My support system

[dcarch]

There are many support and staking systems for tomatoes.

Here is a system I am using. This system is not a modified Florida Weave system which mostly provide lateral support for mostly determinate plants. This system is to provide lateral as well as vertical support to the plants, including indeterminate varieties.

One of the problem with FW system, as well as some other similar systems is that you only give the plants one layer of vertical space to grow.

My sytem will give substantially more room for the branches and leaves to grow and therefore better air circulation and exposure to sun.

I have my Unistrut posts about 40 feet apart. The posts are 10 feet tall. I can handle really tall inderterminate tomatoe varieties. Last year the system survived many wind storms. Every single component in my system is reusable and removable.

I developed this system because I, as well as my neighbors, don't like the looks of a forest of stakes and cages in my yard. You can hardly see my system a short distance away.

I will post some pictures some other time. A friend has borrowed my camera for their vacation.

dcarch

[harleysilo]

What are the red lines, strings, cable?

[dcarch]

Those are very thin very strong dark brown nylon ropes I bought from eBay.

dcarch

[rzr]

Here is my system. Also had to put netting as you can see to repel birds.

[Warren]

how do you get to the maters?

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by Warren

how do you get to the maters?

Good question.
Here is the answer:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ighlight=picky

dcarch

[rzr]

Originally Posted by Warren

how do you get to the maters?

If your asking me, I have it set to wear I can pull the netting back easily to water and pick tomatoes.

[harleysilo]

He's got 4 foot arms!

[tomatoguy]

I thought about doing something very similar when I was using trellis. I considered putting up two trellises about a foot apart and putting plants in between. Your idea looks good. Will be interested to see the final results.

mater

[dcarch]

The horizontal strings are hooked (not tied) to the posts. Because the Unistrut posts have pre-punched holes from top to bottom, you can re-adjust the string positions up and down anytime to accomodate growing conditions of the plants. The plant ties are also adjustable easily. I use Velcro plant ties.

I will take some pictures when I get my camera back.

dcarch

[Bryan24]

It's a clothes line for tomatoes. Excellent idea. I don't really like the look of cages, and about all the cheapies from HD are good for are keeping the dogs out of the beds.

laurel-tx

[bbjm]

I'm going to try this. I imagine anything will work, but wonder what you are using to stake the wire and turnbuckle??

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by bbjm

I'm going to try this. I imagine anything will work, but wonder what you are using to stake the wire and turnbuckle??

Of course it works, because I have been using it . Wait for pictures this weekend.

You raised another important question:

It is very important to secure the stainless steel cables and turnbuckles. A lot of tension will be exerted to hold the poles in place. I happen to have places to anchor the SS cables.

dcarch

[bbjm]

I have no doubt your support system works. I meant to say that while I suppose lots of different things would work for use as a stake for the SS cable, I'm curious about what you specifically use to stake the SS cable to the ground.

[dcarch]

I am able to anchor the SS cables to solid raised bed structure.

You may have to make some in-ground concrete footings to anchor the cables if you don't have anything nearby stable enough to hold on to the cables. May be you can try driving pipes (6'?) all the way down in ground to hold the cables.

It really depend on how long your strings between the posts and how many tomato plants the strings have to hold up.

dcarch