Disclaimer: This post was originally posted by Hero Member, cushmna350. This user is located in Tomato Hell, Wichita Falls, TX Zone 7b. This was originally posted on April 25, 2013.Posted by: Thomcatbob
I just tried this staking system since I did not want to wait on pea fences from Gurney's. (my tomatoes are growing at a quickly rate!). I bought a roll of fencing - 24" x 50' and set up the system within a matter of a couple of hours. My only concern is that there is no staking on the inside of the cage to support the tomatoes. Don't know if it really matters because it looks like the designer of the cages had some sort of staking system inside these cages and some without.
Will post pix later.
I use concrete wire bent round in about a 2.5 ft diameter circle. When plants are young, that's a pretty big space for it to be whipped around in, so I employ cross bars, horizontally, of bamboo or other handy stake with Velcro tape until the plants get bushy, then remove them. The same can be done with the John Thomas design also.
Squash took advantage of the area between the cages in the photo below, so let the wind blow.
