It is already a little taller than the railing and is still attached to the stake. Should I wait until it starts to flop or try to bend it? Right now it is growing straight up and not bending over at all.

Is the top part still kind of flexible if you untie just the top from the stake?

I planted Rutgers in containers on my deck using the cheapest tomato cages they sell at Lowe's. This is my second season seriously attempting to grow tomatoes there. I wrote a post about my first year failures asking for help months ago, but suffice it to say, the plants didn't grow enough to be problematic.

This year, though, I have a few problems:

1. Potting mix / wind: The potting mix is not strong enough to keep the cages upright. After a few windstorms, they don't hold at all. My "solution" right now is to tie the cages to the railing of the deck and to each other to keep them relatively straight. One problem (of many) with this solution is that when it comes time to harvest, I'll have a hard time getting to my fruit.

2. Way too tall: One of the plants is over my head at this point, but all have overtopped the cages. So far they are still growing up of their own accord, but I'm not sure what will happen if/when that part of the plants gets fruit. Really, Rutgers shouldn't be that tall, even the indeterminate variety.

3. Sideways suckers. I know I should have pruned them, but it's too late now. I'm just letting the ones growing toward the railing to grow onto/around it. Hopefully they can grow downward along the outside of the deck once they run out of railing, and I could tie them to the outside of the railing if necessary. However, I had a branch growing away from the railing bend under its own weight (without heavy fruit or even a windy day). For now I forced it to touch one of the rungs of the cage and tied it there, but I don't know how well it will hold and how much damage is already done and cannot be undone.

I don't know if I can do anything this year to fix the problems, but I'm wondering what kind of solution I can implement next year. Any ideas? Maybe I should switch to a determinate variety.

If they overtop the cages, let the vines drape over the side and grow back downward. Sometimes, it's good to "train" them in that direction while they're still thin and flexible and have only just gone past the top of the cage so that there's less risk of breakage.

We constantly warn people about those dinky little big box store cages. They're great for peppers and eggplants, but they don't work for indeterminate tomatoes unless they have a compact habit. I think we all learn the hard way. I remember my first time growing tomatoes using those cages. It was a mess.

There are many different strains of Rutgers.

IIRC, you're growing on a deck. So I would work out a trellis system or something, lashing posts to the deck railing and then attaching cattle panel, reinforcing mesh, or even using galvanized wire. So attach the supports to your deck, not to the pots. {EDIT--this last paragraph is advice for next year, not this year. This year, just do the best you can to manage. We've all been there.]

I do as above :-)) Mine have already easily outgrown their 4' tall cages and have begun to drape slightly, as described above. It doesn't seem to negatively impact their growth or fruit production. IME. as long as the base of the plant is adequately supported, the rest of the plant can grow freely :-)) At least this works well with the cherries and smaller fruiting indeterminates.......larger fruiting varieties may need some support to balance the weight of the fruit.

Thanks, all. The vine is perky and doesn't want to lie down yet, so I will wait until it starts to droop down, and then support it along the railing.

If they bend and get a kink, don't freak out. Most of the time, the plant barely notices and keeps producing just fine. As long as it's not a torn break, it's cool. Even then, if at least 1/3 of the vine is still attached, I've had plants go on like nothing happened.

Other than losing the extra fruit production from a taller plant, does it hurt the plant if you just keep cutting the main stem when it grows taller than you want it to (like say, 5-6' tall on an indeterminate cherry)?

Tim in Colorado: Other than losing the extra fruit production from a taller plant, does it hurt the plant if you just keep cutting the main stem when it grows taller than you want it to (like say, 5-6' tall on an indeterminate cherry)?

No, it won't hurt the plant. Maybe the worst that will happen is some leaf roll. But by the time my indeterminate cherries are 5-6' tall, there's no such thing as a "main stem".

For Boris

If you start your tomato plants from seed, you could look into "dwarf" tomatoes for next season. There are many different varieties available now that produce large, very tasty tomatoes on compact plants that don't need to be pruned. They grow well in 5 gallon containers (that's the size of those buckets that you see at Lowes/Home Depot with their names emblazoned on them). Dwarfs still need to be staked to support the weight of the fruit, but this is where those (large) cages come in as they actually work quite well for the dwarfs :)

Linda

I let my plants get ahead of me, beginners mistake. I ended up with stems growing over the pot. Bought fencing and individually fenced them in. It works great and the fencing stops the birds from entering.Problem you have to widen the fencing to to maintain the plant. Solution, cut a section out of the fence and wire tie it together makes a door. I bought 3 foot high fence if I want to make it higher over lap the sections and wire tie. Some of my plants are over 6 ft high no problem. Because the fencing is larger than pot it helps stabilize the pot.

LIve in a very windy area and have not had any pot turn overs.

"Other than losing the extra fruit production from a taller plant, does it hurt the plant if you just keep cutting the main stem when it grows taller than you want it to (like say, 5-6' tall on an indeterminate cherry)?"

Agree with gb that it doesn't really hurt the plant - although it does stress it - but the side-effect of topping indeterminates is that it just encourages them to grow taller. You top the main stem and two take its place from the node below the cut. Top them and now you get 3-4 new tops taking its place and growing taller, etc. So you have added lots of stress with little to no gain,

It is the nature of the indeterminate plant so it is far better to let it drape back down rather than topping it. Or you can always grow determinate varieties instead.

