Freerange Tomatoes

2130 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by tinybutterfly, Jul 14, 2004

georgia

Discussion Starter · Jun 21, 2004

Hi! I've been just letting my tomato plants lounge around and creep in my garden....my dad (Happy Fathers' Day

) mentioned I might want to cage them up. Is it too late in the going? I have some wire cage stuff---how do I go about caging---any tricks or special I should do? Do I just make them stand up on the cage? I've been flicking the yellow blossoms, but other than that, I've been leaving them alone. We have about 6 baby 'maters already! Guess I should have thought about this sooner......thanks for any advice

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armonia

· #2 · Jun 21, 2004

I was letting mine grow like that, too. Last week I walked around and found some smallish dried, hard branches and put them in the ground next to the tomatoes and sort of draped them over the little limbs and tied them loosely.

Mine look much better since I did that, too.

If you try to cage them at this point, it might break the tomato plant. They are very delicate when you try to move them to a new position after they have been growing that way a while.

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Geofizz

· #3 · Jun 21, 2004

My veggie gardening book says to plant tomatoes 2 feet apart if caged, and 4 feet apart if uncaged. I guess they might just need more space.

Also, I've noticed that if the stems touch the ground during a rain storm, the stem puts down roots. If you try to prop up the plant at all, do it very carefully to make sure you're not ripping out any roots!

Free Range.

. I love it!

Signed,
Grower of free range weeds and caged tomatoes.

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Chanley

· #4 · Jun 21, 2004

I did mine free range and will never do that again. It is a bad mess! AND I have areas where the vines are so thick that I cannot get in there without killing a few plants, so the tomatoes are literally rotting on the vine.

I will cage from now on. It is a pretty firm resolution. I have lost too much from not caging this year!

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georgia

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 23, 2004

Dang---I noticed tonight when I went out to check on my guys that the stems were putting down roots. I'm going to be very gentle. Chanley, I figured my failure to cage was going to lead to waste

Laziness does not become the Georgia Gardener! I did the square foot garden thing, so I hope to not have to stomp on too many. I just

the way they smell!!!

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gardenmom

· #6 · Jul 13, 2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geofizz
Signed,
Grower of free range weeds and caged tomatoes.

:

Me too....I'm tempted to steal this for my signature!!!

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Geofizz

· #7 · Jul 13, 2004

... All yours, gardenmom.

We got our first (caged, but cruelty-free) tomatoes this weekend.

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Breathless Wonder

· #8 · Jul 13, 2004

I just caged mine the other day...it was quite a delicate process. I took it slow. I would fold one set of branches up, slide the bottom of the cage over it, slide the cage down, adjust first set of branches, fold up the second set, and repeat.

How big are your plants?

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tinybutterfly

· #9 · Jul 14, 2004

I just HAD to read this...Free range tomatoes?!?

The first thing that popped into my head was those old movies Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Return of the Killer Tomatoes!!! I am relieved that your tomatoes are now safely caged...for their own protection and for mankind's protection as well. Thank you. tinybutterfly

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