I have three indeterminate tomatoes growing in 15 gallon grow bags. They’re doing great and have outgrown the typical 42” cage (really lower once you put the stakes in the soil).
I bought some more material to make a taller cage. How tall should I go? 6’ on top of a 18” looks insane right now. Will my plants get as tall as they typically would in the ground?

3 ...

Report Post

Posted by FalseProphet

Mecca

Member since Dec 2011

11707 posts

Posted on 6/12/20 at 9:05 am to tigeroarz1

My container tomatoes (indeterminate, cherry) are at the top of my 7’ trellis. I also had to buy cages to put on the sides to catch the outgrowth.

Never in my life had tomatoes grow this well, so maybe this isn’t a fair representation.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by gmrkr5

Member since Jul 2009

14891 posts

Posted on 6/12/20 at 9:09 am to FalseProphet

i just grow determinates because of this. you'll get more fruit off of an indeterminate but i dont like trying to tame the vine

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by gumbo2176

Member since May 2018

15104 posts

Posted on 6/12/20 at 10:34 am to tigeroarz1

Personally, I like to use heavy duty concrete reinforcing wire for tomato cages. The mesh is big enough to be able to get your hands inside the cages to pick tomatoes or pull off suckers.

Once made, they last for ages and the only issue is storing the damn things if you grow a lot of tomato plants.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by BiggerBear

Redbone Country

Member since Sep 2011

2923 posts

Posted on 6/12/20 at 1:26 pm to tigeroarz1

A bit off topic, but how do you deal with birds? Cages just give them a perch in my experience so after a year in which I got few tomatoes, I've gone back to stakes.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by fishfighter

RIP

Member since Apr 2008

40026 posts

Posted on 6/12/20 at 1:51 pm to gumbo2176

quote:
I like to use heavy duty concrete reinforcing wire for tomato cages. The mesh is big enough to be able to get your hands inside the cages to pick tomatoes or pull off suckers.

This is what I use.