Why You Should Reconsider Using A Tomato Cage And What To Use Instead

Inexpensive metal tomato cages are a common sight in community gardens, container gardens, and perhaps your own garden. There's a good bit of logic to support them. This type of tomato cage is readily available just about any place that sells garden supplies — even the seasonal aisle at the local drug store. It comes in handy for holding tomatoes and their foliage up off the ground as the plants grow fuller. The cages work in raised bed and in-ground gardens, too. So, what's the fuss? As it ends up, this particular type of tomato cage isn't so healthy for many types of tomato plants. 

These bargain tomato cages are simply too short and flimsy to support tomatoes through the lifespan of the plant. Determinate tomatoes, with plants that are bushy, produce some of the larger tomato types such as beefsteak tomatoes. Most cages can't support such tomato growth well. Indeterminate tomatoes, which are varieties such as cherry and grape tomatoes, climb more and could get quite tall under ideal growing conditions. The cages are nowhere near tall enough for them to grow to their full capacity. 

Though tomatoes are relatively fuss-free plants for beginning gardeners, growing them within the inverted cone of the common tomato cage tends to overcrowd and cramp them, resulting in potential pest problems due to lack of airflow. Being densely packed within the cage also means the plant may not get all of the sunlight it needs to produce healthy tomatoes. 

If you decide not to use pre-made tomato cages, there's no need to let those tomatoes fend for themselves with no support. The simplest supports are often much better than cages, as they're far more customizable. Push 6-foot bamboo poles into the ground, spacing them about 2 feet apart, to create the sides of a simple tomato ladder. Make the rungs of the ladder by tying thinner bamboo rods across the posts every couple feet. This is a great way to repurpose other scrap wood or dowels you have on hand too; there's no need to use bamboo if you already have materials available.

Plant tomatoes beneath the ladder and guide the plant through the rungs to give it support as it grows. Bamboo or any garden stakes also work well to make tipi-style trellises for tomato plants that grow tall. Push three tall, flexible stakes firmly into the ground to make an invisible triangle around the plant, then bend the top of the stakes together, tying them up tipi-style at the top. Use garden twine to loosely loop the thicker tomato vines around any one of the stakes to support the vine as it grows. 

Get creative. Virtually any type of sturdy stakes, or even an old wooden ladder, could be transformed into tomato trellises with the help of a little twine. All is not lost for those old circular tomato cages, either. Repurpose them into bases for stunning DIY birdbaths or saucer-style bird feeders.