fbpx

Tomato cages

Tomato cages are an absolute necessity in growing most types of tomatoes. While some types of tomatoes are self-supporting, most heirloom tomatoes and culinary varieties grow on long-vining plants. These giant plants need the support provided by a good tomato cage.

Tomato cages are circular trellis structures placed around tomato plants to provide vertical support for the vines, used both to help increase yield of tomatoes and also to minimize day-to-day care while the plant is growing. A good tomato cage will allow the vines to circle upwards, maximizing space in the garden while allowing for excellent air circulation.

This increased air circulation keeps common tomato plant diseases at bay, while the containment provided by the cage lowers maintenance (like pruning) throughout the growing season. Without a tomato cage, many types of tomato plants would grow along the ground where they are susceptible to disease, fruit rot, and attacks from slugs and other pests.

Read on to learn all about tomato cages!

Diy tomato cage
Diy tomato cage (wire fencing)

Tomato cage basics

Tomato cages are vital to growing most types of tomato plants. Tomato cages allow for good air circulation around the tomato plant, decrease susceptibility to common tomato plant diseases, and maximize yield for a given area of the garden. Using tomato cages will mean you are able to grow many more tomato plants and harvest many more tomatoes within the same garden space. Cage-grown tomato plants also rarely need pruning, meaning the plant has the maximum amount of leaves available to help it produce delicious tomatoes.

Tomato cages are very important to grow healthy tomato plants and are certainly worth the cost and effort to get them in place. This is especially true in small-space gardens where vertical space must be maximized. Big tomato cages can be staked into raised beds or secured along the sun-facing side of a privacy fence to take optimal advantage of the available square footage.

Most tomato plants naturally sprawl over the soil, where the hairs on their stems can root into the new ground to get access to nutrients and moisture. But tomatoes grown over the ground are very vulnerable to disease (think mold and mildew), and any tomatoes that do grow will generally rot on the ground before they are ripe. It is, therefore key to get your tomato plants up off the ground. While it is possible to do this with only a single stake, a tomato cage is the best option.

“While many gardeners do not attempt it, tomatoes can be grown without support and allowed to spread over the ground. Indeterminate varieties will essentially grow into vines that will lie comfortably on the ground. This requires significantly more space and runs more risk of damage to the fruit from pests or disease.”

The Complete Guide to Growing Tomatoes: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply — Including Heirloom Tomatoes, by Cherie Everhart

Most types of tomato plants are indeterminate tomatoes, and their vines will keep growing longer throughout the season. Even determinate tomatoes (which reach a terminal height) are sometimes grown inside small tomato cages. The large, indeterminate tomatoes (like Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Mortgage Lifter) require heavy-duty tomato cages (generally about 5′ tall and 2′ wide). Standard 3-foot tall conical pre-formed tomato cages are more suited to determinate tomatoes, dwarf tomatoes, and pepper plants.

Some other tomato varieties you can use a cage for are:

Small conical tomato cages
Standard small conical tomato cages are best for small determinate patio tomato plants or pepper plants.
Premade tomato cages
Pre-formed tomato cages at the garden center

The best types of tomato cages

The best tomato cages tend to be about 5 feet tall, 2 feet wide, and made of long-lasting materials like metal or wood. These heavy-duty cages can be used for the vast majority of different tomato plants. Many of the best-tasting tomatoes grow on plants that vine to at least 10′ long during the season. Since tomato vines tend to curl around in a circle inside tomato cages, these long vines tend to fit comfortably inside a 5′ tall cage.

There are two options for obtaining these heavy-duty tomato cages: buy pre-made tomato cages or build DIY tomato cages yourself (see the following section).

Here are some of the best pre-made heavy-duty tomato cages you can buy:

  • Gardener’s Titan Tall Tomato Cages
  • Texas Tomato Cages
  • Gardener’s Blue Ribbon Ultomato Tomato Cages
  • Amagabeli Tomato Cages

Look for a cage that’s at least 4′-5′ tall, 18″ wide, and made of durable material.

