My love/hate relationship with tomato cages

For stuff in the currant family you only need a few feet, like 2 1/2 ~ 3’. My biggest problem is that wind knocks the branches down before they get a chance to lignify, the trunk drop to the ground and the tip grows back up. All the fruit ends up in contact with the soil.

The cage gives the branches a chance to harden, keeping the bushes tidy.

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i also have that problem. cant keep my currants and gooseberry off the ground. im making some rings out of 2in. chicken wire to put a collar around the plants to keep them up right.

Similar to Ztom, years ago I bought a 150’ roll of 6" concrete remesh from the farm and ranch store and used bolt cutters to cut to various length sections, then joined them in a cylinder shape… cut off the bottom ‘round ring’, and you have 6" legs to insert into the ground. They are indestructible and cheap, but take some time to make and there are some sharp rusty edges around (various ways to protect, but haven’t cut ourselves in the 10 years we have had them). Also, they do not store well… making 3 diameters sizes they can be nested, but not always easily.

I wish they were 6-7’ tall, as the tomatoes inevitably grow higher than 5’. Occasionally when a plant gets too tall and with an off-center of gravity, I need to hammer in a 5’ section of 1/2" emt and a zip tie to the cage for the support, but have pretty much stopped doing that except in rare instances, and very few issues.

I’ll try and take and post up a pic tomorrow. Also works well for winter squash.

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Tomatoes will grow here,but sometimes there isn’t enough heat to ripen the fruit.So,I’m trying a cage to grow bush beans.

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Mostly I use them to provide a bit of shade or to discouragement to the deer for new/young plantings. Both Lowes (red) and tractor supply (green) had assorted painted sizes this year. The paint adds a layer of support to the joints. But, I decided I like the square ones best because they can be taken from around a mature plant without damaging it.Or they can be stretched out as a light trellis/fence.
If I’m putting it around a plant when I plant it, I bury the bottom legs in the hole before I fill it, which bypasses the buried rock hunt and minimize the effects of the winds around here. Ditto if I’m using a stake, as I know I’m avoiding new roots as well.

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