DIY Lifetime Tomato Cage
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- Опубликовано: 16 фев 2022
- DIY Tomato Cage using cattle panels from any farm supply store. Instead of buying the flimsy cages at the box store, I decided to make these sturdy cages that will last a lifetime in my garden. I have grown summer squash and Zucchini vertically the past two seasons and only had one fall over in a storm. This way I can fit 12 squash plants in a 12' x 4' raised garden bed. Instead of building a jig like i did, you could screw a 2x4 to a wall with a spacer to create the bend in the panel or lay the panel on the ground with a 2x4 over it. I made several this way and decided to build the jig since I plan to make so many.
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Made a bending jig like yours it worked great . The best idea yet
Since most people have dirt not soft ground if you cut the bottom rings off you have tines to stick straight in the ground. I made my cages of concrete reinforcing wire over 30 years ago and still using them here in NJ.
My pap made a bunch of these when I was very young, that was 40 years ago and we are still using them. Some of them had the bottom rust off but just cut it off and good to go.
Well done. That wooden bending rig is clever.
Cattle panels are great, i cut mine with a plasma cutter then use hog rings to connect the 4 pieces. That way i can store them flat. I use 1 t-post per cage for support. Great video 👍👍👍👍
You did a wonderful job on your video and your cattle panels. I made similar cages but I cut the bottoms off so I could stick them straight in the ground with spikes.Food for thought. You don’t have to do what I did. I think you did an awesome job thank you so much for sharing good luck with your RUclips channel
Thank you, I appreciate this comment!
My husband made me several years ago for tomatoes, cucumbers and pole beans. They are great. He folded them in a circle. They are 6 feet tall towers.
Definitely Heavy duty and a worthwhile investment! Just a thought: Starting with a full panel, I see you make three and have some leftovers. Make one with 6 1/2 squares and then the other two a square then two squares longer. Finished product may slide inside and store like Russian dolls?
That’s a good idea. The cutoffs are still sitting by the barn. I thought about wiring those together to make a square cage. Thanks man
Good idea for a lot of things!
Square cages would be good, if you make the hinge loose enough, they’d fold flat for storage
@@DawnBarb I was thinking Square cages too! I live in zone 9b and almost have year round tomatoes so I don’t have a storing problem. Breakdown-able square cages would be quite nice though.
If you make these, make sure to put the smaller squates at the top and the bigger holes on the ground so that you can still get your hands in to weed and fertilize around the base of the plant and prune the lower leaves and suckers.
I made my tomato cages out of the exact same 5 1/2 feet wide cattle panels, best way to support tomatoes there is. I did make mine differently, i bent my cages square, two panel openings on each side of the cage. I made my cuts flush with the vertical wire strands and eliminated the sharp points and having to bend them, yes it was a little wasted wire but they are much neater and avoids getting hands cut on the edges. I secured the two vertical wire ends together with black zip ties, makes very secure and stiff tomato cages that will last for decades.
I cut my old skin with anything rough. Good film.
I made the same cages 25 years ago but I used concrete wire , I bought a roll. And the did rust so I painted them. Good luck
Don't waste your time & energy... Just Put a T-Post in the ground at each end of a cattle panel Then plant right next to it and tie your tomatoes to it. Easy peasy & DOESN'T RUIN THE CATTLE PANEL
Exactly best way to do it and when done stand beside your garden shed for storage
Looks very good
Awesome I use cages for all my tall or vining plants.
Great setup.
This guy is a dang genius!
ANCHOR DOWN WITH REBAR . THESE LAST AT LEAST 3 LIFE TIMES. THANKS LIKE THE BENDING JIG YOU MADE
Right idea but they need to be taller by using wider material or scabbing 2 together. I make mine anywhere from 6 to 8 feet depending on the material. I usually use concrete or industrial insulation wire. That's 7 foot wide on average. All my tomatoes grow out the tops.
Got straight to the point!
Lols, nice video bro
I made mine out of concrete reinforcing wire that comes in, I think, a 50' roll. It's a lower gauge wire, but easier to work with and still very sturdy. I made my cage about 20-inch in diameter.
I also used re-wire for my cages . I used m MIG welder to join the ends . Made some bigger cages to keep the deer from eating my small fruit trees too .
They work great and last for years
I have some made by my dad from same material 30 years ago. I still use them.
Last spring I bought reinforcement wire at $129 for a 150 ft roll, a month later $159 a roll and then checked this spring and it was $279 a roll. Counting 12 squares and cutting the 13th square in the middle gives 20 tubes per roll. I go 14 squares for beans.