“Let us now pause for a word about those premade conical three foot (1 meter)-high “tomato cages” sold in hardware stores and garden centers in the spring: HA! Those are not cages, my friend.”

You Bet Your Garden Guide to Growing Great Tomatoes: How to Grow Great-Tasting Tomatoes in Any Backyard, Garden, or Container, by Mike McGrath
Welded wire for making diy heavy duty tomato cages
This yardgard welded wire fencing is my absolute favorite material for tomato cages (premade or diy).

DIY tomato cage: How to make heavy-duty wire tomato cages?

Often the best tomato cages are DIY tomato cages made from rolled wire fencing. Tomato cages made from rolls of wire mesh are very durable and tend to survive in the garden year after year. There are different types of mesh wire available on rolls, and some are better suited to making tomato cages than others.

Most types of wire paneling are sold in 50′ rolls. One 50′ long roll will make 8-10 tomato cages. My favorite rolled wire for making DIY tomato cages is the YardGard Coated Welded Wire 5′-Tall Fencing, 50′ Roll. The mesh openings are 2″x3″ and the wire is nice and bendy. You can also use concrete reinforcing wire, which has stiff metal and 6″x6″ mesh openings. Concrete reinforcing wire mesh typically comes in 7’x3.5′ panels.

The welded wire fencing, particularly the options with green coating, tend to make very nice tomato cages that are not visually intrusive in the garden. They also tend to have closer-spaced mesh, giving the plant more opportunities to rest against the support as it curls upwards. Gardeners with very large hands may have to bend the wire to create larger openings for harvesting ripe tomatoes. Coated welded wire is slower to rust than many other options.

Concrete reinforcing wire is the ultimate heavy-duty tomato cage option. The metal color is bright at first in the garden but can rust over time. The mesh tends to have a larger spacing, which is good for gardeners with very large hands but can limit the available levels upon which the plant can rest. You are also limited by the 3.5″ width of the panels (although nesting 2 panels to make a 7′ tomato tower would be possible).

“Any large hardware store will have a good variety of choices. They may be labeled animal fencing, rabbit fencing, turkey wire, or the like. Concrete reinforcing wire is a little over-the-top (as in more support than you need, even for Mortgage Lifters), but it gets rave reviews from folks who’ve used it , and the openings are big enough to pass a Brandywine through.”

You Bet Your Garden Guide to Growing Great Tomatoes: How to Grow Great-Tasting Tomatoes in Any Backyard, Garden, or Container, by Mike McGrath
Making diy tomato cages

To make the tomato cages from a roll of wire mesh, the roll must be cut into 5′-6′ long sections. If winter storage is not a concern, the entire roll could be cut into 6′ long sections. Generally, however, it is preferable to make a range of sizes so that the cages can be stored nested inside one another during the off-season.

One 50′ roll of wire can make 8-10 tomato cages. Here are some different tomato size combinations for making 8-10 tomato cages from one 50′ roll of welded wire fencing or reinforcing mesh:

  • 8 Tomato Cages: 8 full-size tomato cages, each made of a 6′ long section
  • 9 Tomato Cages: 5 full-size cages (6′ long sections), 4 narrow cages (5′ long sections)
  • 9 Tomato Cages: 4 full-size cages (6′ long sections), 2 medium cages (5.5′ long sections), 3 narrow cages (5′ long sections)
  • 9 Tomato Cages: 3 full-size cages (6′ long sections), 3 medium cages (5.5′ long sections), 3 narrow cages (5′ long sections)
  • 10 Tomato Cages: 10 narrow cages (5′ long sections)

Once the wire has been cut into 5′-6′ lengths, it can be curved into a cylinder shape to make the tomato cage. Use the cut wire if possible to secure the sides together, or find a sturdy wire or twine to form the circular shape. Twine is generally used in place of wire if the cages must be broken down and stored flat each winter.

