Staking Tomato Plants In Grow Bags

HappyIdiotTalk

I think I need to stake out my tomato plants as they look as though they will need the support soon. However as most of my plants are in grow bags, theres not much compost to push the bamboo into. Any suggestions on how to achieve this?

rdty21

You can get grow bag cane supports which are a coated metal frame that sits under and above the grow bag. Hard to explain but if you do a search online for them they should be easy enough to find.

rdty21

http://www.gardendirect.co.uk/grow-bag-cane-support-frame-p-2855

HappyIdiotTalk

Those look like the kind of thing I need. I would have to find cheaper versions though, or I'd be looking at spending £160 on them! :shocked:

TonyMMM

You can make a support yourself from a wire coathanger with a bit of twisting and experimenting....basically you need part of it under the bag and a piece coming up to support the cane.

Quite easy

rdty21

£160! even with 3 per pack. Thats a lot of tomatoes.

HappyIdiotTalk

I hope so!

Actually not all my grow bags have toms in them thinking about it, but I'd still need about £100 worth of them.

A_Star

Make a frame out of canes, make a series of A-shapes out of canes then tie horizontal canes to them along the top and half way down then push a cane into the grow bag next to your tomato and tie that to the top horizontal canes. If you live in a particularly windy area tie shorter canes across the bottom of each A shape and sit the grow bags on top of them. Hope that makes sense! Wilkinsons do cheap bamboo type canes.

HappyIdiotTalk

A_Star wrote: »

Make a frame out of canes, make a series of A-shapes out of canes then tie horizontal canes to them along the top and half way down then push a cane into the grow bag next to your tomato and tie that to the top horizontal canes. If you live in a particularly windy area tie shorter canes across the bottom of each A shape and sit the grow bags on top of them. Hope that makes sense! Wilkinsons do cheap bamboo type canes.

Hummm I think I'm with you, I'll have a look into that.

Mortal

are they outside or in a greenhouse/growhouse type thing?

If they're in a greenhouse, you can use string as vertical supports. Tie them to the string at intervals...I suppose you could do that outside too if next to a fence etc.
If they're in a growhouse (like mine, from Wilko's) then you can tie them to the horizintal sections. That's what I've done.

foreign_correspondent

if they are in a glasshouse it is easy, - see if you have some horizontal rods you can tie the tomato plants up to. If not, try and find somewhere to affix some lengths of wire that run parallel with your tom plants grow bags, but above head height.

Then tie a the end of a piece of string around the stem of each tom, between the first and second leaf, making a loop which is about an inch across. Tie the other end to the parallel rods/wires running above our plants, and twist the tom plants and the string together as the plants grow.

Costs pennies and does the job fine - also takes no storing when not in use!