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JackE · February 11, 2011

I never thought about hijacking this thread - it's been sitting here idle for months and months! :-)

There's nothing toxic in raw linseed oil - unless it's added in processing. It's just flax seed oil. I am a retired painting contractor, as was my father, and as a little boy in the forties I remember hiim making his own exterior paint with white lead, boiled linseed oil and Japan drier (also lead-based). With the development of alkyd and latex resins in the fifties, linseed oil all but disappeared from the paint trade except for certain specialized uses such as restoring old wood. I got those highly toxic leads all over me - mouth, ears, eyes :-) - guess that's what's wrong with me now. LOL
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I agree 100% that tall vining tomatoes require t-posts or cages - rebar wouldn't work for sure. If you're going to grow in quantity, pruning would be a real drag too - however, I knew an ol' boy over in Luziana years ago who staked and pruned 1000 Homesteads (which I think now qualifies as an "heirloom") every year by himself. Back then, there was nothing special about those tomatoes - that was all we knew and we all planted them (and staked and pruned heavily).

It's hard to beat concrete wire cages - a 5'X150' roll is still around a $100 and makes about 40 18" cages (which you have to reinforce with a rebar stake - a 24" cage doesn't need the stake). They are miserable to fabricate, store and transport - and weeding inside the cages is a horrendous, knee-killing chore. You can't use any standard cultivation equipment, which is really rough on an organic grower because herbicides are prohibited. I remember growing caged tomatoes without herbicides and it was a nightmare - endless hours of weeding on hands and knees - but that's why y'all get five bucks a pound and we are lucky to get a dollar! LOL

Plasticulture is an option for you - but you still have to hand-weed around the plant and often where the cages enter and tear the plastic also. Unless you have a mulch layer/hiller implement it's very difficult and labor intensive to handle. Believe me - I've been there! It also requires a drip irrigation system - (actually, I have about 30K sq ft under drip irrigation - the rest is all sprinklers. I can run 15 3/4" sprinklers at once and still hold 40# pressure - a 4" pump and 2" lines. Excuse the bragging, I'm proud of it. LOL).

Jack

February 11, 2011	#18
JackE Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Woodville, Texas Posts: 520	I never thought about hijacking this thread - it's been sitting here idle for months and months! :-) There's nothing toxic in raw linseed oil - unless it's added in processing. It's just flax seed oil. I am a retired painting contractor, as was my father, and as a little boy in the forties I remember hiim making his own exterior paint with white lead, boiled linseed oil and Japan drier (also lead-based). With the development of alkyd and latex resins in the fifties, linseed oil all but disappeared from the paint trade except for certain specialized uses such as restoring old wood. I got those highly toxic leads all over me - mouth, ears, eyes :-) - guess that's what's wrong with me now. LOL ****************************************** I agree 100% that tall vining tomatoes require t-posts or cages - rebar wouldn't work for sure. If you're going to grow in quantity, pruning would be a real drag too - however, I knew an ol' boy over in Luziana years ago who staked and pruned 1000 Homesteads (which I think now qualifies as an "heirloom") every year by himself. Back then, there was nothing special about those tomatoes - that was all we knew and we all planted them (and staked and pruned heavily). It's hard to beat concrete wire cages - a 5'X150' roll is still around a $100 and makes about 40 18" cages (which you have to reinforce with a rebar stake - a 24" cage doesn't need the stake). They are miserable to fabricate, store and transport - and weeding inside the cages is a horrendous, knee-killing chore. You can't use any standard cultivation equipment, which is really rough on an organic grower because herbicides are prohibited. I remember growing caged tomatoes without herbicides and it was a nightmare - endless hours of weeding on hands and knees - but that's why y'all get five bucks a pound and we are lucky to get a dollar! LOL Plasticulture is an option for you - but you still have to hand-weed around the plant and often where the cages enter and tear the plastic also. Unless you have a mulch layer/hiller implement it's very difficult and labor intensive to handle. Believe me - I've been there! It also requires a drip irrigation system - (actually, I have about 30K sq ft under drip irrigation - the rest is all sprinklers. I can run 15 3/4" sprinklers at once and still hold 40# pressure - a 4" pump and 2" lines. Excuse the bragging, I'm proud of it. LOL). Jack Last edited by JackE; February 11, 2011 at 07:28 AM.