Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ritcv.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!rochester!ritcv!mmr From: mmr@ritcv.UUCP (Margaret Reek) Newsgroups: net.garden Subject: Re: Tomato Cages Message-ID: <1195@ritcv.UUCP> Date: Mon, 6-Aug-84 10:48:48 EDT Article-I.D.: ritcv.1195 Posted: Mon Aug 6 10:48:48 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Aug-84 00:41:31 EDT References: <148@CS-Mordred> Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY Lines: 25 In the last two years I have tried 5 restraining techniques for tomatoes, and combinations of mulch and no mulch. The restaining methods were : none, staking, on a straight row of cage material, on a row of S shaped cage material and cages. My results with sprawling tomatoes and no mulch were poor; slugs, bugs and rot took a large toll on the crop. Sprawling tomatoes on mulch faired somewhat better but take up too much room. I find staking a royal pain, although the tomatoes do well and are easy to get at. The methods of cheating using a big roll of cage material were not totally successful, mostly because the tomatoes plants and crop were so huge and the stakes to hold up the wire weren't tall enough and the wire wanted to fall over. The tomatoes did fine, but I found I had to tie up the tomatoes on the flat wire and run rope around the ones in the S shaped rows. My favorite of the whole bunch was the cage. I don't have to fiddle with the tomatoes much once they are in there, I can put them in myself (not really feasible with my other cagey methods), no bugs, slugs or rot to worry about and I can chose to mulch or not as I see fit. This year all my tomatoes are in cages. You can buy 30 foot rolls of cage material from Sears (pretty soon it should go on sale) and make your own cages fairly easily and cheaply. The only nuisance is finding a place to store the things when they are done. Margaret Reek Rochester Institute of Technology ritcv!mmr