Beware of this Garden SCAM! Build Your Own Tomato Cages.
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
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Tomato cages sold at garden stores are the biggest gardening scam ever created! Don't buy these little tomato cages unless you plan to use them on pepper plants. It's much easier just to build your own tomato cages from concrete reinforcement wire.
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I only eat free range tomatoes. Caging them is just plain cruel.
Seriously?😢
Oh god 😧are you that stupit
Lol
You funny!
Joe Shopper 😂😂😂
This is a great video for any beginning gardener. I bought 30 heavy duty so called tomatoe cages when I first started gardening. Sold them all 2 years later when someone showed me their remesh cages. Something no one talks about is training your plants. I go out to my plants every couple of days and make sure all of the vines stay inside the cage. If you allow them to come out of the cage and then they set fruit they will break! So keep your plants inside of the cages just by pushing them in with your hand. Some of my plants are 6' tall and growing.
A man in my valley says he grows tomatoes in his orchard. He says the tomato originated in jungle areas, so it can tolerate shade. His tomatoes use the fruit trees for support.
These things are the bane of my gardening existence!! I’ve never understood the logic behind using a top heavy “cage” to try to hold up a top heavy plant.
Wow I didn't know Seth MacFarlane was a gardener too
He does kinda look like a Seth McFarland if seth became a farmer doesnt he...
He has the same sense of humor too.
I have been using the WWF (welded wire fabric or mesh as known in the construction business) for many years. This is a method used by my dad when he began gardening back in the 1960s. There are still a few of his original cages that I use today, April 28,2019. They will rust if left in ground contact while in storage.
For the length of mesh you want, take a look at the diameter you want and multiply by 3. That will close to your chosen diameter. Make adjustments from there. The squares are 6” sq. so the length is easy to determine. No additional tools needed.
As the tomato cages rust they can be cut to pepper height cages.
Enjoyed your video.
The tomato cages are great turned upside down wire closed to a point. Then twine Christmas lights and now you have lawn decorations of little trees.
Yes lol I use then for that 😂
What a great idea!
They’re great for peonies and tulips!
I grow my cucumbers in reversed tomato cages in double tire planters. Grows 3 great plants vertically!
Years ago I stopped using those useless cages for tomatoes. Your cages have worked well for me. I might add that straight "Cattle Panels" work well too. They require a few minutes once a week to ensure the tomatoes are trained through the squares for support, but they store much, much easier in the off season - which is important for me.
I use concrete reinforcing wire cages for my tomatoes and EVERYTHING you said is spot on the money.!!!
The store cages good to put around flowers for support. They also differentiate which plants are "savers" and which are "weeds" when your have a husband that weed whacks every green thing that's not in a raised bed!
Sounds like my wife
Sounds like me.
Lol.
I know the feeling all too well of having a husband that goes on a weed-whacking spree. Oh but the tears he has caused my eyes to leak over the last 34 years of our marriage! He’s been pulled off of weed-whacking duties in the backyard for the foreseeable future - ie: until one of us dies.
At least your husband weed whacks. My yard wont get done unless i do it.
Thank goodness I saw this video. I’m growing tomatoes for the first time and now I’m going to go buy a roll of concrete mesh.
My first time gardening as well also.... Will d efinitely buy this good luck!!
YUP! Way back in my dark and early aged past, I bought a bunch of those little cages and found them to be junk and worthless. Now in my golden age ( or is that gray age ) I have nothing to do with them. Thank You for the great video. I hope the new folks to gardening watch your video and learn.
Great build 😀 Little tip.... What ever size diameter cage you want, say around 24 inches from example. All you have to do is treble ( X by 3 ) that 24 inches and it'll give you the length to cut the wire for a round cage thats about 23 inches diameter. Works for any size you like . So 12 inch diameter cage = 36 inches of wire 😀😀
Really scary and dangerous to cut when rolled up as it pops up and be careful it does not hit you in the eye. Very unruly.