Dave

gorbelly(6b/7a | Sunset 32 | SE PA) I had a plant that split at the main stem 1/2 was laying on the ground the other 1/2 was up right. I lost shoots and branches off of both sides. I placed fencing around it and tied a piece of cloth around the stem.Seem to be growing well.

William Cohen - That's pretty much what I do too. The welded wire fence is fairly inexpensive and readily available at HD and Lowes. Makes for a pretty good cage. And it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to work with than concrete remesh. It's not as strong as remesh, but it's strong enough. I do wish it came with holes bigger than 2"x4" (to get a hand through and fruit out), but leaving an opening on one side works fine for that.

In my case, I'm growing in 7 gal grow bags and I put the 3' tall fence in the bag before adding the dirt and the plant. And I only created a 3/4 circle, leaving one side open to reach in and out. Once the dirt was in (and especially after watering), it was plenty stiff enough to not even reinforce the gap with wire. Although as the plants grew bigger I did zigzag twine across the opening to support branches.

I also do the same thing as you mentioned with adding another layer of fence if needed as the plant grows taller. 3' is a good height to start with, then if I need more I overlap another section and secure with small zip-ties.

Tim, I use the same system but in my experience that gap is a welcome home to birds. You can close the fence completely then cut the fence vertically at any point you want from top to bottom, leaving a loose piece. Then wire tie the loose piece to the main portion of the fence for your door. I make a complete vertical cut so it would be an extra piece which can be used again instead of having just a section.

A suggestion I place my grow bags in dollar store laundry baskets and wrap the fence around the basket gives a wider base and more stability to the bag. nice hearing from you good luck with your tomatoes. Bill PS never thought to use 2X4 opening. I'm using 1X2 very inconvenient.

Bill, good idea on the flap if you have a bird problem. So far I haven't on my tomatoes but I sure have on the strawberries. They wiped me out this year. So I did start covering those (albeit too late for most of this year's crop).

I'd also looked at the dollar store for a suitable base to set the bags in, but they didn't have much in the size I needed to fit the 7g bags. Plus what they did have was always a bright color which I didn't like. But I did find those green hydrofarm saucers fairly cheaply on Amazon, and they work great as a base for the bags. Firm, solid surface sitting on the playground mulch I lined my garden area with. Those 7g bags with always moist soil aren't even close to budging in the wind, even with almost 6' of fence and plant sticking out of them. I was initially concerned about that until I got them in place, and was amazed how rock solid they sit.

The other plan for the saucers was to bottom water, and I had been doing that until a week ago. But based on some recommendations here, I moved the drip lines to the top. Many people say that soil in grow bags doesn't tend to wick up all that well. Even with a layer of wood chips on top, the top 1-2" of mine stayed dry, the middle moist, and the bottom soggy. So I'm watering from the top now with 2 drip emitters per bag. Seems to be watering more evenly that way. It's my first year with grow bags so I'm still struggling to find the right water and fertilizer balances. Had a lot of early BER, lots of yellowing leaves and branches, leaf curl, and some sun scorch. And most of the fruit has been way smaller than it should be (except the cherries of course). But at least they are producing some. And it's only mid-July. Here's what I've pulled off in the last week from my 13 plants...

Oh, Tim I would die for a crop like yours. I'm still struggling along. My problem is I'm never satisfied and keep playing with different fertilizers, bags, pots etc. Its fun for me I like the challenge.

I'm trying the grow bag recommended by Larry Hall"you tube" he used the blue shopping bag from Walmart.I don't know if its a 7 or a 5 gallon. It fits the dollar store laundry basket.MY saucers came from Dollar S. I believe they were for oil changes.Like you I also quit using saucers. I agonized with the same problems as you. This year being my first I really don't know what I'm doing.lol ps have 8 plants.

I'm still in "experimentation" stage too, being my 1st year with grow bags and 3rd overall growing tomatoes and veggies. Needed a new hobby. Retired and bought a new house a few years ago, where I designed a garden space into the landscape. Wished I'd designed in more space for it though now that I'm getting deeper into it. :-) Which is part of why I'm doing grow bags this year - to free up in-ground space for other stuff.

I've been getting a lot of my growing tips from YouTube as well. Seen a few of Larry Hill's, but I've been watching MIGardener, CaliKim, and especially Gary Pilarchik a lot more. I'd say those are my top 3 "go-to"s on YouTube. But then I felt the need to ask more questions and interact more, so I joined here last week.

The only reason I have ripe fruit now is that I started everything by seed indoors this year for the first time, instead of getting BonniePlants and planting in the ground like I did the previous 2 years. May 1 is about the soonest I can plant in the ground around here. But starting seeds indoors and being able to move bags in/out as needed extended my season by over a month. Without that, I'd still be waiting another month for ripe fruit.

I need to explore the Container forum here more, for more detail soil, watering, and fertilizer. I love getting the visuals on YouTube, but sometimes you just need to be able to interact and ask questions. This place looks good for that.

I think we both came from the same pea pod. I could have written the same thing.My plans for next year are what you did this year.