On 8/3/2015 9:51 AM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 8:57:47 AM UTC-4, Nancy Young wrote:
>> On 8/3/2015 6:44 AM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
>>> On Sunday, August 2, 2015 at 10:42:34 PM UTC-4, Nancy Young wrote:
>>>
>>>> My question is this, do you all prune your tomato vines? I just
>>>> put square wire cages around them and let them go. I've heard
>>>> of people pruning them so they grow more tomatoes on more linear
>>>> vines.
>>>
>>> I've never pruned my tomato vines, although I've thought about it
>>> on numerous occasions.
>>
>> I was wondering if it was some common knowledge thing I missed
>> out on, everyone prunes their tomato vines. Seems to me, more
>> vine, more flowers, but it does get crowded in the middle.
>>
>>> Lately I've been growing my upside-down in a 5-gallon bucket hanging
>>> from my deck. It's nice not to have to stake or cage them, but
>>> it's a little tricky giving them enough water, but not so much that
>>> the foliage stays wet.
>>
>> I was seeing those for a while but not in the last few years.
>
> We just made our own, from a couple of 5-gal buckets we got at
> Home Despot. I had some spare fabric lying around, so I made
> slipcovers. Since they're hanging from the deck, we wanted
> them to be attractive.

Nice! I'd have to build some sort of framework if I was
to try that method.
>
>> I wondered if they worked well.
>
> About as well as growing tomatoes in pots ever works. Getting
> them the right amount of water is tricky.

Probably adding some moisture retaining granules might help
keep the soil evenly wet.

>> I found some heavy duty square wire
>> cages that do the job holding them up. I never got those round
>> conical cages you see. They wouldn't hold up one branch of a big
>> tomato vine.
>
> You're right about those conical ones.

By the time you get them into the ground, they're short
and the shape just begs to fall over. Tomato plants are
mostly tall and bushy and heavy.

> When I was still growing
> tomatoes in the ground, the best thing I found was to make a sturdy
> A-frame over the row and hang a big (3" or 4" mesh) net that
> the tomatoes could climb and/or be tied to. The net hung vertically
> down the middle (not angled off the legs of the A-frame).

That's a great idea. It would work well with my raised beds,
I'm sure.

nancy