Safety glasses, heavy boots, jeans and a long sleeved jean shirt, and I still lost blood rolling it out to cut, but it was worth it. ;)
Yes... Been using mine for Years... My Late Husband made mine Years ago. and they still are just as good as when New :)
These cages work great if you know how to use them as most people dont.You train and prune the plants up the middle and have them cascade over the top. Ive been using them for years with great results.
Yea... I’m one of those new gardeners🙋🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
My tomato plant has now outgrown the “tomato” cage and am now planning on cutting the cage and building a trellis... I will definitely look into concrete reinforcement wire cage... thanks!
This is the best and most economical cages I’ve found so far. I was just about to buy a cage and tying strings for 50tysomething dollars. I’m glad I checked you out first. 🤗
My husband and I made a bunch of these when I started gardening 30 years ago. I'm still using them. I cut the bottom ring like you said and some have rusted but I just cut them shorter and use for plants that don't grow as tall
I just cut the bottom ring off of some that I made 20 years ago. The shorter ones work great for eggplant and banana pepper.
I made me 10 concrete reinforcement wire cages five years ago and they are still holding up perfectly to this day. Sure they are rusted, but these things are practically invincible. You can also stack 'em which is nice if you're growing cherries. Somewhat expensive though where I live, I paid about $100 CAD for the roll of CRW if I remember correctly. I grew some maters in those flimsy 'tomato cages' and they just snapped once they got over it. No good. Lately I've been using bamboo stakes and picking off the suckers and that's a nice and cheap method and also looks really neat and tidy - pretty too when full of tomato clusters. Nice vid.
Love to see a picture of that!
For vine tomatoes I use string tied to the roof of the greenhouse. Much less weight & easier to store than cages
I've been searching and searching for something like this and all I got was videos of poles and commercial tomato cages. I'm so happy I found u!!!!! Instant follow
Those cages are great for supporting bug netting I put over my brassica plants
That’s a good idea! 😊
Watched the video yesterday, went to HD and bought 2 42x84 remesh sheets and easily built 2 cages for my beefsteak & bigboy plants. I'm very impressed with how sturdy they are! The cheap ones I used last yr fell over bcz of the weight of the plants. Thanks for the video! I will subscribe to your channel!
the tiny ones they sell at the store always fall over under the weight. there's a huge bamboo patch near my house that i make trellises out of the old falllen canes for my tomatoes, peas, ect
We made sure we had bamboo on the property when we built the farm for this reason!
the ones for pepper plants?
Thank you, so helpful! I knew when my tomatoes grew to gigantic proportions last year, and SWALLOWED the tomato cages, that I would need something better thus year. Thanks again!
I was a new Gardner! I used a thing called a stick from the forest for free! I still use the same sticks for the past 5 years! The same I do for the cucumber plants! The ones I like the most are from a young hazlenut tree! They are the most durable!
I always use sticks or what ever is long & strong enough to place in the ground(old broom or mop stick). Than tie my tomatoes to it. No money need all free items.
No stick will work for me, last year my tomatoes grown in buckets were over 15 feet tall.
@@yolandawebster7808 where is your proof? 15 feet? Prove it!
@@svetlanikolova7673 mine too. I used concentrated nitrogen ... They grew 15 feet easy.
@@kuhelss what concentrated nitrogen! I don't have that in my country. Can I use coffee grounds?
What a great idea. I'm on my 4th generation of tomatoes for this year and are using this idea for them. I also arched a 12 foot long section over a raised bed for a couple determinate tomatoes and cucumber plants. Thanks for the wonderful idea!
The key is large holes. If you use a small holed fence or grid, you wont be able to reach your hand in and take out a tomato.
We've had our cages for about a dozen years. They are made like yours. One of the best things we have ever made for the garden!
