Vent: My tomato cage collapsed under the weight of one decent plant

I had this heavy duty cage from two years ago, but a single roma tomato plant bent it sideways last Tuesday. Now I'm debating between building a wooden trellis or just switching to a dwarf variety next season. Anyone else had their setup fail on them and had to pick a different approach?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher59422d ago

Actually that cherry tomato thing @martinez.karen said is not quite right. Cherry tomatoes can get huge and aggressive if you let them, but they don't usually have the same weight as a big beefsteak or roma. The real issue is those wire cages from the store are just not built for any tomato that actually grows like it's supposed to. I've had the same thing happen where a perfectly normal plant just folds the whole thing over like paper. The problem is those cages are made from thin wire that gets rusty and weak after one season in the weather. If you go with wooden trellises, make sure you sink the posts deep, like two feet at least, because a loaded plant can push a shallow post right over in a good wind.

martinez.karen22d ago

Decent plant" is generous - mine got taken out by a single cherry tomato that thought it was a prize-winning pumpkin. At this point my garden is just running a support group for sad, flattened cages.

anna_craig22d ago

Respectfully @martinez.karen, I think that cherry tomato was just expressing its full potential and your cage wasn't prepared for that kind of ambition. Those flimsy wire cones you get at the big box store are basically just suggestions, not actual support structures. If you want a plant to thrive (and maybe dominate your whole garden bed), you need a proper tomato tower or a cattle panel setup. Blaming the tomato for being too enthusiastic is like blaming your neighbor's kid for growing too tall for his shoes.