I wanted to see if anyone had any designs for raised bed tomato trellises that could be moved easily. I have been coping with 8 foot stakes, but maintaining a single stem is a pain and inevitably by late season things are falling over and chaotic because I give up and start tying suckers to more stakes. I don’t want a permanent structure because I try to rotate beds. I was thinking of driving in conduit at the ends of beds right by where I have t-posts dropped in for cattle panel arches and capping them when not in use, then I can drop in trellis structures I’ve built and stored for a florida weave style situation. Having never used this type of trellising I’m not sure if it’s feasible. The main impediment here is wanting to rotate beds. Any experiences are appreciated.
My take is that you want a trellis system covering many square feet and multiple plants rather than a series of cages.
For many years, I just used 2x2 stakes driven into the ground at 4 corners and then some 2x2 and 1x2 boards screwed to the stakes to form a horizontal grid that the maturing plants could grow up through and drape over. Typical setup covered 8 by 4 feet. Power screwdriver made for easy setup and takedown; disassembled storage space was minimal.
I grow my larger tomatoes (big beef, brandwine) on a cattle panel trellis… i train them to 2 stems normally.
I change the exact location of my tomatoes each year… for example from the end of the garden bed (last year) to the front.
Simply tpost, supporting a piece of cattle panel.
I perfer to grow cherry tomatoes … sungold, supersweet 100… in a tall round tomato cage.
Big beef on a cattle panel trellis.
i use the t-post and pull them up and put under shelter til next year…always moving where i plant them so that works good for me…
tommyg
For determinate varieties I use steel spiral stakes. All you have to do is tuck the leader into the spiral as it grows. As for my indeterminate tomato jungle, I just use hazel poles, drive 3 pairs into the ground opposite each other forming a reverted V, tie them at the tops and connect with a thin looong pole and then use hemp rope to tie up the tomatoes vertically or add a hacked up California weave as the season progresses. It looks rustic, but takes no time to set up or dismantle, costs nothing and is compostable next year. Though, I have made funnier dome-like hazel constructions that last 2 seasons.
Sorry for taking long to reply to these thoughtful answers. It’s been a summer!
@LarryGene Yes, definitely. I have not had success with cages for indeterminates, even the extra large ones supposedly designed for them. That is a good idea…a lot of my beds are 8x4.
@TNHunter that might be the ticket since I already have t posts at the corners of my beds for arch trellis…I could add one more in the middle and attach the cattle panel as needed each year. The extra t post would never be in the way.
@tlgentry24 I did use a couple of t posts out of desperation this year (ran out of bamboo and garden stakes). Do you prune to a single stem? I find it hard to keep up.
@Tana That’s a neat idea. How tall are your hazel poles?
The connecting horisontal pole is at about 2m. I’m 1.7m, so I top the plants at 2.3m to reach up comfortably. The verticals are a little taller and burried abot 30cm, which is stable enough in my clay soil.
An important thing is to make sure that the poles are not too thin as hazel is flexible, but not as strong as bamboo. I try to make sure that they are no thinner than my thumbs at the top end. Those tomatoes can be quite heavy. However, repairs cost nothing other than time.
@Tana Very interesting, thank you. I was thinking about ordering some bulk bamboo poles next season so I might give this a shot. It’s probably the method I could do myself the easiest.
I used this method this year with great success. The tomatoes where easier to pick and stayed disease free longer. The trellis took me about 20 minutes to make, and has withstood 70mph winds with no damage. I will be making these for all of my 4x8 beds, and will grow shorter plants in the middle row.
They are really easy to move around, and can be put away against a fence or something. just put a cap on the rebar or take it out when not in use.