As someone who has used wire tomato cages for years, I find your advice to be very appropriate. I started out with the light-wire cage you showed, but graduated to the similar, but heavier-wire cages, with a T-post as added support. These are adequate as long as you don't let the vines get any longer than 6'. Your wire re-mesh cages & T-posts are the best however, and you can add extensions to them, as you mentioned.
I have been searching for the name of this wire -Remesh -THANK YOU!!!
I reuse my cages year after year. They work fine. 70 year old gardener.
And you can pick them up cheap online from people that don't want them anymore. Much cheaper.
Does it harm the plants when the wires gets rusted?
I used 5 feet *T* *Posts* you get in outdoor fencing at home improvement stores. When/if my tomato plants exceed the height of the T Post I tie wrap a wooden tomato stake a couple inches from the top of the T Post. I do, however, have to use tomato tape to support the plant.
Those so-called prefabbed tomato cages are *great* for eggplant and peppers.
I use them and they stack really well on their sides all winter. I also use them to winterize smaller bushes and young trees, filling them with pine straw to cover it. Well worth the time and investment!
My Dad made some just like these and I inherited them when my parents quit gardening. They last forever! I have to admit I bought a pretty hot pink tomato cage at Walmart last year, its so pretty!😁
Great video! Now I know what to do with the 20' of 4" welded wire fence sitting next to my shed.
I've got lots of leftover horse fencing. Most of that is getting buried to keep my new dog from digging out of the yard ALL OF THE TIME, but the rest can have a new life in the garden. Makes a good cucumber and bean vine climb too!
Re mesh rusts, I used cattle fencing, galvanized steel, rust free ,a little tough to bend, but very sturdy.
I used a cattle panel also.
I used to go to a local concrete products business that made concrete pipe I would get their rejected wire pipe forms, great tomato cages. Now I buy cattle panels and metal posts, plant the 16' panel with 3 posts and tie my tomatoes to that. works great.
That's what my husband always fixes for our tomato plants! Then we just have to reach in to pick the tomatoes!
I so wish I could post a picture Haha Haha you are correct sir! The concrete reinforcement wire is absolutely the greatest way to grow tomatoes! We use the store bought tomato cages for cucumbers! Works fantastic for cucumbers! But yes, dont use those cheap weak cages from the store on your tomatoes!!
I find that using a clothes line between two tposts and dangling strings works great. The plants grab the string and grow right up and then down the clothes line.
Whaaaaa!? I would love to see a picture of that!
I would also love to see a pic!
I agree, I only use them for peppers and even then I sometimes have to add stakes.
Yep we made these last year they worked the store bought one is a joke 💯 😂
definitely recommend using fence lol
Couple 8-10ft pieces of bamboo and some string.
Both are materials that you can produce yourself for pennies on the dollar with some patience and intuition.
You can either construct them to support single stemmed tomato's, or construct them to support full plants.
What a great idea and I WAS one of those who bought those so called tomato cages but by far your suggestion is way better
I’ll definitely be on it next time
I’m a new subscriber
How tall are the T-post? I'm new at gardening.
My dad built and used these for years. Mine are 20+ years old. Still going strong. My tomatoes get well over 6'.
LOL... But I love watching our tomato plants crush them... ahahaha... We just use a single t-post, and tie the plants up with sisal twine... We dont even fuss with the cages anymore... But I like the idea of the concrete wire... Thanks for sharing...
Hi to use the concrete reinforcement wire.
Instead of using T post which is it added expense,instead on garbage day pickup all the broom handles & mop handles Etc and use them to help cut my cost.
This guy is spot on. I started gardening last year after years of not having one. I went and bought the 33” ones and it was almost useless once the tomatoes took off. I have since used them for my bell and banana peppers. This year I tried the T post, Florida weave technique but next year I am trying his method for sure. I’m mad at myself for not doing so this year.
