Tomato Cages???

[kHT]

Every year we buy new metal ones due to they seem to just last a season or two?? I have ended up putting the old ones in the garden to hold up other
flowers due to the tomatoes just aren't held upward with out more support. So today I got 3 of the new plastic coated ones that were inverted, I fear that
I just wasted my money ($30) on this. I got them home to fine now much wire to go into the ground so I'm just wondering if this is going to work? I keep
saying I'm going to make some out of PVC pipe so this maybe the last straw if these don't work? Anyone else try these plastic coated ones before?

[Bob Scott]

last years post but that time is here again.
Get some 6x6 concrete reinforcing wire and cut it in sections big enough to make cages. Roll it and plastic wire tie the edges. It's heavy gauge enough that it will last for years and easy to store. Just cut the wire ties and stack them as a roll at season end.
I had some for 12-15 yrs and gave them away when I moved. Small corner lot and no back yard to speak of so I didn't think I was going to do veggies.
Most pvc isn't UV protected! It's get brittle in a couple of yrs.

[kHT]

Hey Bob, we did that several years back but ended up using them around the blueberries. The new cages we got worked
well in a pinch due to the tomatoes last year got off to a slow start and didn't produce like they should of. So hopefully this
year they will get the full test. Tomatoes are already growing in the greenhouse!!

[Bob Scott]

Since I'm the only one in the family with grow lights and a heat mat in the basement I'm the one starting the tomatoes, peppers, herbs, etc for both daughters. I've already turned over one daughter's veggy bed. Now the other is starting the "daddy please".
I can easily tell the son to get off his butt and dig his own. The girls got my number a loooong time ago.

[kHT]

What are Dads for if they can't help the gals out sometime?

[Chris_W]

Hmm, I've had the regular old tomato cages for years and years and they've lasted just fine. I think I bought them about 15 years ago or longer? Must be they aren't making them like they used to.

[Tigger]

I have used both the enamel-coated "traditional" cages and the tomato ladders that you can see at Gardener's Supply. The colorful cages are now used to hold up super-tall hibiscus, since critters get to any tomatoes we plant.

[govgirl75]

I have had my tomato cages for a long time, too. I did buy some new ones last year at Home Depot. They were much taller and wider than my old ones. Anyway, top heavy 'maters can pull over pretty much any tomato cage so we pound a couple tomato stakes or a piece of pvc pipe down through the cage and into the ground. The stakes stabilize the cages so they don't topple when the fruit gets heavy on the top of the plant. I also use older, weaker tomato cages to grow runner beans, and prop up tall phlox, as well. I've not tried the vinyl coated ones, pretty much because they cost more. Let us know how they work out, KHT.
Gloria