Of all the plants I grow in my edible garden, I have to say, my favorite are tomatoes! But, I don’t love the constant challenge of trying to keep them supported as they get really tall and wild. Yes, I’ve tried just about everything, but nothing worked well enough and at the same time, looked good enough in the garden for my taste…until now. Meet the ultimate tomato cage!
My “ultimate tomato cages” at work in the GGWTV garden. There are 24 and counting!
My ah-ha moment came as I was looking for more uses for those incredibly versatile livestock panels. I use them all around the garden, for supporting vining crops like cucumbers and peas, keeping my goats from eating some of my plants and one of my favorite uses, setting them on top of the beds at planting time for a handy grid template.
One of my favorite uses of these versatile panels is for my planting templates.
So why not use them for supporting tomatoes too? They meet all 7 of my criteria for what it takes to be considered the ultimate tomato cage: sturdy, tall enough, wide enough, rust resistant, attractive, storable, and long lasting.
You get livestock panels at the farm and tractor supply stores. Each one is 16 feet long and just over 4 feet wide. They’re made of galvanized metal and super sturdy.
Although I’m sure I didn’t invent this method for supporting tomatoes, I’ve never seen it in use, so my design is just what evolved through trial and error and settling on the ideal size for me. Yet these panels are large enough to adapt to almost any size you prefer.
In my case, I get one complete cage at the height and width I like, with some pieces left over that I can use elsewhere in the garden. That way, the entire panel gets used with no waste. While you might consider the cost of a livestock panel at $20 a bit expensive for a single tomato cage, considering that these will last for years and with all the usable excess pieces, I think it’s a very good deal.
You just need two things to make these cages. One livestock panel for each cage (select the panel style that has a grid pattern approximately 6 inches square). You also need a pair of bolt cutters. My pair cost about $22 at Home Depot and well worth it. I tried a smaller pair but found they made my the palms of my hands sore after a short while of cutting. For the small difference in price and a one-time purchase, the larger size is well worth it.
Here are the steps on how I make the Ultimate Tomato Cage:
1. Place one full livestock panel on a flat surface. A driveway works well. Using a complete panel, count across the width so you have six complete squares and cut away the rest, all the way down the length of the panel.
Large bolt cutters and a flat surface make for quick work
2. With the width of the long panel now reduced to 6 squares, I count down from one end 9 squares, and cut all the way across, just above the horizontal piece at the bottom of this 9th square.
With the width of the original panel reduced to the desired size, now it’s time to cut for the desired height.
I prefer the bottom of this panel to have long vertical pieces that can be driven extra deep into the soil to serve as the anchoring stakes. If you choose this extra deep option, then cut away the horizontal pieces one level up at the 8th square also (the equivalent of two squares deep) as shown below.
Cut away the horizontal pieces, between the vertical pieces. This leaves long spikes to anchor each panel in the soil.
3. I then repeat step 2, starting from the other end of the original panel and count down 9 squares. Once you cut across this piece, you now have 3 remaining pieces. The middle piece is now a nice sized panel with many versatile uses in and around the garden.
The two remaining pieces are what will make up your cage support.
4. Place one of the sections under a piece of straight lumber at least as long as the panel so that 3 squares are showing against the straight edge of the lumber. I like to have the panel facing up so the long vertical rib is resting against the edge of the wood edge. This serves as a good guide and support as you bend up the panel from the outside edge towards you until you get a 90-degree angle.
The edge of a board serves as a good anchor for leverage and a straight guide for bending the panel towards you.
Then simply repeat this process for the other panel.
5. Stand the panels so the lose spike ends are facing up. Take a second to straighten each one so when they are set in place in the soil, they all go in evenly.
Taking a few seconds to straighten the ends will make inserting them into the soil much easier.
Now it’s simply a matter of inserting them in the garden bed around each plant so that when both panels are installed, they form a square cage with the plant centered in the middle.
With straight spikes as the anchors, both panels should match up nearly perfectly.
A final but optional step to make it tidy is to secure each piece together with small cable ties. I use 4-inch ties, one at the top, one in the middle and one towards the bottom of each seam. This holds the panels firmly together and gives added stability and a seamless, solid look.
The tomato plants adapt beautifully while growing into their new homes.
That’s all there is to it. These cages are super sturdy, tall enough and just wide enough so as not to crowd the plant but still leave ample room for other cages in the bed. However, if you prefer even a taller or wider cage, a single panel in its original size allows for both.
At the end of the season, cut away the cable ties, separate the panels and stack them in a neat pile until the next time, and for many years after that.
