No-Stake Tomatoes? - Page 2

[reducereuserecycle]

one of my cherry tomato plants already fell over...not sure why, but it did happen after a mild rainfall. the stalk still looks fine though-it didn't break or anything. the tomatoes are microscopic right now, so it wasn't the weight of them.

as far as messiness...i am an extremely messay gardener. dh hates it but it doesn't bother me one bit so this no-stake tomatoe things should fit with the rest of my jungle of a garden..haha

[alllyssa]

We were at our friends house this last weekend and he had 2 "wild" tomato plants that just popped up out of nowhere. They are huge and uncaged - like big shrubs growing up a slope and then tumbling over the side of a small retaining wall. They are about 4 feet wide and covered w/ flowers and we even picked 6 or 7 cherry toms to eat - yummy!

At home, mine are all still green so this was a treat. I'll see if I can get a picture to post.

[Tizzy]

I don't stake mine, I put down a layer of fresh wood shavings when the plants begin to fruit. It prevents the tomatos from rotting and they stay pretty much weed free.

[LindaCl]

It depends on the tomato. "Field" tomatoes aren't staked--they're a short-bushy determinant tomato. And cherries would be okay, but they'll sprawl and the tomatoes at the soil level will probably get chewed or rot quickly.

The beefsteak and slicing type tomatoes almost always need to be caged somehow. The fruit gets too heavy, and the bush topples over or stems snap--you will usually lose a lot of fruit as stems snap before they're ripened.

[reducereuserecycle]

my no-stake tomatoes are doing excellent~!~ we have picked some of the romas and cherry tomatoes and they are perfect. i have borage planted in between the tomatoes, so between the borage and the weeds, the tomatoes are not even touching the groud. i am so glad i didn't waste time, effort, and resouces staking them. definately will grow them again this way next year

[Angierae]

how is it going?

I know this is kind an old thread, but I am curious how this is going for you?

I didn't stake my cherries, I have 9 of them throughout a tiny garden. They have sort of woven themselves throughout all the other veggies, and are so happy. I mulched heavily, and none are rotting. I have a toddler who likes to pick when they are green and throws them on the mulch. Those ones are turning red and perfect if I leave them. They garden looks really pretty this way, too. I was avoiding stakes and caged b/c i have a front yard garden and a toddler who would rip the cages out besides. It feels a little crazy that it should be this easy.

[sparkygirl74]

We didn't stake anything this year and while it is a mess all of our plants are thriving! A few of them even took root again where the stalk came in contact with the ground.....

[reducereuserecycle]

it's going great for me!!! :

the cherry tomatoes have not had any problem except a few that split from the excessive rain

the romas have also done great except some of the ones near the ground have large holes that were bitten out by some little mammels...to me it is cute, not a problem.

so, now i am totally sold on the no-stake tomatoes.

also, i have borage planted heavily throughout the tomatoes since i heard that gives them a better flavor (and attracts beneficial insects) and in a way the thick borage sorata creates the same effect as light staking.

glad to hear the no-stake is working out for you all too....and i am with you Angierae...could it really be this easy

[WeasleyMum]

I bought the awful, really flimsy "cages" sold at garden centers everywhere... so in a way I didn't stake at all. The plants were a lot stronger than the cages and the vine-y ones ended up all over the ground. I wouldn't recommend it, personally... a lot of our fruit was wasted, especially the big beefsteaks. But then, I love the image of a neat, tidy veg garden as opposed to the jungle we have out there. Your milage may vary!

[natural_mama89]

We pretty much did this. When they got really huge we kind of built a border around them to hold them up.
Here are some pics:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=18413936
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=18413929

[Teenytoona]

My bonus tomato plant (one that grew from a fallen outta the compost seed) we left bushy. I haven't checked it yet, but it appears far healthier than our others. I need to check it tonight.

[artemis33]

Our neighbor does this with success but she has a very large garden with plenty of open space around the plants. She also has weed cloth down so they don't touch the soil.

We did this with about half of our 18 plants this year because we didn't have enough cages and it was a total disaster. I will not do it again! Most of our plants are indeterminate and got HUGE - most over 5' - so the uncaged ones collaped on themselves and each other - and surrounding crops as well. Some fruit is touching the ground and with a huge slug problem it is getting eaten. Also, many of those tomatoes are inaccessible because there are several heavy vines on top of them and they can't be pulled out without breaking the upper stems

On top of this I had somewhat crowded the plants because this is a new garden and not nearly as big as we want (just moved here last winter) and I didn't want to compromise on what I planted ...so I planted them 3 deep. Not a good idea! It is a massive tomato jungle in there.

I'm making the best of it and still have a nice crop (though they have taken forever to ripen!) but I will most definitely be giving the plants more space next year and they will all be staked in some way (cages are certainly not the best choice but they were what we had already this year).

I think no stake is possible in the right conditions, but I won't be doing it again!