more possibilities. Because on a frame, the branches are not crowded – like in the case of most cages – some diseases are avoided.
The frame in my previous post, is 16 ft. wide x 12 ft. high. My tomatoes last year (2014) grew way higher than those 12 ft – almost 20 ft. high. When they reached the top, I directed them… horizontally, and they grew 6-8 ft. more. Last year, here in Long Island NY, we had a beautiful Indian Summer – it ended in early November - so the toms grew, and grew, and grew... A little pruning here and there, and it was all good.
(I was accused in this forum, that I post too often pictures from last year. This year – for personal reasons – I didn’t grow tomatoes, so I don’t have pictures to show. Some here didn’t believe that the tomatoes grew almost 20 ft. I have pictures to prove that, but I’m not posting them to avoid to be accused AGAIN, that I post TOO MANY PICTURES from last year.
I ONLY post pictures if they are relevant for the thread. Should I post a picture or should I write: “If you want to see the frame’s picture, go the “that” thread, and check the post number 273, from August 19, 2014, and you will see the picture of the frame.” Or it’s easier to just post the picture… AGAIN. Yes, I know, some of you saw those pictures before – but some… didn’t.)
Humsi, like I said in my previous post, there are sturdy cages - like yours or our own Michael723 (see the picture bellow) -

And then there are flimsy 3-ring tomato cages, which are, well…
flimsy. These are the tomato CAGES most of the people – especially
newbies – know about.

No way a cage 4-5 or even 6 ft. tall can handle a 20 ft. long tomato vine. If you drape it 3 times, it would look like the Amazonian jungle. A little “difficult” – read impossible - to fungicide correctly that jungle. A few hours of rain, and…

Humsi, I like your setup! I think, if I warp my brain a little, I can somewhat copy the theory behind it even if I can't do it exactly. Because this is my first year in this garden and mostly because I started the seeds in June and really wasn't sure if I would get any tomatoes this season, I didn't want to go all out. But next spring, I think I (read: me giving directions to my guys cause I ain't doing any of it except reading and drawing the plan, LOL) can imitate it.

Daniel, I care none at all when your photos are from LOL, but how does that frame work? It's very nice, no doubt, but I'm not clear on how that works. Tie back to it like a trellis? If so, that is definitely something I want to not do. I have had up to 10 trellises tied back to my fences at another house to do tomatoes one year and I so did not enjoy tying the tomatoes back. I am certain yours are sturdier, though I did not have a problem with them flopping forward that year, but overall, I'd like to keep the bush growing upwards and round. Do you have a photo with tomatoes tied to your setup?

To tie the stems / branches to the fence / net, I use these Tomato Clips.

You can even close the clips with only one hand.

You use the other hand to hold the stem / branch where you want it to be.