So what do you think? Do you like? How would you improve upon this? I would love to put all the brainpower out there to work. I’m anxious to hear your thoughts!
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
Hi Joe, Great post. What is the size of your cutters? 14 inch or larger? I am getting ready to do this project. Thanks
Well, they were the largest I saw at the time I bought them at Home Depot. I am sure the handles are longer than 14″, likely more like 24″. And I can say with certainty, the longer handles make for much greater leverage and easier cutting! This is appreciated on the first panel cuts, but especially if you are cutting multiple panels during your project Tony. Good luck. You will love them!
I use concrete reinforcing wire in my garden all the time. But instead of making caging with them, it is MUCH more efficient to just use posts and just make a “line” down the middle of the row. I hang them on the metal posts so they are not touching the ground, so I can hoe and till under them. I never take them down. Then as the tomatoes grow, I just periodically tie them to the row “fence”. Beans, cucumbers, sweet potatoes all grow up them fine. And as you rotate your garden, even with plants that don’t need to climb, with each square on the row panel being 6 inches, it makes it super easy to plant things with even spacing. And at $120 for a 150 ft roll, I can get plant support for 6, 24ft rows. That’s $20 for a whole row! However, I did not know about livestock panels, and it would be nice not to have to deal with rusty wire, but since I don’t take them down, it’s not that big a deal. But had I known about non rusting 16 foot livestock panels, I would have used them and made my rows 16ft long (or 32 ft long and used two per row).
Mighty Cages are great, and for indeterminate tomatoes, trellises are better! (At least for some of us).
I use these wonderful inventions I copied from Steve Solomon’s book Gardening West of the Cascades: http://s713.photobucket.com/user/heatherkent1/library/Tomato%20System?sort=3&page=1
And then use this system to prune and train them: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/videos/video-v60.html
With this system plants are spaced only 18 inches apart, have great air circulation and everything is off the ground and so easy to pick.
Happy Gardening!
interested in making these tomato cages…how many cages do you get from one 50″x16′ panel? I see you cutting two sections (halves) for one cage, so is it one cage per 16′ panel?
thank you
Thanks for the great tomato cage design, Joe. Since we’re retired and on a limited income, I figured out a way to make it just a bit more economical. Instead of cutting the section nine squares high I cut them to eight squares high so that I wind up getting three sections out of a 16′ cattle panel with no waste in the long end. Rather than cut two of the horizontal bars I only cut one – and the cutting is already done on two of the three pieces when you make the first cut. That means that my in-ground tines are only eight inches long, and I agree that’s not very stable – but I resolved that problem as well. I used 2 by 8 treated lumber to make my raised beds and made each individual bed two inches wider (interior measurement) than the wire panels (one inch clearance on every side). I then installed four screw eyes – one near each corner of the wooden bed frame about an inch down from the top. Then, when I placed the panels I sunk them so that the bottom horizontal wire is just even with the top of the bed frame. Finally, I used an 8″ zip tie at each corner and attached just above the bottom tine and through the screw eye. This assures that the cage will be extremely stable despite the shorter ground tines – and I can get three cages out of two cattle panels rather than two, saving a bunch off the biggest cost of the project. They look fantastic and I can’t wait to see what it looks like when my tomatoes are filling these cages. Thanks again!
I love it Bill! Thank you for taking the time to share your modification here. It’s exciting to see what other innovative and savvy gardeners do like you. I too make use of the middle section / extra piece of my panels as I make another cage as well. It’s a bit shorter but perfect for my peppers and dwarf tomatoes. Good luck and send pictures of your happy tomatoes in their new home!
Hi Joe I was not able to get the new seasons 8 show, I am heart broken since I follow your older shows and I do get some really good information out of them, I live in Connecticut but for some reason your new show has not been on yet. Hope to see some of them later on in the season. Keep up the good work of informing us garden folks we do appreciate all that good information, E O’Connor
Hi Eleanor. I know it’s frustrating to not be able to watch our current shows as they are released. If you’re able, this is the biggest reason we post all our new episodes online on our website so people can watch them as soon as they are available. I hope that helps. Thanks for writing.
thanks for the video. My gripe is that unnecessary background “music” that makes your voice much harder to hear. Obviously the purpose of the video was cage-making , not entertaining. Think of it-just two elements : visuals and voice explaining steps and no jokes, bad banjo ,card tricks-just info.
