I don't use cattle panel, but I use a thick-gauge wire trellis between t-posts, which is a similar concept. IMO, tying will ultimately be less time-consuming than weaving them. I think it will also result in fewer "jams" that can deform or damage fruit and cram foliage together. That velcro garden tape stuff is pretty strong, takes very little time to put on, and is re-usable. It does scuff the vines a bit, though, even with the padding on the surface that touches the vine, because the edges are hard-ish and plasticky. I also use twist-ties to fasten my tomato plants, since I always have a bunch of extras and used ones lying around.

I think that tying is the best way.

There are special clips that they use with stringing method. It can be similarly used in tying to cattle panel or any wire trellis.

If you don't prune, and you will have so many branches that have to be tied. These clips can be a life saver. JMO

Sey

I haven't used my cattle panel - yet, but I have a friend who uses one for her tomatoes. She winds them through when she can (and BTW don't do this right after they've had water because the shoots are brittle and will break easily). When they are too big to risk it, she ties them.

Linda

I use a combination of tying and weaving branches. It depends on the variety, some (hearts and wispy pastes) are very flexible and need no tying, and others (thick stemmed PL's) will break if you force them through the squares. You'll soon figure out what you need to do. Sometimes you need to tie the lower stalks to get them trained in the right direction, and then you can weave the rest.

A word of warning. My friend has just begun to harvest her Margaret Curtain tomatoes and she says they are all bruised. She suspects that the wind has been blowing them against the cattle panels (and we've had a LOT of wind here recently).

Linda

Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback. It seems pretty clear that tying is needed.

My inexperience led to a train wreck in my garden this year. Rampant disease, plants out of control and general chaos in my tomato patch. What fruit I did get was wonderful, but far to little.

I can't wait till next year!

Mike: My inexperience led to a train wreck in my garden this year. Rampant disease, plants out of control and general chaos in my tomato patch. What fruit I did get was wonderful, but far to little.

I think almost everyone can say this about their first time out.

"A word of warning. My friend has just
begun to harvest her Margaret Curtain tomatoes and she says they are all
bruised. She suspects that the wind has been blowing them against the
cattle panels (and we've had a LOT of wind here recently).

Linda"

Linda, I am surprised to hear this. I have been using cattle panels for many years, we get a lot of strong winds from thunderstorms, enough to flatten my corn, but I've never noticed any bruising that I would attribute to wind. In my experience the tomatoes are well cushioned and buffered by other branches and foliage, and not too many would ever touch the wire, or if they did, the stems would be too short and stout to do much swaying and banging. Not saying it couldn't happen, but I personally have not seen it. Maybe because I do a minimum of pruning, just removing enough suckers to keep the paths clear and some more dominant varieties from invading their neighbor's space. I do have occasional hidden tomatoes get caught growing behind a large stem and a wire, which will distort the shape and bruise the fruit when you try to extract it.

DD, thanks for your comments. My friend doesn't prune very much either.

I have found some bruised fruit on my dwarfs which are growing in cages, but the indeterminates, which grow up strings, have been fine.

Linda

I used cattle panels for the first time this year, and just love them! None of my fruit have been bruised...but there are fruit that have gotten caught between the main stem and the cattle panel that have a ridge in them...it didn't break the skin, but they have a straight line indentation along one side! Didn't hurt the fruit at all. Next year I will know better and watch for this, but all in all...no complaints...and no bruises! We have had 2 huge wind storms here this summer...I lost 1 trees across my driveway in the first storm, and another 15 on the property in the second...but the tomatoes were fine.