@@dannydenham8141 Wow Danny what struck me with your comment is the rocketing cost of construction material. I spent 30 years in the MCorp only to witness how the Country is being tossed into the crapper. We're all going to need a garden to survive.
I have a bunch of those made by my dad 30 years ago from regular concrete reinforcing wire.
we moved out to the country last year (after suffering the big city life for as long as I could stand being "off the farm"). just a couple of acres, but am finding tons of uses for cattle/hog panels. as I watched you rolling that cage, I thought, "I wonder how well 6x6 rolled reinforcement wire would work?" True, it would be nasty and rusty, but it comes pre-rolled, so might save a lot of work for making this type of cage. In any case, great vid, love your arrangement. we had to build a 7' fence to keep the deer out of any place we want to grow something, and for the wife, grow beds have to be elevated, since squatting or getting up after getting down, simply aren't options. Thanks, new sub!
Awesome thanks!
No Tomato will ever escape those cages..!!!
I've got cattle panels mounted to a trellis between my 2 garden beds to create a tunnel of food.
Using a little piece of tie wire on top from cage to cage will keep them from falling over when the plants get top heavy. (Kinda like a six-pack ring [or six-pack yoke] holds the cans together).
That is so cool
Very Cool. Thank you.
A "Remesh Sheet" is a 42 inch by 7 feet wire grid of 6 inch squares (7 by 14). By overlapping the outside squares one can make a cylinder 42 inches tall by roughly two feet in diameter. This is a perfect size for a tomato cage. The smaller cages sold in garden stores don't match my experience growing tomatoes.
To make four of these cages, one needs to imagine one will make a hundred cages. Otherwise, making even a few cages can be a frustrating experience. One needs to find the easiest way to secure the cages, while ruthlessly avoiding unnecessary steps. One also wants to take five minutes to build a jig. My jig paid for itself yesterday; I assembled ten cages in under an hour.
There is no need to waste time making any cuts to the remesh sheet itself. Cuts don't make assembly easier, and the cage sits fine on the ground, it doesn't need to poke into the ground.
Sixteen "8 in. UV Cable Ties" for outdoor use will secure a cage far more easily than bending wire, and outlast the cage itself. Ordinary white cable ties are not meant for outdoor use, and will disintegrate in several years. Attach ties to both sides of each of the seven overlapping squares, and two horizontals near the top and bottom of the cylinder.
The purpose of a jig is to hold two of the outside squares on one end (I chose the second square in from the top and bottom) so one can form a cylinder. Rolling the remesh sheet and pressing down, the jig then holds the matching squares from the other end. One can now clamp the cage to hold it in place, and attach the sixteen cable ties. Now unclamp and lift out the cage, let it relax, and tighten further and clip the cable ties.
I made my jig by cutting two 5.5" lengths of 2x4, and attaching them to a scrap board to form a 5.5" by 29.5" rectangle. This holds the second square in from each end of the cylinder, leaving room for clamping. Go under 5.5" and 29.5", not over, as I had just enough play, and more play would have been ok. I then clamped this board to my work table, leaving room for a second set of clamps to hold the work.
This is a kindergarten jig, not the rabbit hole jig universe inhabited by people who build jigs for router tables they never use. One doesn't need plans, one just needs to know a jig is possible. For inspiration, there are many RUclips videos from rustic parts of the world, showing simple tools that make work easier.
At 60 CAN DOLLARS, for 1 cattle panel, these cages turn into gold tomato cages!
@@janew5351 10ga. Concrete reinforcing mesh is about $200 for a 5 ft X 150 ft (45m?) roll. Makes about 20 each 2 ft diameter cages chin high with all holes large enough to pick or prune.. but it is rusted from the beginning. Using a 4" cuting wheel on a small angle grinder seemed to save wear n tear on my old shoulders. 10gauge bends by hand easy enough and buying it on a roll saves needing a trailer and it's already in the shape needed. Be sure to weight the ends down while cutting due to SPRING tension!
@@heyman3293 $240 now
I am seeing the price has doubled almost every year the past several years now according to old comments I’ve come across from recent years. Not many years ago I guess those same panels were as low as $6
Seems pretty gross to me
Really seems like it has to be price gouging or something
@@heyman3293 $240 now
I am seeing the price has doubled almost every year the past several years now according to old comments I’ve come across from recent years. Not many years ago I guess those same panels were as low as $6
Seems pretty gross to me
Really seems like it has to be price gouging or something
awesome
Great idea and they look really sturdy. My first thought was needing to anchor them. When the plants get really tall, the whole thing will blow over in a strong wind. Ask me how I know...😉
LOL I know how that works...Saskatchewind!
Using a foot long ,small diameter pipe to bend the ends might be easier than the adjustable wrench. Dave in Niagara.
Semper Fi!
Just drive in some 6.5ft tee posts and zip tie the panel vertical. do this all down my 75 ft rows and stagger plant on each side of the panel. tie the tomato plants to the panel as needed.
I made mine with regular cattle fence same way only twice as round and double stack them when they get tall enough for another basket with t post supports.. I've been growing 13ft to 15 ft tomato plants for years. By far they best way to get high yeilds..
A friend of mine’s father used to grow giant tomato plants like yours. I think he used concrete wire panels. He then put a 3/4” PVC pipe in the middle with a huge funnel on top to catch the rain water, or to add fertilizer which went straight to the roots.
I don't cut and bend them, every cut cost 6 inches. I drive 3 T posts into the ground, one in the middle of the cattle panel the other two about a foot from each end, then tie the panel to the posts. About 18 inches away I do it again, Then I plant my tomato plants between the panels. As things get growing, I increase rigidity by connecting the two panels. I have done it many different ways, you can use sticks or boards tied in, lengths of PVC pipe with notches cut into them or heavy gauge galvanized fence wire.
👍
Those cattle panels are much heavier than any cattle panel I’ve seen. Very nice! I really like your methods, jigs & tools that you came up with to speed up the process.
Goodonya! Thanks for sharing!!!
Oooooraaah!, Devil Dog!.
Clever wood form to bend then.
I use remesh cages that I inherited from my dad. Yep they did last a lifetime.
I made my cages from cattle panels too. But mine are triangular.
Nice, that was probably way easier.
Are the panels hog panels, and what length are they cut at ?
They are 16’ cattle panels cut at 6 and 1/2 squares.
What did you use to cut the panel
Bolt cutters
by the time the tomatoes are ripe you can buy a bushel full for $10 ... and you spent how much to do all that?
Where?
Semper FI
Where can I find this material? I have looked everywhere for this material. Please let know thanks.
www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/feedlot-panel-cattle-16-ft-l-x-50-in-h
Great idea, where can I find these panels in NJ?
I’d look for any farm, co-op or agricultural supply store.
Tractor Supply
Should only have to do it once a lifetime hopefully because as long as this takes for one, the tomatoes are already canned.
I wish cattle panels were so cheap here. The cheapest I can get are $90 each, and that may have gone up.
Cut 3 equal sections. Cages would not be that much bigger
When nukes are back on the table its time to get the garden in order.
Not at $70.00 a section like they are now..lol
They are $31 here in Tennessee.
Those Tomato cages are too small
This is waaay too much work. Work smarter not harder. I grow 125+ tomato plants every other year and this would not work for me and would take up too much spacein my garden. It's actually more beneficial if you would use 4 T posts in a 14' section and run 6' deer fencing against them. I did this for my tomato plants and I had used both sides of the fencing. My son & I put up 4 rows and I planted 127 tomato plants. They grew and had an abundance of tomatoes. You would get more plants into your raised bed & save space doing it the way I did. To each their own though.
Do you do two rows of fencing with a gap in between, or just one long row?
@@arditodavid one long row. No gaps. My tomatoes grew 7' tall and bushed out very well. They do much better on trellises & fencing than in tomato cages.
@@traceydysert6096 I've grown them in the past using long tomato poles (the skinny green or red ones that are like 6ft tall), but by the end of the season they were so big that it was a pain. I'm currently setting up fencing around a 40 by 40 ft garden area and considering doing cattle panel fencing like you suggest. I watched a couple videos and it makes sense. My kitchen garden has about 50 tomatos in containers in various stages while I finish the other main garden area preps. Thanks!
@@arditodavid it's deer fencing not cattle fencing. Deer fencing is different than cattle fencing. Deer fencing has small/medium rectangles and cattle fencing is a single panel or rolled fencing with 5x5 or 6x6 squares. I can barely fit my hand through the deer fencing because its so small but the cattle fencing, I can stick both hands through at the same time.
Or just buy and reuse the metal ones at the store and save a ton of time. 12 minutes I can’t get back….
Trash. Heavy winds with crop. They are laying over. Couple snips on the bottom row fixes all that.
T Post is the better way
pure torture of 12 minutes
We could have got the idea in half the time.
Waste of time and over kill. Too much.
$24 a panel at Tractor Supply...and unless you tie them down to a stake the weight of the plant will make them fall over
bruh nice music... holy balls that is annoying