Hello Joe,
I do not grow in raised beds, so I adapted your idea for tomatoe cages to fit my rows of plants. I simply take 2, full-size livestock panels and run them parallel to one another, 18 inches apart and secure them to t-posts with sturdy zip ties. End of season take down is made easy with a snip of the zip ties. Great for rotational gardening!
Glad to hear this Carla. I’ve thought about this approach even in raised beds. Sure seems like a lot less work and less livestock panels too! And your idea is perfect for your application. I’m pretty sure if I was growing in in-ground beds, I’d do the same thing.
Thanks for your post here.
hello very helpful
For ease of assembly ( and the fact that that the store was out of bolt cutters and were willing to cut the 16′ panels in half for me, ) I opted for the circular more or less) cages and placed them atop the earth , using steel posts as the anchors to attaché them too. While not quite as high as I’d like, they seem super sturdy and I could probably simply cut a 2′ section and attach it to the top with wire if extra height is needed. Those cylindrical store bought cages have become worthless.
Great tips all around .
Ingenious. My husband just bought (40) 8′ long cattle panels for 9.99 each. He is suppose to use them to keep our daughter’s goats from going onto the neighboring golf course as our black wire dog fence has been ripped to shreds by the Nigerian dwarf goats. These panels are shiny and I don’t think the golfers are going to like that. Can anyone tell me how to tarnish them or know if they will naturally tarnish? They don’t seem like the galvanized texture. Will be sure to keep some out for tomato cages!!!
Joe, the only improve I could offer would be to replace plastic ties with hog rings fasteners. They would last much longer. Thanks for sharing your brilliant ideas!
V/r, Brad
Joe,
Great video and love the idea. That said, I do have a question about your raised beds. We are rather space limited in our yard and have been trying the garden box method with minimal success. Thinking about borrowing your idea ans making more of an actual bed though. Can you advise as to what you used? Are those simply 4×4 posts stacked, are they cedar/pine/cca lumber? Also, would you or do you suggest lining the inside with a thin plexiglass to get some additional life out of the wood, especially if not using treated wood?
Would appreciate your help as I would like to install it at the end of the season so we are simply ready to go next year. May be throwing in some cool tomato cages as well. Although not sure where to get the materials up here on Long Island.
Thx..!
James
Hi James. Here’s a link to an article I wrote that gives the details of my raised bed garden: the type of wood I chose and why, the layout, fencing, irrigation, etc. And if you go to the website and type in “raised bed” into the search field, you’ll find a lot more about my beds, and watch the show on how I actually made them. Here’s the link to the details: https://www.growingagreenerworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/GGW-Raised-Bed-Garden.pdf
Hi Joe, Stumbled across your page and idea on making tomato cages. Thanks for the great tutorial. Do you recommend a specific wire gauge? Can you give me finished measurements of cage? Also, regarding the discussion of weaving the plant through the grid, I purchased fishing net very inexpensively that I love. It’s polyester, (I think) so I can use it many years but it’s diamond shaped instead of square which makes the weaving easier. It’s not my idea, found in SFG book. I personally love this set up and the walls of green. Hubby is not as excited hence my research for cages.
Hi Janet. Above ground, the cage stands 56″ tall, 18″ wide and 16″ below ground with those “spikes” to anchor the cages. I don’t have a preference on specific wire gauge. But I do like the gauge used to make the livestock panels. They’re thick enough to be good and sturdy but not so think that they’re too hard to bend. They’re just right.
I’ve been using cattle panel segments for years also. Big plants + strong winds…necessitate a sturdier foundation…I drive a small (4′) fence post or piece of rebar into the ground and tie one corner of the cage to it with a wire bundle tie. Absolutely indestructible.
Larger cattle fence segments make a great trellis for climbing veggies. I lean the fence segment onto a couple small fence posts (at about 45 degrees), tie them together and watch my Armenian cukes climb.
Each fall I dissemble the parts, store them until spring and start again!
thank you for the idea !
Cattle panels work greatfor green beans , but I use concreat wire for tomatoes. Hope somebody comes up with a row cover for tomatoes when their calling for late frosy or freeze
Use a hula hoop cut and cover with old sheet which already
has the hem in each end to feed the hoop through or an old shower curtain.
I just finished making these tomato cages over the weekend. I already like them so much even with my tomatoes about 6″ tall. I did make them smaller so its a 16″ square and some that are 20″ square, just because I still need to work on the spacing of my garden. I hope that I can walk between them at the end of the year.
Thanks for the post and I love the show.
Awesome Amanda. Good for you and glad you like them. I just finished with installing all 32 in my garden this past weekend. And yes, the plants are tiny inside the cages for now. But it won’t be long before they grow over the top.