Flip them over tape the three wires together and wrap them with Christmas lights stake it to the ground and it makes a pretty good Christmas tree but thats about all they are good for
I've thought of making fall trees with them for Halloween. Spray paint them black, add spider webbing, strategically place fall colored leaves, and put a jack o lantern or two at the bottom
I have made those cages for my runner beans , it’s very study . Will make more cages for my tomatoes . Great idea , thanks from UK
You're right; I got scammed & those so called 'tomato cages' I bought were about as useless as a tit on a bull. Yours are MUCH better. Thank you!
Or as worthless as the tits on a boar hog😆
I recently visited a garden where they were using a pulley system for some of their tomato varieties. They were in a tunnel similar to yours and the vines were growing about 20 feet straight up. When it was time to harvest, they just lowered the whole vine and picked them.
Remember to keep poking the growing limbs up to the next rung every other day if not everyday until you get to the top .
I've made these over 20 years ago, but I make the diameter 3 feet across, this way I can set out transplants early and put jugs filled with water in them surrounding the young plants that have also been mulched well, and then I wrap clear 6 mil plastic around the cage to hold in more heat to get the tomatoes off to a fast start. I had tomatoes ripen in early July in Minnesota that way.
I turned mine upside down, strung Christmas lights and bam I had yard decor for holidays~ Christmas trees🎄
Really appreciate the idea! After years of using cheesy (and too small) cages from the store I bought a roll of wire and Nico press crimps. Did some calculations and just finished a set of four, 27", 28", 29" and 30" in diam so they could nest together for storage. Magically the calcs were good and they nested. 150' roll will yield 5 sets of 4. Which ends up $14 each not including labor. I need a bigger garden!
I have a lot of these cages and I now cut the bottom ring off and use them for my peonies to contain them from falling to the ground when in full bloom. Works great.
I do the same, make them around 2 1/2ft tall. Works awesome !!
Thanks for explaining this to me! I recently got a gift tomato plant from my landlord. I don't have ability to garden often but I wanted to try to grow a plant for our own tomatoes. I saw them tomato cages you were talking about and I had no idea how to use them. Glad I saw this video. I am crafty and love creating things to use. I actually made a tray catch for a bird feeder on a double shepherd's hook. It came out great and serves it's purpose. I love watching the songbirds come visit and they aren't leaving a big mess anymore. Thinking of getting a patent for it now. Thanks for the tips!
I did not know that about the different tomatoes
Thanks for this video. I got one of those cages from my mother-in-law and I loved it. I have terrible problems with cages that are too flimsy for the plants. Now I'm smart enough to make my own.
I look around and find it free all the time. I use the one's peeps buy and trow out or my bell peppers. I am that guy who will use what I find. After all I am trying to grow good food with out spending a arm and a leg. God Bless
Yes, gardening is best done frugally. It doesn't take much money to make your home grown veggies more expensive than the market and if you have amish in your area, they usually sell veggies way cheaper than you can grow yourself. gardening on the cheap is the only way.
I started a garden because I like doing it cheap. My wife got involved and it's a crap ton of work now and costs more than the food we get.
@@Knotrockets I planted originally started from store bought tomatos ,peppers, potatoes, spring onion , sweet potatoes etc never bought a seed lol
THANK YOU Soooooo MUCH FOR YOUR IDEA, I REALLY APPRECIATED IT, BEEN WASTING MONEY FOR YEARS, OVER AND OVER EVERY YEAR AT THE HOME DEPORT.
The little Tomato cages are my favorite.............from time to time when I need a short piece of scrap wire.
That's exactly why you only see a portion of this one in the video! It has already been cut into pieces! lol
I’ve used concrete reinforcement wire and it does a great job For really long tomato plants, I have a friend that uses cattle panel wire staked into the shape of an arch. His Climbing Tripl-L-Crop tomatoes produce bumper crops on those.
I can vouch for this stuff lasting a long time. I have a cage a relative gave me made of this stuff. I've had it outside in the weather 24/7/365 for about four years and it still looks the same as when I got it.
