Tomato plants need some kind of support when they grow tall and develop fruits, to keep them from collapsing due to their own weight. At least the most popular kinds of tomatoes – you can probably get some types which don’t need this, but below you’ll find an example of such a tomato support trellis or cage.
This is a small tomato plant recently moved outdoors and placed in a self-watering tomato box. If it’s left on its own it will collapse down the sides of the box when it reaches a certain height:
Below is the final support trellis made from wire mesh, and again supported by a stick to keep the cage from falling over:
The metal cage is made from wire mesh with 7.5 x 12.5 cm (3 x 5 inches) holes and with a height of 90 cm (35 inches), which is the same I used for fencing of my vegetable garden from kids and cats. The cage is rolled from a piece of mesh that is 60 x 90 cm (24 x 35 inches), and that gives a diameter of 19 cm (7.5 inches). Small lengths of wire can be used for keeping the cage together, one in the middle and one at each each end:
My small production of 9 tomato trellis cages and willow sticks ready to go:
Fasten the wire mesh cages to the sticks using small lengths of metal wire:
A small detail to provide an even better support, in the picture below. I used old metal rings sticking out of the concrete wall to secure the wooden sticks. This will hold through almost any storm around here:
7 tomato trellis cages placed over the small plants. The wooden stick is hammered about 30 cm (12 inches) into the ground:
This is actually a long line of 19 plants. I even have some cucumbers secured this way too. Now I’m ready for some serious tomato and cucumber growth 🙂