Over 35 years ago I used concrete wire which is 5-6 feet tall. I cut the wire to make round cages which I still use today. The rust on them adds character to the garden. It is easier to make than yours. It is cheaper also. If fact, mine were free as people threw out the wire.
To each his own Urban. I love my cages, and don’t find them hard to make. I’ve used the round cages that you’ve described but for reasons I’ve listed, prefer my version. Yes, they cost about $14/cage but it’s well worth it for the differences these offer over the round ones.
A note for discouraging tomato predators: Hang red Xmas balls on your tomato plants early on. Not sure about squirrels, but birds will try them out and soon become discouraged. They rarely come back when the actual tomatoes are red!
Love this idea! Just lost my first red ripe tomatoes to predators. Will try to get some Christmas baubles on sale and fix to my plants! Thank you 🙂
Sara what a great idea! I have tried kids plastic windmills, silver bird-ways streamer tape….etc,etc, & the birds still seem to peck away at the tomatoes when ripe. I do keep adequate sources of water for the birds to drink in my yard too. I will try the red Christmas balls this upcoming Spring 2017. My husband always laughs at the things I put back there to deter the pests. He will think I’m totally off my rocker now LOL.
Cattle panels are expensive. I use concreat wire and cut them 6 feet long , but I use panels for green beans works great
I can buy a panel of the concrete wire for $8.00 at Lows, works great and is very strong.I like the rust because it blends in with the plants.Will virtually last forever.
They rust really bad and look like shit
you better make sure your tetanus shot is up to date
If I’m not mistaken, tetanus doesn’t eat metal or eat rust. It lives in the soil, and rusty metal when in the soil gives tetanus a vehicle into your bloodstream.
But yes, my concrete wire tomato cages also look like shit. All of them, As well as the 10′ high 20′ walls of beans growing on concrete wire strapped to T-posts every year with the same wires (we just leave them on the cwire. Eventually they rust. The whole bunch of cwire cost me $10. Got a roll of concrete wire from a neighbor who wanted to throw it out. Paid him 10 because I knew it was worth way more to me.
I use old plumbing pipe to support the upper sections of bean fence since the T-posts only go about 5′ up.
Talk about production in a small area. Better be sure to use soaker hoses or lots of organic material. And put the chicken stuff to work!
I cut each panel in half, which gives me two pieces 8′ long. I then bend them into a circle and wire or zip tie them together. I don’t cut “legs” into the bottom, but instead just set them on top of the soil and pound a fence post next to each tomato plant, and wire the cage to the fence post. This keeps them rock solid, and I don’t lose any height below ground. At the end of the season, just cut the wire of cable tie, and they go completely flat for storage.
Been doing this for a while but I cut all corners and use Hog Rings on the corners so I can fold flat and hang out of my way .
I have very similar cages made from cattle panels, but I attach one corner with hog rings. They’re sturdier than the cable ties that I use on the other corner. I can still cut the ties and store them stacked. Although my stacks have two “humps”. But a great article and i agree, cattle panels are great!
My husband makes these with three sides so that they can lay flat for storage in the winter.
Id take the loose bits you cut from the bottoms and shape them around the one side of each pannel, connecting them and creating a hinge while still letting them be stacked. 0 waste. Nice work though.. ive been wanting to order some cattle panels for trellises and now i may add a couple more to my list.
I made a green house and chicken tractor with cattle panels gonna try this idea
I’ve used these as well, but I prefer fencing with larger “holes”. A couple of things to keep in mind:
1) Make sure you can pull your hand in and out of the cage holes with whatever you’re growing in it, and
2) Make sure that whatever you’re growing will actually fit thru the cage holes.
Agreed Jas. While I never stated it in my post, these “holes” are 8″ tall and 6″ wide. Plenty of room, at least for reaching in to harvest tomatoes.
Thanks Joe for spreading the word on Cattle Panels, I. Have been using them for over 20 years, however I do not bend them, I keep them flat for ease of storage, then join the flat panels together with cable ties, also they work great for verticle trellises for Cucumbers, Beans, and Peas, with a couple lengths of Rebar on either side pounded in the ground for support, these I use as half sheets, that being 4 foot wide by 8 feet tall, if the trellises are in a more permanent position, then I use adjustable hose clamps to secure the Cattle Panel to the Rebar posts. They are a bit of an investment, however they are very heavy duty and should last a lifetime, so given that they really are a great value.
Jeff, you’re doing what I’ve been doing for several years. Tried the concrete wire before switching to cattle panels. At a farm store, cattle panels come 16 feet long and look better and last longer and are stronger than concrete wire.
To grow my cantaloupes I also take a flat piece of cattle panel upright, but inclined about 30 degrees and supported with posts. As the vines climb the wires the developing melons hang down, but are off the ground. To support the fruit I make little baggies out of pieces of pantyhose, and as the fruits appear I arrange a baggie around each one, then attach the baggie to the wire. The baggies support the fruit and stretch to fit as they grow. As they near ripeness, all I have to do is wiggle the vine where it attaches to the melon, and when it comes free easily – perfect ripeness. No discoloration, no deformities, and no bugs. As close to perfect as they can be.
Joe,
Great article and great responses and support from your fans. Keep up the informative how-to news. I’ll be building your worm box one of theses days.
Have you thought about growing mushrooms? I’m going to try that in my workshop where I can control the environment and light. Will have to buy the spawn to start, but after that, (if it works), I hope they will reproduce on their own.
I can see that you are very excited about your find. I congratulate you on your find.
I have found my own type of cage. I use 1/2″ PVC. It is collapsible and can be stored in a very small place. I do not glue it so that I can use it in this small place.It is flexible so that it can expand out for the plant expansion. On the bottom I use PVC that has been cut at a 45 degree to use as stakes as long as I need with the soft sand here in Florida. As it has been said that red helps the tomato give its color better. I can spray paint them red . I do not know if this is true or not but I like to give mother as much help as I can. I can use it hydroponically as well.
I find that wire tends to hurt the plant when and if the plant gets over barren from the weight of the fruit. The roundness of the PVC makes it much easier to cope with. Mine seam to bend and break or split the vine. I can adjust the the length of each shelf as needed or as wide as needed.
I have no photos but I think you get the jest. I hope that you don’t get offended. I label them with blue painters tape for next season use and store them wrapped with a rubber band. Good gardening!
Just an aside – I used to work for a small commercial grower, who used to ripen tomatoes that were picked too green, in red buckets. We do the same with our homegrown tomatoes, and it really does work! The cattle panels are a great idea, too.
Can you give more details, specs and may be a photo of how your trellis looks?
Hi Joe, I use cattle panels too. Only I take one panel hoop it over, stake it at all four ends with t post. Then I plant two tomato plants on each side. As the plants grow up, I tie a rope to the fence and then past the tomato plant tie the rope to the fence. This way I plant four plants to each cattle panel.
Robin, how cool!
You should be able to do that with vining plants too. How about pole beans, cucumbers, etc? How high do you make the hoops? Would be outstanding to just walk into the hoop and start picking, and be in the shade too!
I am already totally satisfied with the way I am doing toms. + recommend it. I do the Mittleider Method trellising and pruning method. It entails pruning the sucker shoots so that you only have 1 or just a few vines. You then wrap or clip the vines to the twine on your trellis. I don’t follow the other aspect of the Mittleider Method, which is growing in sawdust and using chemical ferts.–I’m all organic. This method takes a weekly routine of pruning, but the results are worth it. I even made the front page of my local newspaper with this. I think I’m ready for TV Joe!
Ha! I love hearing success stories on all the different methods. The key is finding what works for you and stick with it. I find my daily tomato patrol very therapeutic.
I would like to learn more on pruning tomatoes, I remove all the suckers, but outside of that I am not sure what to do
Karen,
Here is a link about pruning tomatoes that I wrote. https://joegardener.com/video/how-to-top-tomatoes-what-to-do-when-tomato-plants-get-too-tall/ . I hope it will answer your questions. Happy gardening.
This is a tip regarding the picture of your ultimate tomato cages. The picture is the one of the lettuce with the cattle panel laying on it. I have for the past 6 years been doing this with all of my vegetable gardens with the exception that I raise the panel about a to five inches off the ground. The reason is my cat as well as the neighbor cats were always trying to use my raised beds as a litter box. It has worked flawlessly ever since.
Thank you Joe for all the advise and I look foreword to seeing your show again, mik
I often think I should do the same thing. For now I only use them as a guide to planting and them lift them from the bed. However, I too have cats that like to use those beds. Those panels left on or near the soil surface would surely cramp their style! Thanks for the suggestion Michael.
I did this a bit different, Joe. Instead of cutting the panels, I just bent them into a cylinder then used cable ties to keep them together
My mom did the same, creating 6′ cylinders. At end of season, she simply unfastened the cages & stacked them in the shed.
Thanks for the posting. Some of the seed catalogs offer cages that seem to fold flat for storage and are very similar to what you built. I was wondering if you know about these and how they work? The feedback was invaluable as well. I wonder how the ones made from concrete reinforcing dealt with the rust or did they just ignore it. The grinder was a great idea to minimize the sharp edges and now I know what to use my grinder for. I like the circular rolling idea and leaving spikes at the bottom to anchor the cages. I would be tempted to leave some partial cross pieces to give more strength to the anchor. When I get my raised bed set up I think I will try to anchor my towers using the wooden frame of the bed with bars that go completely from side to side..
There is no better hands on show than yours. The old Victory Garden Show used to show you how to do things, but now they mostly just show things. Keep up the excellent work and I look forward to the new season.
Thanks Craig! While I have had a few foldable flat cages around here, I’ve never used them. Perhaps a little judgmental on my part, but they are not tall enough, and I’m still a stickler for sturdiness. While they may be ample for holding up tomato branches loaded with fruit, I want more substance for my plants, especially in the height.
When I hosted Fresh from the Garden on DIY Network, we used the round cages made from concrete reinforcement wire. They worked just fine. But to give it the extra stability I felt they needed, we drove galvanized piping along side the cages at each end of the bed and one long run that ran through the top of the cages all in a row.
That certainly did the trick for securing the cages. But they were still rusty by the end of the season, and awkward to store at the end of the season.
Joe
the cages look great… but I got a question for you I have been gardening with raised beds for about `15 years now. in the last 3 years my garden has been completely over run with voles to the point of not getting the much harvest. The new plants disappearing over night (reminds me of the old bugs bunny cartoons when the plants were disappearing as fast as Elmer Fudd planted them ) to the plants root systems being chewed up so the plants don’t produce much if any food . I have tried to trap them with mouse traps caught 2 all season. Soon as they detect the trap they fill in that hole so no others will use it . I have tried the castor oil based soil additive to sour the ground but that had limited results . I don’t want to poison my ground with chemicals or gasses after all I eat what I produce. the only thing that I have had success with is to completely dig out the beds and attach a complete barrier of hardware cloth 1/2 inch square across the bottom and fill them back up this is a lot of work and expense . I have seen a big bird of prey .. a hawk I think hunting in my garden and I have placed several black snakes in the garden over the years. you got any suggestions for me ?
barry nc
Sorry to hear about your challenges Barry. Like you, I won’t ever choose a poison option to control voles. In all my research, the only “some what” effective solutions are 1. pulling the mulch away from the base of the plant to expose the vole to predators, 2. enclosing the rootball or growing area in hardware cloth (but who does this really???), and 3. Get lots of cats. Seriously, voles are a definite challenge. I do know how you feel to discover in the course of one day that your plants are a gonner. While you have not had much success with mousetraps, I have heard other gardeners say this is their go-to method, using apples and peanut butter I think. I wish I had better options for you. It’s like trying to realistically control deer–nearly impossible. Short of a physical barrier, very hard to do.
This is how I controled my Voles, I started to just mulch my garden year after year the Voles took over. I learned to rototille every thing. Rototilling reduced there numbers greatly. I removed all piles of mulch from my garden ,moved all composting to other side of property, all branch piles I got rid of. It’s 90% better now. Before I planted 70 tomato plants 17 disappeared just a silver dollar sized hole lift in the ground!
Seems quite expensive if you have a lot of tomatoes to cage. They look great but cattle panels aren’t cheap.
You’re right mommykat if I was looking at this only short term. But as I addressed in the article, I am counting on these lasting a very long time. So I expect they’re costing me about $1.30 or less per year. Considering all the money I’ve spent on bamboo and other stakes and other short-term use systems, I think this is a deal considering the life I expect to get out of them. If all goes as planned, I won’t be spending another dime for at least 15 years on tomato supports. For all they offer compared to the alternatives, in my book it’s money well spent.
I agree with the price – I need about 10 cages each year and couldn’t afford to make these with cattle panels. I just moved and left my cages since there just wasn’t room in the moving van. I make mine with reinforced concrete wire that is 4’X8′. I just make a circle with it and connect with hog staples. Each is 4′ wide by 8′ tall. I lay them on the ground and put two stakes in each one to make them structurally sound. Yes, they rust but that doesn’t bother me. When we lived in IL, my cages lasted 15 years. I will start over here in TN.
So, Joe, let me review, so I’m sure I understand your instructions.
Based on welded-wire panels with 6″ spacing in each direction, the end result is a four-sided cage 3-1/2 ft tall (this dimension can be increased or decreased in 6″ increments, to suit the plant’s height), with each side 18″ wide. The four-sided cage consists of two two-sided panels, bent at a 90 degree angle. By cutting away horizontal pieces (between the 3-1/2 ft and 4-1/2 ft marks), you leave seven foot-long vertical stakes for each two-sided panel.
So after pushing the 14 vertical stakes into the soil, the cage is 1.5’w x 1.5d x 3.5′ h (variable).
Sounds like a durable, attractive cage! (BTW, is your planting template shown in the photo 6″x6″? Looks like rectangles instead of squares.) Another thought: If you use jute twine (instead of cable ties) to secure the corners together, you could tie them in a shoelace bow, which would speed up disassembly at the end of the season. Thanks, Joe.
Hey Greg. The total height of each panel is 72″, with 16″ of that below ground as the spikes (just two squares worth of height are below ground).That leaves 56″ above ground for the cage. Each “square” is really 8″ high by 6″ wide. And yes, the width of each side is 18″.
These dimensions work very well in my raised beds. However, if I were placing these into “in-ground” beds, I’d make them one square taller and wider, just because you’d have the luxury of the room and from ground level, an extra bit of height from the cage would be good. And with one panel, you could easily adjust to this.
Joe,
I have used multiple types of wire fencing for home made tomato cages. The heat in the Southwest can cause the wire to burn the plants. I suggest plastic coated wire fencing. If the holes are too small, as they were in some extra fencing I used, clip out a cross with 4 cuts in the fencing for access in several areas in the center of the cage so the structural integrity is not compromised but you have full access. Lastly, instead of lashing the cage together after it is placed in the ground, I made one side a row longer and trimmed off fencing except for the three to four places where I left a couple of inches of metal sticking out. I used pliers to wrap it around and secure the structure. Easily done if you “prebend” the metal before insertion into the ground.
Great tips Greg. I love getting feedback like this on what works (and what doesn’t) in different parts of the country. That is some kind of hot to have the metal of the cage burn your plants. Thanks for the comments Greg.
my all time favorite power tool is my angle grinder. with a good metal cutting blade, you could make the cuts quickly and easily but without the sharp nubs.
Mo, I like your comment. Those nubs are dangerously sharp. Always wear gloves and leather shoes or boots. I’ve had my work boots sliced with the nubs
Hello Joe
. I started using a these cattle panels last year. I bent them into a V shape and secured the two ends with a 2×2. I cut a dadoe in the ends of the 2×2 just deep enough to capture the wire and secured it with a zip tie. The 2×2 are 6ft. long. I then stood them on end. I ended up with tunnel about 25 ft. long and 8ft. high. I grew indeterminate tomatoes on each side. It worked great having tomatoes hanging on the inside and outside. I retired my tomato cages this year. They worked great for my cucumbers and pole beans too. I also tried some Butternut squash but that wasn’t so good. In the fall I used two of them for leaves. I took off the 2×2 and zip tied the ends together. I filled it full of leaves. It holds a lot of threw the lawnmower leaves. This spring I took the panels back off and now they are doing garden duty. They are a great investment. I got this idea off of TSC’s website from some guy from Texas.
I’ve done something similar with concrete reinforcement wire. I cut them in 40 inch lengths and cut off the bottom cross pieces leaving 6 inch tines to push into the ground. I form the cage into a cylinder, no fold as the wire comes rolled up in a cylinder. Since we have strong winds from time to time in southeastern Washington state, I also drive in a metal fence post next to the cage and attach it with 8 inch piece of wire (no more wind problems blowing down my tomatoe plants. I also block the base with plastic when the plants are small. I’ve been using the same tomatoe cages for about 18 years – pretty inexpensive on year to year basis. I think the wire is about $50 and the metal post about $7, but I was able to get 5 tomatoe cages and 3 smaller pepper cages with the leftover wire. Hope this helps someone with windy days.
I use concrete reinforcing wire, cut to the width I like , rolled into a circle, fastened with the cut ends folded back upon itself. Comes in a large roll in Lowes or Home Depot. It is five feet tall.
I secure them to the bed with an electrical conduit pipe which is relatively inexpensive. This way when the plants grow higher then the cage I have something to tie them to !
At the end of the season I just leave them rolled up, and store them as is.
