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“Husband,” I said. “I need a trellis for tomato plants.” And this is what he built! It’s generally recommended that tomato plants be staked to keep them up off of the ground and to provide good air circulation. Another benefit is that staking allows plants to be grown closer together than if the plants were grown sprawling on the ground.
Determinate varieties of tomatoes generally grow from 3 – 5 feet tall. All of the tomatoes ripen at approximately the same time, and the plant dies. A wooden tomato stake is about all that is needed to keep these plants upright so that they receive good air circulation. Metal, store bought, tomato cages would generally be adequate, as well, for determinate varieties of tomatoes.
The trellis before the plants began to grow up it.
Indeterminate varieties of tomatoes continue to grow and bear fruit until killed by a frost (or disease) and may grow as tall as 8 – 10 feet or more. These plants require sturdy support. A simple wooden stake is often not adequate; the plants become quite heavy as they bear fruit. I have even seen the plants slide right down the stake into a heap because of the weight of the plant. An arbor or trellis is much more suitable for these types of tomato plants. Here’s how my husband built ours (he was inspired by this fantastic post):
Newly planted tomato plants (with lettuce in front)
Our trellis runs between two – 20 foot long raised beds. Five metal, 7′ long T-posts were each driven 2′ into the ground and spaced 5′ apart next to each bed (so 10 posts in all). 3″ wide cedar boards were drilled and attached horizontally to the T-posts -one near the top and one near the bottom. Another strip of cedar, 1 and 1/2″ wide was attached in between the 3″ board. Our beds are on a slight hill, so the side of the arbor near the lower bed needed one more horizontal board attached.
To build the arch, we used UHMW plastic strips which are 1/2″ thick, 4 ” wide, and 6′ long. These were screwed to the top 3″ cedar plank. If UHMW plastic is unavailable, an alternative would be PVC pipe attached with U-bolts. Lastly, 1 and 1/2″ strips of cedar the length of the arbor were attached to the top of the 5 plastic arches. These were spaced 8″ apart.
8′ tall tomato plants covering the trellis
Picking tomatoes from underneath the arch. (That’s a tromboncino squash growing in the background).
Shared at: Fat Tuesday, Family Table Tuesday , Tuned in Tuesday, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Party Wave Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Healthy 2Day, Homeacre Hop, Tasty Traditions, Thank Your Body, Simple Lives Thursday, Fight Back Friday, Old Fashioned Friday, Small Footprint Friday, Sunday School, Homestead Barn Hop, Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Clever Chicks, Backyard Farming
It’s spectacular!!
Oh it’s absolutely beautiful. It must be heavenly standing beneath it and picking ripe tomatoes!
…and in the hottest weather, it’s cool under there!
Wow. I wish I had one of those! At the moment, though, we rent an apartment so I’ll be growing tomatoes on our balcony and in a plot in the apartment community garden. Do you have any suggestions for trellises in these situations? Last year I went the wooden stake route which was not wildly successful, but that was at least partly due the the fact that I didn’t prune the plants at all so they just grew all over the place. I’m still very much a beginner.
This year I’m hoping for slightly more order, though…
Well, truthfully, I don’t prune mine either. But, in your case, that may be wise because of limited space. One option would be to use a “topsy turvy” planter where the tomatoes are hanging. There are also smaller varieties of tomatoes for growing in pots and staking should work fine for them. Many of these varieties will likely be determinate tomatoes as opposed to indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes only grow to a certain height, generally around 3′. They stop growing and produce all of their tomatoes at just about the same time. Indeterminate tomatoes just keep growing and keep producing new tomatoes until the end of the season. They are generally a much larger plant.
This video has a nice idea for staking in pots: http://video.about.com/containergardening/DIY-Bamboo-Tomato-Plant-Cage.htm
Thanks, Susan!
Wow! This is fantastic. I love how tidy the whole thing looks. My tomatoes usually get messy looking late in the season. How many tomatoes do you think were harvested?
Oh, my. I’ve never been good at keeping track of that type of thing. Basket full after basket full is all I can say!
Fabulous! I tried the Florida weave last year on upruned vines. The plastic baling twine was not up to the task. I am still undecided on how to support my climbers this year, but I am adding your post to my list of ideas. Thanks so much for sharing!
This is great and looks wonderful too. Thanks for sharing a great project! I love the Tromboncino squash!
It’s absolutely gorgeous! I didn’t notice if you said how much it set you back? I bet you could grow beans, peas or pumpkins on it too!
I’m sorry to say that we didn’t keep track of the cost. That tends to be a weakness of ours.
What orientation did you use for the trellis? North south? Is one side shady and one sunny? How did that affect yields? Best wishes!
The trellis runs east to west. Tomatoes are planted in the northern most bed and shorter plants like peppers or eggplant grow on the southern most side, so nothing is being shaded.
This gets me excited for spring and gardening. Thank you for sharing this at my first ever Tuned-in Tuesday blog hop. I hope to see you there tomorrow! http://www.healthyrootshappysoul.com/2013/03/tuned-in-tuesday-blog-hop_25.html
What a beautiful idea for trellising tomatoes! Mine tend to look scraggly after a bit when staked the traditional way. I’ll have to keep this in mind. Thank you for linking up to our hop.
Hope to see you again tomorrow morning at our new time: http://blackfoxhomestead.com/the-homeacre-hop/
I love it! So beautiful:-)
That trellis is SO COOL! It must be so much nicer to be able to stand in the shade to pick the tomatoes rather than standing out in the hot sun. I want one for my garden!
Thanks for sharing with Old-Fashioned Friday!
I’m curious, how much did this cost you to make?
Megan, I’m afraid we just never kept track of the cost.
wow! absolutely gorgeous trellis!
I do love vertical gardening, so much better for space saving. do you crop rotate your tomatoes in that location or rotate it with other vertical growing plants?
At this point, we are not rotating the tomatoes. The way we manage our soil, we are adding so much organic matter each year that we are building the soil. If we find that we have a year with disease, we will then plant the tomatoes elsewhere the following year.
Susan,
Did you go with the plastic strips and cedar instead of the wire because of cost or aesthetics?
This is so great! Trying to figure out costs so I can get the hubs to build it for me
The wire would have been less expensive, I would think. My husband was given the plastic, so he went with that. But he preferred the cedar because he thought it would last longer than just wire, and we are in a suburban neighborhood, so he wanted it to please the neighbors, as well.
I was just wondering, do you still have to tie them or do they hold there on their own?
Yes, I do still tie the plants.
I love this!! TFS.
Are the arches bender board, love the effect and how nice motto have to bend over to pick, everything right at hand! bravo!!!!!!
Thanks! I’m not sure what bender board is, but these are made of thick plastic.