Lol, As I sit and look at my pile of cages that are not used for tomatoes. Now I use them for peppers or for new plantings outside the garden to protect them critters large and small. For protection use them upside down, secure them with fabric anchors, wrap hardware cloth on the bottom. You can also wrap solar string lights around them for the Christmas Tree look or just white light decorative look.
Wow. Thank you Daniel. Great advice 👍. And as always God bless an take care.
That was one of the best suggestions I have ever gotten. Yes I was scammed and bought those lousy good for nothing tomato cages from walmart. They did not work. My indeterminate tomatoes which have gotten huge growing just in pots are being staked up right now with Long branch the luckily I had cut down a dead tree and had the 8 to 10 ft branches available to help me try to hold these poor plants up. I will know better next year that's for sure. Thanks for the advice.
I've used those"store" bought tomato cages with wonderful success for over 45 years ......
The "store bought" ones are too short and flimsy for indeterminate varieties.
Me too, except they suck, and fall over too easy, and are too short. And flimsy. And break too easy. Besides that, they’re great.
Love it, my dad has his same tomato cages from 40 years ago...
if you have the space your way is awesome.....I am limited on space so I single stem my indeterminate tomatoes. I drive a Tpost, then Zip tie a 10' PVC Pipe to that. I use nylon stretchy string to tie it to the single stem as it grows. More tomatoes per sq ft, and tomatoes get taller to get over the shed and reach more light.. Next year I am thinking about driving some 4x4x12 posts stringing some steel wire across the two posts and running down nylon rope to each plant to climb up. Industrial Greenhouse style on a smaller scale.
You could do a topsy turvy tomato garden with 5 gallon buckets. Then you'd have space at the top of the bucket for herbs and your tomato grows from the bottom. You'd need a really strong support beam to hold it up though. Like a tree or porch beam.
Those old cheap tomato cages make great Christmas tree decorations....you can wrap them in grapevines and lights!!!!
My guess is, you haven't actually priced a roll of Remesh lately...but then again, this is a time machine.
Not sure of your point, but I bought a roll for $120 last year and got 24 nice size cages out of it. $5 per for VERY sturdy and long lasting cages is the best deal I've ever seen.
What if I only want 3 cages?
Around fifty years a go my brother in-law worked at a place that manufactured these along with fencing. He gave a few to my dad to try out. Dad didn't think much of them but used them that season not wanting to say what he really thought. Dad had to add a tomato stake along with the cage to make it work and at the end of gardening season they went behind a tool shed where all but two have rusted away now. They do work ok with pepper plants.
Thanks for your great tips! All the best with your homesteading. :)
I made some cages about 4 years ago. Made mine out of 3 panels with hinges so they easily unfold for storage. I made some curved a bit, but left others as triangles.
I use rebar with a bend to hold them in place, like a super tent stake.
The little cages might be good for mini tomatoes like Minibel.
Those pre-made tomato cages work very well, I have used them for 40 years, I’m not sure how they are a scam. Most importantly, they cost less than a big bolt cutter, and a roll of concrete wire. Oh and they are pre-made, just stick them in the ground.
This year I was going to try (for the first time) taking the same wire mesh that you're using and rather than making a 'cage' out of it was just going to run a straight row down the bed between a double row of tomatoes. Don't know if it will work well but was thinking that the plants could be trained to grow up the fence? Good idea or bad? 2nd year doing a garden so still learning :-) Thank you!
It’s worth a try for sure
BoatworksToday Look up Spring Hill tomatoes on yt. They train their tomatoes up different things, wire, string, and they trim them. It looks like they can plant closer together and that they get a higher yield also.
Awesome, thank you for the channel recommendation!
Great idea. Double the support with half the effort ;)
BoatworksToday will work definitely. I am using the wire mesh this way for years, works magically.
