worm22

No More Tomato Cages

A Whizbang T-Post trellis span is the ideal structure for supporting indeterminate tomatoes. In the pictures that follow I will chronicle my no-more-tomato-cages idea, and I'll also introduce you to a short cloche idea inspired by Mark Albert's cloche idea. The cloche integrates really well with a tomato trellis span...

The above picture shows a Whizbang T-Post trellis span with four tomato plants, just as illustrated on page 16 of the book. You can click any of the pictures on this page to see an enlarged view. There is a trellis span with four Whizbang solar pyramids in the background. It was a warm day in June and I took the covers off the frames to start hardening off the plants.

I cloched four tomato plants in only one of my tomato trellis spans with solar pyramids. On the ten other spans in my 2013 garden I used short caterpillar cloches, as shown here. These cloches, made according to Mark Albert's system (page 71), are simple, effective solar appliances and they deserve more explanation.....

This picture shows the start of a tomato-span caterpillar cloche. It is made pretty much as I explain in the Whizbang Row Cover System Tutorial, but it uses Mark Albert's excellent string-and-clothespin idea (see page 72 of the book) for holding the plastic in place. The T-Posts are spaced the proper distance (see page 16). A string is temporarily tied from post to post.  I use the hoop spacing board (as explained in the row cover tutorial link above) to position the hoop stakes, making sure to align the center line on the board under the string.

In this picture you can see that two of the three hoops are in place and the hoop spacing board  has served its purpose of spacing the hoop stakes for the last hoop. Three hoops are perfect for the tomato trellis span. One goes in the center and the two end hoops are spaced 16" to 20" away from the T-posts.

I used my custom-made aluminum hoop stakes. Note the baling twine around the stake in the picture above. I have used sisal baling twine in the past for trellising. But sisal will stretch. As Mark Albert says, the plastic baling twine can be pulled very tight and it does not stretch (or break). I bought two rolls of the plastic twine at a farm supply store for around $20. Each roll is 10,000' long. That should last me a very long time. 

This picture shows a hoop stake made with a piece of 3/8"wood  dowel. It will get the job done, but wood is prone to breaking. Notice that I looped the twine around the hoop. That is not part of Mark Albert's caterpillar cloche system. I looped the twine like that on some cloches and didn't loop it on others. I didn't notice a difference as far as how well the string held the plastic in place.

I used 9' x 12' painter's drop cloths for the cover on each cloched span. These are .7 mil thick, which is very thin.  I made seven spans with the plastic shown here, and they held up extremely well, even in very high wind and driving rains. But I bought another brand of the same kind of plastic to make two other cloche spans and it did not hold up well. It ripped apart in a big thunderstorm. So I guess you take a chance when you use this lightweight plastic. Another plastic cover option (more dependable) is mentioned below.

Here's a picture of a finished cloche, with the plastic held in place around the bottom using regular clothespins. I made the cloches like this and let them warm up for a couple days before planting the tomatoes.

The tomatoes I planted in the spans were ones I started from seed in my house. I used a Whizbang solar pyramid for a cold frame, as the picture above shows. Click Here to read about how I start tomato seedlings without a greenhouse or grow lights.

You can't grow tomatoes under a cloche of solid plastic sheeting. They will overheat on a hot day. The plastic needs to be ventilated. I ventilated the cloches made with plastic painter's drop cloths. You can see the ventilation holes in this picture.

So how does a gardener ventilate tomato span cloches made with solid plastic sheeting? Well this gardener used the little tool shown above. It's nothing more than a section of 3/8" copper tubing, with an insulated handle. Heat the end ot the tubing with a propane torch and push it into the plastic. You can melt half a dozen holes before reheating. Primitive, yes, but it does a very adequate job.

Here's another view of a "custom ventilated " tomato hoop span. Notice the clothespins around the bottom. Shortly after making these spans and planting the tomatoes in them, we experienced some very severe weather. There were tornado warnings. The tornado didn't come but extreme wind and driving rains came. I stood in my kitchen watching the hoop spans being mercilessly hammered. I was amazed that they stood their ground. I had cloches facing both sideways and endwise to the driving wind and rain. The only damage to the eleven tomato cloche spans was on the two I mentioned above, that were made with a different drop-cloth plastic than the others. The plastic shredded on those two spans.

Here you can see the tomato plants that have grown under the cloche. This particular span is for a string trellis and had only two hoops. The thing I'd like to point out in this picture is the ventilated plastic. Click the picture to enlarge and look at the ventilation holes. This ventilated plastic sheeting was manufactured for hoop cloches. 

I bought the pre-ventilated plastic from Territorial Seed Company. They call it  "Grow-Therm." It's 1mil thick and has 300 holes per square yard. You can purchase this cover in 6' x 20' or 6' x 500' pieces. 6' is an ideal width for the 5' pvc hoops I use. This plastic is self-ventilating, as is my homemade ventilated plastic cloche covers (shown above). I didn't punch anywhere near 300 holes per yard, but the ventilating holes I made seemed to do the job just fine. There is no need to open the hoop ends to ventilate the cloche when you have a ventilated plastic like this. Click Here to go to the Territorial Seeds web page for Gro-Therm plastic.

Here's another view of tomatoes grown in a Whizbang tomato-span hoop cloche. These happen to be Tommy Toe tomatoes. I left only a couple inches of plant above ground when I planted them. They've grown remarkably well in the sunny, cloched environment.

This picture shows a row of Whizbang T-post tomato trellis spans in my 2013 garden. Four plants can be started under solar pyramids in the standard length of span (see page 16), as seen in the foreground. In the background of the picture (click picture to see an enlarged view) you can see one of the two hoop spans that were shredded by the rain storm I mentioned previously. I left them that way to see how well the tomatoes in them would grow. They are, of course, stunted compared to the ones in the cloches that were undamaged. But they are still growing.

And here we are, back to the picture I started this essay with. The cloche structure has been removed, the soil has been weeded and cultivated. The plants have been pruned to clear away leaves and suckers at the very bottom. I have placed Whizbang cardboard mulch discs (see page 48 of the Idea Book) around each of the tomato plants, then a covering of straw. Y-holders, top bar, and panel are good to go. The tomato plants are off to a great start. Now all I have to do is tuck-and-guide the growing plants into the trellis grid.  

UPDATE: Well, as you can see from the picture above, those four little tomato plants have grown to fill the trellis span, and they still have lots of room to grow. I have kept the bottom leaves trimmed and the cardboard-under-straw mulch has kept the weeds down.  We went through a nearly three-week period when it rained every day. That kind of weather is conducive to blight, but, thankfully, I'm not seeing signs of it yet. I have not hesitated to prune away any growth that has strayed out away from the trellis support.

This picture shows a closer view of a tomato plant growing up the reinforcing wire (I like the contrast of rusty patina metal and lush greenery). Please note that I have string-tied a tomato "branch" to the metal grid. I don't mention it in the book, but if the plant grows too much to easily tuck and weave it in the grid, you can support  individual branches with short lengths of string as needed. Tie loosely. Most any kind of string will do. That nice fat cotton string in the picture came from a small roll I bought cheap at a yard sale.

Another closeup of the trellis span showing two string-tied branches (click to see an enlarged view).

Here's what the trellis spans in the picture at the top of this page look like when the tomato plants fill them up. This is an heirloom tomato variety. Really heavy. But the trellis span, with concrete reinforcing wire can handle the weight.