Tomato cages...I say tes, my husband says "it weakens them"...No way!!!

M

mrsgreenthumb2

New Member
My husband & I live in a residential area, so we only have 2 plants for personal use. It was my suggestion this year to use tomato cages for support. Everything I read supported that idea. Well, my husband pulled one of the plants yesterday because he felt it was ready. When he pulled it, he said that the roots seemed really weak. He blamed it on the cages because he said it supported too much, that it needs to grow stronger, thus no cage next year. I say, you can't blame the cage, the plant was healthy. I think I know more than he does about growing stuff, I have grown veggies for 20 years. My husband even told me that I shouldn't take the suckers off of tomato plants, so someone please give me your input. I'd really appreciate it.
 
tusseltussel

tusseltussel

Well-Known Member
Cages help.... Putting them on later is best because they do strengthen up but needed once the heavy buds start to flop over.... I don't sucker tomatoes but I plant over 1000 plants so to sucker then all would really suck. If you grow small plants you don't need them bit big plants make heavy buds.... How does he know the roots are weak?... I think you to should spend your time Lovering each other not arguing over who is right
 
hoonry

hoonry

Well-Known Member
haha cages make the roots weak. um, no. weak roots could be from root rot or gopher/insect damage... anyway the point is, some strains really do need support if they are outside. a windy rainstorm halfway through flowering can ravage a plant in minutes if the branches aren't strong enough. you don't have to use a cage, some people use bamboo stakes or metal fence posts and some kind of twine or green tie. trellis netting works great too
 
smokinafatty

smokinafatty

Active Member
I think using a cage would make the stem weaker because it wouldn't need to strengthen up (roots .. yes, I'm about to get to that). For example, if I don't put some wind on my plants with fans, the stems never thicken up. This matters because the thicker it is, the more nutrients the stem can process. My point being that making the stem support itself makes for a stronger overall plant. (A different concept than using trellis to control how much light each bud gets.) I think this means that giving your plant support with a cage weakens the stem, which weakens everything else.

Consider this ... with a tomato cage holding the plant up, the roots never have reason to "dig in" while the stem dances.

I used cages on tomato plants so the vine would grow up, and not out. They tend to spill everywhere if you don't control them. But my pot plants don't have that trouble, that's why peoples' pics on here don't usually (maybe ever) show them using cages. My plants don't need the type of support that cages offer.

.... Maybe put a cage on your plant, and not his. Or at least one and not the other.
 
FoolBloom

FoolBloom

Active Member
I'm sorry but cage support would not weaken your root system. Too much support early could produce weaker branches but not roots.
 
FoolBloom

FoolBloom

Active Member
It's not a set of Legos your working with. It's a living organism. If the plant has no need for strong branches. Why would it waste energy there. That overall has nothing to do with roots or nutrient uptake. It's hormonal responses to environmental factors that would determine things of that sort
 
norcal mmj

norcal mmj

Well-Known Member
How much water and in the ground or pot ? If you water the top only that would make a small root ball. I would wait till it starts buding to support them so you have strong branches to support your buds.
 
smokinafatty

smokinafatty

Active Member
FoolBloom said:
It's not a set of Legos your working with. It's a living organism. If the plant has no need for strong branches. Why would it waste energy there. That overall has nothing to do with roots or nutrient uptake. It's hormonal responses to environmental factors that would determine things of that sort
Click to expand...
Nice work on the lego part, that was hilarious.

If it has no need for strong roots to hold down a dancing stem, why would it waste energy there?
 
hoonry

hoonry

Well-Known Member
I think roots grow so long as there is room for them to grow, and the right amount of moisture for them to grow towards. I believe the stems become stronger by building more fibrous tissue as a result of being blown around. putting the plants in a cage won't stop the wind from blowing them around but it will stop them from getting whipped to the point of breakage. they'll still get plenty of stem-building exercise when the wind blows - the problem with metal cages is that they can bruise the stems where the wind knocks them against the wiring repeatedly. it's not enough of a problem for me not to use them but you can avoid that by going with just trellis netting affixed to some posts.
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
alot of times the roots can spread over the top 2-3 inches of soil and go outward from the base of the plant approx 1-2 feet diameter, then it stops.. with crap soil. A lot of people like raised beds because you can put plants in them with your own special soil mix. raised beds can be more watering too though, so to each their own method for their situation.

perhaps next time try starting them in little pots with starter mix, and get them to a decent size. when you transplant into a pre dug hole or even a bucket in a hole or a bucket on your deck, make sure the soil you're transplanting into is almost the same consistency as the stuff you started with, but with more nutrients (compost or whatever)

when you go to transplant if you bury the pot deep down it will force the roots to be lower, and hopefully solve your problem.

by the way it's good to take off suckers if you want big ol' tomatoes but with weed it's not the same at all; just leave everything on there.

I like to use silica additive to my water to increase flexibility and strength of the overall plant, as well as use root promoter during transplant.

if you take care of the roots, you're bound to have abundant foliage, and maybe those cages will help out next time.

One more important thing is proper amount of sun, without the proper amount of sun your plant will underproduce and sort of kill itself.
 
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