Well it’s that time of the year where the heat hits and the tomatoes start to take off to the sky! To make sure our tomatoes grow big and get the support they need we always add cages on almost as soon as they are planted. It’s always easier to put on cages when the tomato plants are small rather then later when they are already bushy. If you’ve ever attempted to put a tomato cage on a bushy tomato plant then you can probably understand the frustration that could be involved with this.
Not only do we put 1 tomato cage on the tomatoes, but we double them up. In the past our tomato plants often grow over 6 feet tall so to make sure they stay supported with the heavy wind and encourage their growth we stack a tomato cage on top of the other. This is done by using zip ties to attach them and then tying the tomato cages to our structure with twine. Wind is a big deal on the roof so we always double make sure everything is locked down.
So recently we headed to the roof to get all the tomato cages added. Besides the tomatoes, we always add cages to the peppers and tomatillos as well. Since the peppers don’t grow as tall as the tomatoes, they only need one cage to support them.
Tomato Cages for Tall Tomato Plants
First up, organizing the cages. You can use any sizes but we prefer the heavy duty 42″ cages for double stacking. We zip tie together all the legs on the cages for the top ones. Then we put tape over it. Bringing the legs together makes it less dangerous so there’s no sharp ends sticking out. Here you can see some tomato cages that are doubled and then some pepper plants that only have single cages. We use both 54 inch and 42 inch size cages. And here you’ll spot a Matthew jumping into the picture with some beautiful tomato plants. Since this photo was taken, the green peppers have really exploded. We now have a bunch of baby peppers growing too! Super exciting!
Zip ties are one of things we use most in the garden, along with Velcro and twine. You can never have too much. So now all the tomatoes are caged and ready to start growing tall.
And it pretty much makes my day to start spotting tomatoes! Isn’t it amazing to see all the stages of cherry tomatoes on the vine, from small tomato on left to flower on right? Nature, it’s always awesome. Once your tomatoes are ready make sure to make my stewed tomatoes and cherry tomato sauce recipes!