“The wire structure is cut in roughly 5- to 6-foot section and curved into a column-like structure and secured with twine or wire. These structures can be reinforced with stakes or anchored to the ground with U-shaped stakes.”

The Complete Guide to Growing Tomatoes: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply — Including Heirloom Tomatoes, by Cherie Everhart
Diy tomato cages
Measuring out 6′ lengths of welded wire for the tomato cages
Heavy duty metal tomato cage
Formed tomato cage after the welded wire is curled into a cylinder and affixed with the loose ends of wire along the cut side.
Diy tomato cage
Finished diy tomato cage (green-coated welded wire fencing)

How to use a tomato cage

Tomato cages should be placed shortly after tomato plants are transplanted outdoors. The tiny plants can look silly surrounded by such a big cage, but they will soon grow to take over the whole area. Where multiple tomato cages are used in the same area, leave at least one foot of space between tomato cages to allow for harvesting.

Proper heavy-duty tomato cages are tall and can become top-heavy as the tomato plant grows. Large tomato cages are generally staked with one or two vertical stakes. Here are some expert tips for installing your tomato cages in your garden:

“Tomato cages are generally 4 to 5 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter and must be secured at two points by posts of similar height to prevent the plant from toppling over at maturity.”

Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties of All Time, by Craig LeHoullier

“So what we’re gonna do is surround these teeny-tiny, barely visible little plants with a big honkin’ cage. And we’re gonna support that cage with a nice sturdy six-foot (2-meter) stake, driven a couple of feet into the ground through the holes in the material of the cage. The stake will prevent the cage from falling over in high winds and heavy rains, and also from being dragged down by the overwhelming weight and size of the fully grown plant loaded with the pounds and pounds of fruit that will soon be drooping and pulling all over it.”

You Bet Your Garden Guide to Growing Great Tomatoes: How to Grow Great-Tasting Tomatoes in Any Backyard, Garden, or Container, by Mike McGrath

While it is preferable to stake tomatoes when they are first transplanted, it is completely possible to stake them later in the growing season. It just takes a bit more work (and there may be one or two broken vines). Later placement may disrupt the root system, and the vines won’t fill the cage in such a natural appearance, but it can be done.

July and even early August are not too late to cage tomato plants. While it’s best to stake them in the spring, it is possible to carefully cage them while they are in full growth. Holding the vines together out of the way, drop the cylindrical tomato cage over the whole plant. Carefully curl each vine around the inside of the tomato cage, using small branches and leaves to hook the plant onto the wire of the tomato cage.

At the end of the season, tomato cages can either be broken down into flat wire panels or stored vertically while intact. Vertical storage is easiest with cylindrical cages that can be stacked or nested inside each other to minimize storage space.

“The downside of the cages that you make from wire fencing or reinforcing mesh is they tend to be more difficult to break down and if not broken down, can be cumbersome and space intensive to store over the winter. One strategy to more easily manage the homemade cages over the winter is to build cages that differ in size by a few inches, so they can be nested without deconstructing.”

The Complete Guide to Growing Tomatoes: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply — Including Heirloom Tomatoes, by Cherie Everhart
Potted tomato plants with built-in plastic tomato cages
Even determinate patio tomatoes can benefit from tomato cages!
Tomato plants in tomato cages at the garden center
Mary Jane Duford
Mary Jane Duford

Mary Jane Duford is a quintessential Canadian gardener. An engineer by trade, she tends to an ever-expanding collection of plants. In her world, laughter blooms as freely as her flowers, and every plant is raised with a dash of Canadian grit.

Mary Jane is a certified Master Gardener and also holds a Permaculture Design Certificate. She's also a proud mom of three, teaching her little sprouts the crucial difference between a garden friend and foe.

When she's not playing in the dirt, Mary Jane revels in her love for Taylor Swift, Gilmore Girls, ice hockey, and the surprisingly soothing sounds of bluegrass covers of classic hip-hop songs. She invites you to join her garden party, a place where you can share in the joy of growing and where every day is a new opportunity to find the perfect spot for yet another plant.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *