One thing I would do different, is add a beam across the bottom just a bit above the soil line. I tie the strings to that beam instead of to the plant. Not only does that help to get a taut line, it also avoids damage or severing the vine in that area when the wind tosses the plant about a bit and tugs on it. I've heard of using a tent peg to anchor the string in the planting hole and then planting the tomato plant on top. But I like the bottom beam for tying on the best for areas that get strong winds blowing through.
I raise Goliath tomatoes and they need serious support. So we just took some large tomato cages and wired two together. We also added rebar stakes to support the plants in wind storms. Not our first option. We wanted hog fencing to bend into square cages but can’t transport the fencing with our car. Your trellis option looks good, as long as we use super strong materials. Goliaths are very tall and they grow very large tomatoes.
OMG! Thank you! I've been growing so-so tomatoes for years, never knowing about indeterminate & determinate plants. This helps ALOT!!! So eager to create your trellises too! 🍅🍅🍅
Growing indeterminate tomatoes you may want to consider using cattle panels attached to t-posts. I keep them about a foot off the ground which provides 5' in height. Once the plant exceeds 5' I simply begin to train them horizontally.
Hey Jordan. Love your videos. I yarned mine last year. I had amazing production but all the strings broke from the weight of the plant and weathering. This year I am going to try a stake attached to the trellis to wrap around and hopefully no breakage. I will be watching to see how yours goes. Good luck
For my indeterminate tomatoes I use a piece of 8' strapping driven well into the raised bed. It's notched every two inches. I tie the plant to it at the notches so they never slip. Very easy.
We swear by the 444 fertilizer. Our tomatoes we struggling so when potted them on we added some, presto, within a couple of dayss we saw huge improvement!! Nice work predrilling!! We built the most hilarious "structure", definitely overkill lol but it was free down to screws and great practice!! Your trellises look great Jord !! We're trying the clips again this year. Hope you're doing awesome Cheers J&C 🌱🤞🌱
I saw James Prigioni doe something slightly different, he put a 1 X 1 along the row of tomatoes, used screws or fasteners to connect the 1 X 1 to the top of the trellis. Apparently his garden was hit with string gusts which severed his tomatoes when he did what you have done here. The strings were taught between the top of the trellis and the 1X 1. He also grows monster sized tomatoes that reach 10 ft and higher.
I have both determinate and indeterminate tomatoes this year. I went to Canadian Tire, bought some bamboo hoops, and those will be for the determinate tomatoes.
While string trellises work really well to keep tomatoes vertical, they DO NOT work very well in areas that can get very high wind gusts! I had a cherry tomato plant (indeterminate) that I had growing on a string 3 seasons ago. It was about 5-6 feet tall when we had a storm come through. The winds actually split the stem in half about 4 inches above the soil! Thankfully, I had some floral tape and I used a small stick to "splint" it back together. Fortunately, the "splint" held for the rest of the season and the plant ended up somewhere between 10-12 feet tall!! We got a TON of tomatoes off that one plant. :D Since then, I have been using stakes. We have a bunch of cedar saplings on our farm and I've been able to cut some to use as stakes (although you could use bamboo or whatever you have access to). When possible, I try to plant at least 3 (preferably 4) in the same raised bed so that I can tie the stakes together at the top to form a teepee (wigwam). These stakes keep the tomatoes vertical, but add additional support to help with the wind. However, I noticed that some of my "beefsteak" type tomatoes got so big that they were starting to break off the vine before they were ripe. I may have to use cradles on them this year. ;)
@@gwendyrose8905 It seems like wind has been an issue for folks! I've been tying my tomatoes up for 3+ years and haven't lost any to wind... yet! Knock on wood :) If I do end up losing some well that will end up just being a really good little learning experience!
Very much enjoying your videos. We're trellising tomatoes in cages. We're also hoping to trellis pole beans and cucumbers. Will they work in the same 15' x 20' plot?
the large trellis, is that something that you are moving each season so that you are using different soil to grow the tomatoes? Im concerned about building a structure like this and having issues with blight due to planting the tomatoes in the same bed year after year
Great question Victoria! I grow my tomatoes in the same location every year so it's a fixed structure. I don't move my tomatoes because I want them to be in the location where they will get the absolute most sun. And so there are two primary reasons for doing crop rotation: nutrients & diseases. On the nutrients front, since it's just a backyard environment I am able to amend the beds each season to ensure they're topped up with nutrients. So the only reason I would move them is if I was noticing disease on the plants on a more frequent basis, but I haven't had that happen (fingers crossed)! With that said, it would be fairly easy to pop this trellis out and move it to a new location if needed!
When do you take all the lower leaves off? We have flowers but no fruit ATM. I just wanna make sure I take off the leaves when I need to and not leave them on to make more work for the plant.
Great question Cheryl! You can take the lower leaves off effectively immediately. This is good to do as it decreases any soil borne disease from interacting with the plant!
@@cherylhowker1792 Great question Cheryl! So I take all the foliage growth off of the bottom 12" of the plant, so that there is nothing between the soil and the first set of leaves besides the main stem! And then as the plant grows what you'll notice is that between the main stem and each leaf branch there will be a new little set of leaves growing between them on each of the leaf branches there will be a new branch growing between them. These are called suckers, and I pinch them off as well! It's a little confusing to explain by message here so let me know if you have any questions and then keep your eyes peeled for a video in the next little bit!
@@MindandSoil yea I'm finding it confusing, probably just me,I have autism and don't always get things via text like this.i learn best by 'copy me do' as we have always called it. Simply I copy what you show me to do,not exactly you,but my mum or brother or support staff. But ATM noone have ever done veg growing. My nan did potatoes and tomato back in the day,but when I said about taking the leaves off she said she never did that lol so don't know.
Any suggestions for how to make a trellis like this work for a rooftop container garden that gets hit with the afternoon Squamish windies? My A-frame style bamboo trellis didn't hold up to the wind, so now I have to figure something else out!
Hey Aleisha! This should work for a rooftop and container garden - the only difference is going to be the base. You're going to want to make sure you have a sturdy and heavy base (so that when the wind hits it it doesn't run the risk of falling over). You could even put sand bags on the base to add more weight. And then from there it's just going to be the same 2x pieces of wood going up and then a piece going across the middle connecting them - this will probably be a longer piece of wood for you as I was only going with a 2ft raised bed. Let me know if any of that needs to be further clarified!
Is a bush tomato plant a determent ? Some of my seeds said indeterminate ,and some said they were a bush tomato I think this means determinate. I think what do you say ?
Is there anyway to tell if your plants are determinant or Indeterminant by looking at the plant? I have 10 plants that I got from trade with strangers. I don’t know what variety they are or have a way to ask the people I traded with.
That's a great question! So the biggest difference you'll want to look for is the amount of space between each leaf branch. For determinants they are much bushier and smaller. For indeterminants there is much more space between each leaf branch. So, if I was in your shoes I would basically sort them by those having the most space and those having the least space between the stems. For the ones with a lot of space between stems (say 3" or more) you can safely assume they are indeterminate and then both trellis and prune accordingly. For the ones with less space between, you may want to not prune those at all and let all the suckers come in. Wondering what on earth a sucker is and how to prune a tomato plant? Well, stay tuned 😎
@@MindandSoil Thank you for this. I will do as you say, but it still might be hard because they are all very different heights. Coming from all different people, I think they were planted all at different times. 4 of them are a meter already, and some are not even a foot. They seem very different. I did learn that 2 of the 10 are tiny tim, 2 are cherry, and 2 are marmande. I just have no idea what is what and what the other 4 are haha! And yes, I don't know what you mean when you say prune and sucker. Please follow up!
The term is DETERMIN-ate- it means that the height is fixed. AND INDETERMIN-ate- meaning it is a vine that will continue growing as long as the season holds out. You are sticking in an extra 'n' near the end of the words.
Hmm, great question! Haha! I would probably suggest staking the trellis into the ground beside the raised bed? If that is possible.Thanks for watching :)
One thing I would do different, is add a beam across the bottom just a bit above the soil line. I tie the strings to that beam instead of to the plant. Not only does that help to get a taut line, it also avoids damage or severing the vine in that area when the wind tosses the plant about a bit and tugs on it.
I've heard of using a tent peg to anchor the string in the planting hole and then planting the tomato plant on top. But I like the bottom beam for tying on the best for areas that get strong winds blowing through.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing :)
Thank you Jordan for your enthusiasm and wonderful growing tips - always inspiring
I raise Goliath tomatoes and they need serious support. So we just took some large tomato cages and wired two together. We also added rebar stakes to support the plants in wind storms. Not our first option. We wanted hog fencing to bend into square cages but can’t transport the fencing with our car.
Your trellis option looks good, as long as we use super strong materials. Goliaths are very tall and they grow very large tomatoes.
I always wondered if tomatoes grew on both ends. Now I know. Thanks for the info!
Never knew about the determinant and indeterminate varieties! Learn something new everyday!
Love it!
OMG! Thank you! I've been growing so-so tomatoes for years, never knowing about indeterminate & determinate plants. This helps ALOT!!! So eager to create your trellises too! 🍅🍅🍅
Wait until the video this week!!! I'm making one change to the trellis that I think will make it WAY better
Growing indeterminate tomatoes you may want to consider using cattle panels attached to t-posts. I keep them about a foot off the ground which provides 5' in height. Once the plant exceeds 5' I simply begin to train them horizontally.
Yeah I have seen lots of cool stuff with cattle panels - definitely interested in playing around with them in the future!
Hey Jordan. Love your videos. I yarned mine last year. I had amazing production but all the strings broke from the weight of the plant and weathering. This year I am going to try a stake attached to the trellis to wrap around and hopefully no breakage. I will be watching to see how yours goes. Good luck
For my indeterminate tomatoes I use a piece of 8' strapping driven well into the raised bed. It's notched every two inches. I tie the plant to it at the notches so they never slip. Very easy.
Great tip! Thanks for watching :)
We swear by the 444 fertilizer. Our tomatoes we struggling so when potted them on we added some, presto, within a couple of dayss we saw huge improvement!! Nice work predrilling!! We built the most hilarious "structure", definitely overkill lol but it was free down to screws and great practice!! Your trellises look great Jord !! We're trying the clips again this year.
Hope you're doing awesome
Cheers J&C 🌱🤞🌱
Love it!! Keep me posted on how it all does!!
Thanks, I'll be doing something similar. Last year I had 3 tomato plants consume my garden completely
Hahah yeah they sure can take over!!
I saw James Prigioni doe something slightly different, he put a 1 X 1 along the row of tomatoes, used screws or fasteners to connect the 1 X 1 to the top of the trellis. Apparently his garden was hit with string gusts which severed his tomatoes when he did what you have done here.
The strings were taught between the top of the trellis and the 1X 1.
He also grows monster sized tomatoes that reach 10 ft and higher.
I have both determinate and indeterminate tomatoes this year. I went to Canadian Tire, bought some bamboo hoops, and those will be for the determinate tomatoes.
You should be all good! Keep me posted on how they do!
Oh super interesting! If that happens on mine I'll be sure to report back on the damage as well as potential solution!
While string trellises work really well to keep tomatoes vertical, they DO NOT work very well in areas that can get very high wind gusts! I had a cherry tomato plant (indeterminate) that I had growing on a string 3 seasons ago. It was about 5-6 feet tall when we had a storm come through. The winds actually split the stem in half about 4 inches above the soil! Thankfully, I had some floral tape and I used a small stick to "splint" it back together. Fortunately, the "splint" held for the rest of the season and the plant ended up somewhere between 10-12 feet tall!! We got a TON of tomatoes off that one plant. :D
Since then, I have been using stakes. We have a bunch of cedar saplings on our farm and I've been able to cut some to use as stakes (although you could use bamboo or whatever you have access to). When possible, I try to plant at least 3 (preferably 4) in the same raised bed so that I can tie the stakes together at the top to form a teepee (wigwam). These stakes keep the tomatoes vertical, but add additional support to help with the wind. However, I noticed that some of my "beefsteak" type tomatoes got so big that they were starting to break off the vine before they were ripe. I may have to use cradles on them this year. ;)
@@gwendyrose8905 It seems like wind has been an issue for folks! I've been tying my tomatoes up for 3+ years and haven't lost any to wind... yet! Knock on wood :) If I do end up losing some well that will end up just being a really good little learning experience!
That looks like a winner & I'm gonna try it this year. Thank you Jord. Happy Gardening.
Love it! Keep me posted and if you have any questions you know where to find me! :D
@@MindandSoil Always appreciated. You're so helpful.
@@MsSunstoned Ah thanks for that - you da best ❤️
Amazing thanks👍😁👍😁
My pleasure Sharron!! So happy you're enjoying all the videos :D
Thank you thank you thank you!!
Can twine be used instead of yarn? I have yards of twine. Thanks.
We have an allotment garden that needs to be cleared every year. Would you consider using the A frame trellis you demonstrated for tomatoes?
Very much enjoying your videos. We're trellising tomatoes in cages. We're also hoping to trellis pole beans and cucumbers. Will they work in the same 15' x 20' plot?
No horizontal branches?
Wow
😎😎😎
do you leave the trellis in ground all year? is this pressure treated wood or not?
the large trellis, is that something that you are moving each season so that you are using different soil to grow the tomatoes? Im concerned about building a structure like this and having issues with blight due to planting the tomatoes in the same bed year after year
Great question Victoria! I grow my tomatoes in the same location every year so it's a fixed structure. I don't move my tomatoes because I want them to be in the location where they will get the absolute most sun. And so there are two primary reasons for doing crop rotation: nutrients & diseases. On the nutrients front, since it's just a backyard environment I am able to amend the beds each season to ensure they're topped up with nutrients. So the only reason I would move them is if I was noticing disease on the plants on a more frequent basis, but I haven't had that happen (fingers crossed)! With that said, it would be fairly easy to pop this trellis out and move it to a new location if needed!
Should you put 444 in your starts ? Or only when planting?
Is the 4-4-4 super food good for pepper plants as well?
When do you take all the lower leaves off? We have flowers but no fruit ATM. I just wanna make sure I take off the leaves when I need to and not leave them on to make more work for the plant.
Great question Cheryl! You can take the lower leaves off effectively immediately. This is good to do as it decreases any soil borne disease from interacting with the plant!
@@MindandSoil
What do you take them off, I mean do you only take the leaves off under flowers ??
@@cherylhowker1792 Great question Cheryl! So I take all the foliage growth off of the bottom 12" of the plant, so that there is nothing between the soil and the first set of leaves besides the main stem! And then as the plant grows what you'll notice is that between the main stem and each leaf branch there will be a new little set of leaves growing between them on each of the leaf branches there will be a new branch growing between them. These are called suckers, and I pinch them off as well! It's a little confusing to explain by message here so let me know if you have any questions and then keep your eyes peeled for a video in the next little bit!
@@MindandSoil yea I'm finding it confusing, probably just me,I have autism and don't always get things via text like this.i learn best by 'copy me do' as we have always called it. Simply I copy what you show me to do,not exactly you,but my mum or brother or support staff. But ATM noone have ever done veg growing. My nan did potatoes and tomato back in the day,but when I said about taking the leaves off she said she never did that lol so don't know.
@@cherylhowker1792 Thanks for this Cheryl! I'll be launching our video on this in the next few weeks and would love your feedback on it once I do!
Any suggestions for how to make a trellis like this work for a rooftop container garden that gets hit with the afternoon Squamish windies? My A-frame style bamboo trellis didn't hold up to the wind, so now I have to figure something else out!
Hey Aleisha! This should work for a rooftop and container garden - the only difference is going to be the base. You're going to want to make sure you have a sturdy and heavy base (so that when the wind hits it it doesn't run the risk of falling over). You could even put sand bags on the base to add more weight. And then from there it's just going to be the same 2x pieces of wood going up and then a piece going across the middle connecting them - this will probably be a longer piece of wood for you as I was only going with a 2ft raised bed. Let me know if any of that needs to be further clarified!
@@MindandSoil Thanks, that's pretty much what I was thinking too!
Love it! Email me a picture at jordan@mindandsoil.com once you have it built!
What size grow bag do you use for tomatoes?
Is a bush tomato plant a determent ? Some of my seeds said indeterminate ,and some said they were a bush tomato I think this means determinate. I think what do you say ?
Usually a bush tomato is determinate. Google the Tomato name to find out for certain.
Is there anyway to tell if your plants are determinant or Indeterminant by looking at the plant? I have 10 plants that I got from trade with strangers. I don’t know what variety they are or have a way to ask the people I traded with.
That's a great question! So the biggest difference you'll want to look for is the amount of space between each leaf branch. For determinants they are much bushier and smaller. For indeterminants there is much more space between each leaf branch. So, if I was in your shoes I would basically sort them by those having the most space and those having the least space between the stems. For the ones with a lot of space between stems (say 3" or more) you can safely assume they are indeterminate and then both trellis and prune accordingly. For the ones with less space between, you may want to not prune those at all and let all the suckers come in. Wondering what on earth a sucker is and how to prune a tomato plant? Well, stay tuned 😎
@@MindandSoil Thank you for this. I will do as you say, but it still might be hard because they are all very different heights. Coming from all different people, I think they were planted all at different times. 4 of them are a meter already, and some are not even a foot. They seem very different. I did learn that 2 of the 10 are tiny tim, 2 are cherry, and 2 are marmande. I just have no idea what is what and what the other 4 are haha! And yes, I don't know what you mean when you say prune and sucker. Please follow up!
The term is DETERMIN-ate- it means that the height is fixed. AND INDETERMIN-ate- meaning it is a vine that will continue growing as long as the season holds out. You are sticking in an extra 'n' near the end of the words.
I have metal raised beds. How would I fasten the trellis to them?
Hmm, great question! Haha! I would probably suggest staking the trellis into the ground beside the raised bed? If that is possible.Thanks for watching :)
Why 6 1/2 ‘ tall?
this didn't work so well for me, my tomatoes were way to full.
Well if nothing less that sounds like right problem to have! Do you do any pruning on your tomato plants? That would be a way to open them up
Yarn will not hold a week, then you can watch your tomatoes snap off when they fall. Benny Hill made more sense