Dining and Cooking
Support ideas. Feedback very welcome.
In Tomatoes

Support ideas. Feedback very welcome.


I’m trying to decide how I want to support my plants and was looking around my neighborhood big box hardware store for ideas. I bought a couple of 8 foot long pieces of wood to bring home and start toying around with ideas.

First off, I’ll address the elephant in the room. Yes, it’s pressure treated wood ( MCA ). I know that there are plenty of opinions ranging from ‘never ever’, to ‘it depends’ about having pressure treated wood around your plants. I’m open to what everyone has to say, but I’d appreciate if the focus was on the ideas first, and the materials second.

Idea 1: Make several A-Frames over the beds, with horizontal beams running the length between each A-Frame. The horizontal beams would be over each bed, and aside from providing support for the structure, they would be used as anchor points for running garden twine down around each in a string trellis, or twist, method of support.

Idea number 2: Anchor the wood in a pot of sand, or something similar, but each piece would be standing vertically. And I’d place several of them going down the length of the beds, and either put a beam across the top to hang the twine from, or run galvanized steel wire between each beam, and hang the twine from that.

I’m partial to using the string trellis ( or “twist” ) method, as if you couldn’t tell, since I’ve had success with it in the past. But I’m open to other ideas. My budget is also a factor, which is why I bought these beams ( both of them together still cost less than a 8 foot tomato stake ).

by jp7755qod

8 Comments

  1. jp7755qod

    Can’t seem to edit the post, so “running garden twine down around each PLANT”.

  2. jakethesnake0078

    I take 3 stakes about 6ft tall and put them in a triangle around my tomato. Then wrap twine around the three stakes. Basically making a tomato cage with three tall sticks. My tomatoes get rather large. Usually 6+ foot tall. This is what works for me. I don’t have enough cages to use real cages on all my tomatoes

  3. ObsessiveAboutCats

    For my grow bag tomatoes, I have bought [this stuff](https://fencerwire.com/fencer-wire-16-gauge-galvanized-welded-wire-mesh-size-4-inch-by-4-inch-multiple-size-options/) and wrapped it in a cylinder around the bags. It’s usually strong enough on its own; if I’ve got some really heavy slicers, I sometimes have had to either tie two against each other or add a piece of rebar as a vertical support.

    I only grow determinates in grow bags; this method would not work for indeterminates or semi determinates.

    They aren’t cheap but last essentially forever and can be repurposed.

  5. grzllyyep

    i use 7’ bamboo (local & free) and twine in various configurations

  6. cupcakefix

    i use tree branches and old pantyhose. The branches are free, and the little nooks are great for support.
    the panty hose help tie to the branch but allow for growth due to stretchy. then when the birds find my plants i throw chicken wire around the container in a circle and close with binder clips