A better choice is to stake your tomatoes.
If you're someone who likes to leave the suckers on your tomato plant, a wooden or metal trellis may be a better option for you. Using a panel trellis is a great option if you like your plants to branch out, and an arch trellis gives tomato vines all the vertical space they need to grow.
Often, I put a wood or bamboo stake with each plant to help secure it while it's small. As they mature, the cage and close proximity to other plants will help prop each other up. 2) Use the tall spiral wires and 'single stem' the tomato. I like to then slide one of my old tomato cages over the top for extra support.
With this method, plant the tomatoes in two rows that are about two feet apart. Then, drive a stake at the start and finish of each row, with stakes between every three plants. Tie some twine around your first stake and weave it in front of one plant and then behind the other.
Disadvantages: Requires continuous twining throughout the season to capture growth. Twine stretches with the weight of the tomato plant, causing sagging. Tends to allow tomato plant to sprawl.
A single stake is a simple, low-cost method for keeping plants upright in small spaces. The best method for how to stake tomatoes this way is to use a 5-foot-tall sturdy wood or metal stake for determinate tomatoes and an 8-foot-tall stake for indeterminate tomatoes.
Many large-scale growers use the string-weave system. Sturdy metal stakes are pounded at the ends of the row. Wooden or metal stakes are placed between every other plant. Weather-resistant sisal or nylon twine is tied at the end stake.
Benefits Of Using A Tomato Cage
Tomatoes are prone to diseases, many of which originate in the soil. Tomato cages hold foliage off the ground, reducing contact with the soil, which in turn limits disease and insect damage.
Caging or Trellising
Wire cages made of reinforcing wire provide excellent support for tomato plants. (See Figure 3.) These cages can be made in various heights, but should be 18 inches in diameter. Cages of 24″ diameter are too wide to allow easy access to early set fruit unless you have very long arms.
For indeterminate tomato plants, like these cherry varieties, you'll need a big cage to get good results. All of this organized spacing and support is great in a perfect world, but if you are cramped for space, you still have options.
These cone-shaped cages are cheap and easy to find, but can topple easily when the plants start to grow top-heavy with foliage and fruit. You're best off securing them with a heavy stake driven at least a foot deep into the soil.
You can pound a metal fence post or stake a few inches from the main stalk when you plant the tomato. As it grows, tie the main stalk to the post. You may have to support the stems and branches as they get heavy with fruit. You don't want them to break off.
You always have room for another when you plant those last few tomatoes in pots. Tomatoes thrive in pots, and you're giving them just the conditions they need when you plant them in early summer. Warm days, warm nights, and warm soil stimulate growth.
I plant the tomatoes in rows, and at the ends of each row I drive steel T-posts into the ground at an oblique angle. Between the plants I push 8-foot-tall 1×1 redwood or bamboo stakes as far into the ground as I can, then push them in farther right after watering, when the soil is soft.
Yellow leaves and brown spots on tomato plants are most commonly caused by early tomato blight. Once found, early blight can be managed by regularly removing affected foliage from your garden.
When should I put tomato cages on? It's always a good idea to get supports in place as soon as seedlings are planted. For garden-grown tomatoes, you can wait until plants begin to branch two to three weeks after setting out, but no later. Set cages on pot-grown tomatoes right after you plant them.
Vining tomatoes don't have a stem that is stout enough to support the entire plant. These tomatoes often get top heavy, even without having fruit on them. If they aren't supported they can fall over, breaking the stem.