No-Stake Tomatoes?

[reducereuserecycle]

anyone ever just plant your tomatoes and let them grow naturally?

i really hate the idea of buying, or even making cages/stakes. i read online that some people do not stake and it can work well with smaller varieties (cherry, paste). anyone ever done this? what advice can you give?

[maplesugar]

My grandma has done this for over 60 years.
I plan on staking mine, but I do have a few varieties, such as the homeland hybrid which claims to be small and not needing of stake.

I think the only problem is some of the toms will rot from being in contact with the ground. I have heard that mulch can help. My grandma just lets them grow all over and gets a pretty good harvest.

[jojoboy]

I did some caged and some on the ground last year. You lose more to bugs and rot since they are on the ground, but I think if you're out there picking every day, it should be ok. They really do spread out.

[lmonter]

No.
I don't have that big of a yard.

Now, if you're talking about just one or three tomato plants, by all means. When you start talking about dozens of tomato plants because you're trying to put up enough for the year, at least in my yard, I need cages or trellises or something. Add in the slugs that patrol the ground, the torrential rain that'll really get fruits laying right on the ground (vs. up in the air), and neighborhood cats and dogs that escape into our yard, and yeah.

Oh, and some of my determinate tomato plants? Will literally fall over to where the thick, stocky main stem is close to breaking from the weight of all the fruits. I have to do something to support them if I want to eat/harvest any of the yummy, sweet tomatoes from those ones rather than have to compost them all.

[Equuskia]

What about hanging them in a basket or upside down? Does that work? I'd love to plant tomatoes , but I'd like to be able to keep them away from chickens and animals.

[rubyeta]

I did it last year, it was a mess! I also planted them too close together. I had a huge pile of tomato plants that collapsed on to itself! I couldn't get in the middle to find any, and the chipmunks wreaked havock! they ate all of them before they were ripe! After they collapsed, i couldn't stake them because they were too tangled and heavy, they would break if i tried! My problem was partly because of my close planting though!

[A Mom's Love]

We live in a condo & planted some in large pots 2 years ago & let them "run." Some drooped down enough to touch the ground, but they were in contact with cement, not wet earth, & did not rot. It worked fine for us, but I don't have any experience with planting them right in the ground & letting them run.

[lrlittle]

I have been wanting to try this method ever since my 90-year old neighbor told me his mom used to grow tomatoes by the yard full just by planting in cow manure and covering with, hay?, I think. They had more tomatoes that way than they knew what to do with. This was in South Texas.

[cristeen]

I have 3 tomato plants this year and only one of them got a cage. It was over 2 feet tall and already ready to break a week after transplant. The other two are bush varieties though and shouldn't need cages at all.

Another option is the upside down planter.

[verde]

My dad always just let them spread out on the ground. He was from Europe and said that he'd never seen a staked tomato till he moved to the US.

[adoremybabe]

Think - Tomato Jungle



I didn't stake one year and hated it!

[reducereuserecycle]

thanks for all the replies :

i have about 12 cherry tomato plants and maybe 8 roma plants.

i maybe should have planted them farther apart but i a going to give it a try.

since we started them all from seed...really all i have to loose is about $5 in organic seeds...i'll let you all know what happens!

[reducereuserecycle]

we have blooms now

the stalks look strong so i can't wait to see what is going to happen!!!

i also planted borage in between each plant because not only does borage attract beneficial insects but i heard that borage planted near the tomatoes will give them a good flavor.

[Talula Fairie]

If you are using determinate tomatoes, it might be less of a disaster. Roma tomatoes are determinate, so it might be ok. They won't just grow and grow and grow and grow and get super viney like indeterminate tomatoes will. I'd still stake them, personally.

Most cherry tomatoes are indeterminate, though. I'd definitely stake those.

[reducereuserecycle]

so, has anyone ever grown/seen/talked to someone that didn't stake cherry tomatoes specifically? since they are so small and lightweight, i was thinking it may not be a disaster

[Talula Fairie]

Cherry tomatoes are small and lightweight yes, but so are their stems and branches. I think they would be just as likely to snap or end up on the ground as their larger counterparts. But I'm really not an experienced gardener, maybe someone else can chime in with more thoughts.

[reducereuserecycle]

true....i am hoping the stems don't snap but if they touch the ground it will be ok (maybe) because from what i have been reading the no-stake tomatoes do often touch the ground and you may loose some but not all of them to slugs, rot, etc.

i am so excited to see what happens....i am really only interested in the romas so i can put them up to make sauce with but i don't even like cherry tomatoes...i was just going to sell them at market and maybe DH will eat a few of them since he kinda likes them. so, if it is a disaster all i really lost was the $2 seed pack and a little time and effort

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by reducereuserecycle

so, has anyone ever grown/seen/talked to someone that didn't stake cherry tomatoes specifically? since they are so small and lightweight, i was thinking it may not be a disaster

I did have a little cherry tomato plant (Red Robin if you're curious) that I'd attempted to put in the ground a bit before I should have (it ended up cooking in a cloche when we were out of town). It only got to about 8-10 inches tall. I had to prop it up with a tent stake because the dozen cherry tomatoes were too heavy for the thinner-crayola-marker-sized stem.

Originally Posted by reducereuserecycle

true....i am hoping the stems don't snap but if they touch the ground it will be ok (maybe) because from what i have been reading the no-stake tomatoes do often touch the ground and you may loose some but not all of them to slugs, rot, etc.

i am so excited to see what happens....i am really only interested in the romas so i can put them up to make sauce with but i don't even like cherry tomatoes...i was just going to sell them at market and maybe DH will eat a few of them since he kinda likes them. so, if it is a disaster all i really lost was the $2 seed pack and a little time and effort

Don't forget you can dehydrate cherry tomatoes - just slice in half and you're good to go.

[cschick]

Originally Posted by reducereuserecycle

so, has anyone ever grown/seen/talked to someone that didn't stake cherry tomatoes specifically? since they are so small and lightweight, i was thinking it may not be a disaster

The few times I've done cherry tomatoes, I haven't staked them. But I was also growing them in a container on a patio, which limits their growth as well.

Romas in containers also don't necessarily need to be staked. I do generally cage my container-grown romas, but they don't really depend on the cage the way some of the gigantic tomato plants do.

[gr8tfulmom]

Originally Posted by reducereuserecycle

so, has anyone ever grown/seen/talked to someone that didn't stake cherry tomatoes specifically? since they are so small and lightweight, i was thinking it may not be a disaster

We don't stake tomatoes at all, but we also have raised gardens too, so that plays a part. My ma never had cages and always had a messy, but really bountiful tomato patch.

Last year we had a few tangles of lemon drop and some kind of grape tomatoes that did just fine with no staking too.