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Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 175
Campfire Member
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 175 |
Need some advice on sturdy tomato cages. Ive used the stupid hoop things for years but the pants get big and pull them over and the wind blows them over. What are the best heavy duty cages to get? I grow about 16 plants per year fwiw.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,266 Likes: 4
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,266 Likes: 4 |
Pound in three T-posts and spiral them with fence wire.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 5,647 Likes: 2
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 5,647 Likes: 2 |
Buy a roll of 6” concrete mesh and hog ring yourself some cages. It’ll be they last ones you ever buy.
She never made it past the bedroom door, what was she aiming for...? She's gone shootin..
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,918
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,918 |
When I die I hope I don't start voting democrat.
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,408
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,408 |
Buy a roll of 6” concrete mesh and hog ring yourself some cages. It’ll be they last ones you ever buy.
i have some of these that were old when i got them 35 years ago.
My diploma is a DD214
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,324
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,324 |
This is what I do for tomato, and cucumbers, may be more than you want to do.
6' tpost with concrete wire or 4'ft fence with 3"-4" squares.
Drive tpost 6'-8' feet apart, stretch and attach fence 1'-2' off the ground, as the plants grow I weave them through the squares. Very sturdy.
Another trick I have used. Make your cages out of the above fence materials drive tpost or 5/8 rebar in the ground and attach the cages to the tpost/rebar. Very sturdy but uses a lot of fence.
Never found a commercial cage that worked well for tomatoes, they work ok for peppers and eggplant.
There is a war on America and America is losing
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 2,457 Likes: 2
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 2,457 Likes: 2 |
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 18,497
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 18,497 |
That’s a pretty child Robert. Her mother must be a very pretty woman.
Every day on this side of the ground is a win.
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,726 Likes: 14
Campfire Savant
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Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,726 Likes: 14 |
I welded 3/8 rebar to the cone shaped cages, drive rebar in ground, can’t blow over. If you lived close, I’d make you some.
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35 |
Buy a roll of 6” concrete mesh and hog ring yourself some cages. It’ll be they last ones you ever buy.
This^^^^ I have about 150 of them stacked. They take up a lot room in the off season.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 2,337
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 2,337 |
Buy a roll of 6” concrete mesh and hog ring yourself some cages. It’ll be they last ones you ever buy.
This. Cut the bottom wire off so the remaining "spikes/ pins" can anchor into ground. If necessary one "T" post can give even greater stability.
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 21,801 Likes: 8
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 21,801 Likes: 8 |
We have the tomato cages that you buy from Home Depot and Walmart with the three legs on them you punch into the ground.
No matter what size you buy even the biggest... they are never tall enough.
EMT or electrical metal tubing... basically 1/2" metal conduit is cut off with a grinder three or four feet long and driven into the ground in a triangle pattern around the plants... three pieces. Sticks out of the ground 2 feet or 3 feet depending on the variety of the Tomato we are growing. The top of the three EMTs is level and even. Then I put the tomato cage legs inside of the conduit. Now my tomato cage is 5 to 7 feet tall at the top.
We have had cherry tomatoes that went 10 ft tall but I never bothered beyond seven.
If the cages are get overloaded and I start to worry about them I drive another piece of conduit 6 or 7 feet long beside them and wire tie it to the cage for stability.
Last edited by CashisKing; 04/17/21. Reason: Autocorrect typos
If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35 |
Buy a roll of 6” concrete mesh and hog ring yourself some cages. It’ll be they last ones you ever buy.
This. Cut the bottom wire off so the remaining "spikes/ pins" can anchor into ground. If necessary one "T" post can give even greater stability. And this too^^ After about 2 season, I have nip the ‘spikes’ off and move up a square. They rust and break off Cage gets a little shorter every couple of years but, hey.
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 16,915
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 16,915 |
Zip tie or wire your current or heavy duty cages to T- posts driven into the ground
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35 |
I had some Brandywines, the vines grew way out and flopped over. I had to deploy some brick mason scaffolding and tie all that menagerie as it did it’s thing. lol
My Romas stay in the cages, they are a ‘bush variety’ and dont all wild and crazy.
If you go the concrete mesh route, make your cages 3 foot diameter, that’s adequate for most varieties and allows reach in depth for picking
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 21,801 Likes: 8
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 21,801 Likes: 8 |
We use 52" x 16' hog panels for beans and cucumbers etc.
I buy 7 or 8 ft tall T posts and drive them in the ground. Three of them. Then with my grinder I cut a vertical 5/16" inch notch in the top of them... then I hang the pig panel in the notch. The notch is about 1 inch deep straight down.
Then I make an 18" outrigger (three of them) and angle the pig panel outward the 18 inches... the Outriggers are horizontal to the ground. The Outriggers are made of EMT. I put a notch in them as a dado cut for the pig panel and a notch at the back end for the T post.
Then I repeat on the other side. Hanging another hog panel in the same Notch at the top of the T post. I use three more Outriggers. Now my trellis is an A-frame in cross section.
Then to keep tension on the Outriggers I run a piece of wire and twist like a Spanish windlass.
The Outrigger on the side of the T post that does not contain the leg of the T just overlaps one of the nipples on the T post. With tension on The Wire drawn tight with the Spanish windlass the whole being it is fairly secure. I do a wrap at the top just to keep everything in the notch.
A full grown trellis can have a lot of wind load on it at times.
Some beans can only reach a few inches before they have to grab onto something so I keep the trellis fairly low for this variety. Other varieties will reach up a foot or 2.
I have pictures somewhere. I'll repost later if I ever find them.
If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 11,777
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2007
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Precisely, and stake them down well.
NRA Patron
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,150 Likes: 35 |
I use that square calf panel, 16ft x 4ft for my vertical cukes Makes it easier for Cooper to make his own selection at the oeak of freshness (Squash in tomato hoops, fore ground)
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,430
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,430 |
Cool. I have 6 cages made from concrete mesh and have a section of cattle panel set up 12 feet long and just plant along the panel, cucumbers and cantalopes.
Dog I rescued in January
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