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In Today’s post, let’s look into 5 DIY Tomato Plant Support Ideas and Build a Cheap Tomato Cages or Tomato Trellis using some scrap from your home. There are also various reasons you must know why you need to support your tomato plants, like prevent tomato plant diseases and get a great harvest.
Why Support Tomato Plants
Tomatoes happily grow in almost any direction if unsupported. Tomatoes can grow side up, upside down, left and right in any direction. If you allow them to grow in any direction, the plants become more prone to disease and the fruit quality can suffer. Choose a trellising or support system that lifts the plants off the ground and allows for good air circulation around the plant is important for a healthy plant with a good harvest and also it looks pretty neat and tidy. It also supports or protects the plant from bad winds and bad weather.
5 Best Ways to Support Tomato Plants
5. Simple Stakes
Use whatever stakes you have on hand – wooden sticks, bamboo sticks, metal pipes, branches of a tree and so on. This is the cheapest method to support tomato plants. Just be sure that these stakes are at least 4 feet in height. The problem with this support system is, you need to keep tying the plant up over the course of the season and it can damage the tomato stem if you tie it too tightly compressing the growing stem.
4. DIY Tripods
The second simplest way is to make your own Tripod trellis using three wooden or bamboo sticks. Tie them at the upper end together and insert the bottom ends around the plant. You can optionally tie some strings around the base of this tripod to provide additional support. This system also works very well, but make sure you insert deeply into the ground for supporting the plants till the harvest stage.
3. String Support
This is another easy method to support tomato plants. You tie a string at the base of the plant by inserting some metallic hook or a metallic wire or even these type of rods with a loop to insert into the ground and then tie one end of the string to this base and the upper end of this to overhead supporting bars or any overhead support you can make by using some poles or pipes. Now, there are two methods of connecting the stem to this string. One is just twisting the string around the plant and tying up. But this can compress the tender tomato stem and may be harmful. The best method is to use these plastic plant support clips. This holds the string and the stem separately without causing any damage to the stem.
2. Chicken Wire Cage or Trellis
If you have some old chicken wire lying around from other projects, you can easily use this to support your tomato plant. This is best suited for ground grown tomatoes. But if the container is large, you can insert this cage into the soil and support the plant.
1. Tomato Cages or Trellis
There are many commercially available trellises and cages for growing tomato plants. Be careful while purchasing these. There are two types available. One type is this thin trellis, which comes in two tier or three tier system. But these are not durable, so avoid purchasing these types. It’s better to use other methods like tripod trellis or even the string support instead of spending on these low quality products. The best tomato cages if you want to purchase are those made with iron rods like these and they are durable and strong. If you are interested, I have provided the links below.
Tomato cages https://amzn.to/3lTVNNG
Plant clips https://amzn.to/2Z51Rcj
Please watch a detailed video on Tomato Plant Support Ideas below:
