Staking Tomatoes

Whew, we have been so busy lately with all sorts of activities. Our church youth group has several fund raisers throughout the year to send our youth to a week of camp and one of our biggest events was this past weekend. We sold smoked chicken dinners to local businesses on Friday. On Saturday we had a HUGE yard sale, more smoked chicken dinners for sale, a concession stand and a moon walk for the kids to play on, (50 cents donation of course). Also, last week we had a baby shower for Brooke. Let me just say it was PINK!! She was blessed with lots of beautiful girly outfits. What fun! I would have taken pictures of all the happenings but my hubby had the camera and he was gone on a trip to Minnesota! This is a big deal for him. I will share more later on that later.


Anyway, I just wanted to share what I have learned about staking tomatoes. Maybe someone else feels the same way I do about trying to keep these plants upright with the fruit off of the ground!!?? Every summer I dread this task. I have tried many different things and none seem to really work. Well, this time we talked to a friend that has worked on a tomato farm and he told us how they staked tomatoes in large rows. It is very simple and inexpensive (I could probably buy a tomato farm with all the money spent through the years trying different ideas!) so we are going to give it a try! So far it is working great and makes perfect sense.

As you can see, my tomato plants are in deperate need of some help. See, I told you I dreaded this job! However, this picture is a good before and after example of how this all works. First of all you put one (that's right folks, ONE stake-I used to have 4 or 5!!) stake beside each plant like so...

Then, on the first stake you start with a simple knot using twine or jute string.

Next, take the string and go along each stake making a loop like the example below and keeping the string on the same side of the row. For example, string along the front of the row first then at the end of the row go along the back side of the row and loop around each stake again. Tie off with a knot. The string should be pretty low to the ground. As the plants grow you do the same thing again but higher up on the stake. I have found the trick is to keep your string as tight as possible.

I also learned from this friend how to help keep your plants growing upright. Around the bottom of the young plants there are shoots, suckers, that should be pinched off before the plant gets very mature. Here is and example of a sucker. See how the limb below the sucker is growing downward? That is what causes the tomato plant to get so sprawling.

Here you can see what the stringing looks like when completed. It won't be long and I will need to add that second string. My stakes are 36" high. I am not sure if my plants will get too tall and begin to fall over.

You may be wondering why I planted tomatoes by my house. Well, I ran out of room in the garden and we had no landscaping in the back so I thought I would give it a try. The eave of our house leaves a pretty big shade so I am wondering if it will work. We shall see.

Happy gardening!