They work well for my dwarf tomatoes, I use them in the spring as support for covering to protect from chilly weather. At the end of the season you can get them really, really cheap.
Every time he says "the best tomato cage." Take a shot
“In my opinion”
They are the best.
@@kathyg4184 , in "my opinion" as well.
Im with you Daniel. I use mine for decoration, they do work for small hot peppers.
Great video brotha
I’ve used this type cage for 40 years. I bought 20 ft joints of 1/2 inch rebar and cut into 4ft lengths for stakes. I never cut bottom rungs off.
12 squares and cut 13th for tomatoes, 14 or 15 squares and cut for larger tubes for growing green beans and cucumbers. I usually plant a 60 foot double row of tomatoes with tubes touching, I tie strap at top ,and put a stake every 3rd or 4th tube.
That was great advice!
For the diameter of the cage you want, multiply it by 3.1416 and cut it to that length. 20 inch diameter x 3.1416 = 62.832 length.
I use old fencing. I cut the botoms off and push them in the ground so I don't need a 12 dollar stake.
Just bought my concrete reinforcing mesh and bolt cutters yesterday, T-posts tomorrow. I'' try these for cucumbers and zucchini as well. Thanks for this great, practical idea!
84 acres. I think I can store two hundred piled up
I'm with you on those scam trellises. We've used the tall cylinder trellises now for years and love them. They have large enough grid you can still grab a tomatoes and get your hand out of the opening. Instead of t-posts I use cedar stakes, 3 on each trellis. Drive each halfway into the soil at even intervals around the trellis. Next I tie the trellis to the stakes. In August we get substantial summer winds and as of yet have had them budge. Oh by the way, these fit perfect into large planters like utility buckets, half barrel or whiskey barrel planters.
The other trellises we had we liked a lot were square towers that collapsed down for storage. 4 rungs offset so the whole thing folded easily. They were made from scrape hardwood a friend gave us and the only downside was the ends that were sunk into the ground rotted over time. Had a short broad one for ground cherries that worked perfectly. Held the branches up off the ground giving us a clear view of the fruit on the ground.
Not everyone can afford to throw a few hundred dollars on cages alone.
Our roll of concrete mesh was about $50 bucks and has made 25 tomato/pepper cages...and I still have some left. Our Walmart sells tomato cages for $5-7 each depending on size. So, for us, making our own was definitely cheaper.
Thank you for sharing this, Sir.
When i was in Australia with my eldest son, what i did with the tomato cage like what you're using, i put it on the sweet potato plant and just let the vines go in and around the cage. My son has only a small vegetable garden hence i couldn't let the sweet potato vines scatter around. And because i love to eat those sweet potato young leaves/tips, it's so easy to gather them everytime i need to.
Anyways, i wish those entrepreneurs would help their prospective buyers rather than fool them so that these buyers will return to them everytime they needed anything from their shops.
He looks like Seth McFarlane or am I trippin
your tripping
Nope. That’s the whole reason I clicked! Why is Seth talking about tomato cages!
Daniel is way more cool
Sherekhan420 U Looks more like post malone lol
I have been following u guys for some time now and i know ur garden looks really good and ur ideas are super great. Thanks for sharing!!
Next guy will say buying concrete reinforcement mesh to make tomato cages is a scam. Buy iron ore and make your bown iron and make the wire. You just need a foundry.
And only stainless steel. LOL. 5000 dollars later you got 200 dollars worth of tomatoes.
I have been using those store bought cages for over 20 years. The trick is to pound a 7 foot ground rod into each one so it is outside of the top ring and inside on the middle ring. A couple nylon zip ties criss crossed on each ring and that thing can’t go anywhere. T rails are overkill in my opinion but each to his own. Most home gardeners can not afford to spend that much money on the materials used in this video.
Well I guess I been scam thanks for the information !
I cut 18" panels of concrete wire and use hog rings to join 4 panels into a square. They fold up nice and neat at the end of the season.