Hey Joe,
I’m glad you shared the way you make your cages. I just found out about cattle panels about two years ago when I decided to erect a cattle panel greenhouse for starting seedlings which I find works well until temperatures get below 28°F. In late spring, I removed the greenhouse plastic and converted them into a bean trellis which worked great. http://simplyresourceful.blogspot.com/search?q=cattle&x=0&y=0
This year is my first attempt at using them for tomatoes. I ended up using the whole 16′ section along the row of my tomatoes with fence post stakes securing the panel on both sides. I plan on weaving the tomatoes through the grid as they grow. I’m not sure how well this will work, but if I have success, I’ll try to remember to let you know and post a link to my wife’s blog on how it worked. She did show just a small snippet of our setup towards the bottom of this post: http://simplyresourceful.blogspot.com/2015/05/baker-creek-spring-planting-festival.html
Hey Jonathan. Happy to share that info and was excited to do so, once I was convinced they were as good as I had hoped.
Glad you mentioned the single panel idea. I really contemplated that last year but never pulled the trigger. I’m anxious to hear how that goes–especially with containing and managing the plants as they grow outward. I know with farms that grow tomatoes, it’s a common practice to just use one long support, such as your idea or the Florida Weave method. And it seems to be the most cost-effective solution for large production.
Do keep me posted on how this works for you. Would love updates. Thanks for your comment.
I like the idea of the cattle fencing, however my desire to use it would be to roll it in a hoop and cover with tight plastic fencing with small enough spaces to keep out squirrels – I have no problem growing lots of tomatoes, but the squirrels see the blush before I do. By the time I see it the bottom half is gone.
If my thought works then I’ll do it for the fruit trees.
Good morning,
Joe and Doug, thanks for the two alternatives to the standard tomatoes cages. I’ll certainly give this a try next growing season. Looking forward to the new episode in July.
John
These really look great Joe. I saw a variation on this at a nearby restaurant garden: They zig zaged the panels … made each one in the shape of a loose Z, and then planted a tomato plant on each face. They were in a row… very attractive. They did have to tie the tomato plants to the panels. We lucked out a few years ago when a grower went out of business and sold her round cages made out of the panels. We do have to tie them to rebar posts in the ground, but they have held up very well, look nice and are pretty easy to stack on their sides like a pyramid.
We enjoy every new show and appreciate all you do! Thanks so much! Linda
congrats on 6 seasons – the episodes are educational and entertaining –
one thing to note under section 4
4. Place one of the sections under a piece of “strait” lumber at
should be spelled “straight”
also just curious… what was your average lumber cost to build each bed – I’m looking at doing something similar – from a previous episode, I think you mentioned they are 4×12 and 18 inches deep using 6×6 cedar
Thanks Dave for catching that!
You’re right about the bed size and height. The cost of each 16′ timber was about $90. But it varies based on supply. I got wholesale quotes that ran from $90 – $120 each. If you do this, call around for quotes as it can really fluctuate. Admittedly, this was a major investment for these raised beds. But as I’ve said before, it’s a one-time spend and built to last a lifetime. I love everything about them, and the wood has held up incredibly well.
Our biggest concern with these panels are the extremely razor-sharp ends left after cutting them. We use a file to smooth them off, as we have both been cut handling the cut pieces. Otherwise, they are great for around the yard-den!
Excellent tip Jessie! I too thought about the exposed edges. They can be dangerous. Taking the edge off with file is the perfect solution. Thanks very much for your suggestion.
Use a tube of caulk on those ends make a cap on the sharp edges
Joe,
Tickled to see your use of cattle panels. I’ve been using them for years just as you have noted. Super strong and durable, they last much longer than the welded wire fencing I used to use.
Only thing I do differently is to make round cages instead of box-like. Yes, it’s really hard to make those square corners, (I used to use my tractors front loader to hold the panel down). So I figured out to just roll up a piece, like a giant tube, and secure the ends together.
At the end of the season just just unfasten the ends and the pieces try to straighten out, then they can all just nest together for easy storage.
They work great for any kind of vining plant. I even use a piece at an angle to support cantalopes. The cantalopes hang down in the air and stay insect free. To help support them I use little bags made from pieces of old panty hose that I put the young cantalope in then tie up to the wires. The bag stretches as the melon grows, and we have perfect fruit that’s is easy to pick at its peak when the vines just slip off.
I love you programs and your newsletter. Thanks.
Hi Doug. Gosh, I didn’t think about the fact that round panels would try to straighten themselves out once you unhooked them. That certainly addresses the storage issue. That is great to know and I’m sure will be a relief to people wanting even a simpler option.
BTW, the front loader is a clever idea to use as a solid straight edge. Thanks for these tips Doug!