Tomato support advice please - planning ahead

[PlotOfPossibilities]

I am a relatively new veg grower, I've grown tomatoes in the greenhouse for a couple of years and I grew some outdoor last year too.
I plant the young plants with every intention of adding suitable support later/soon/eventually, but always end up with some inadequate cobbled together and ultimately unsuccessful embarrassment of a bamboo stick or two. I'm pretty sure that my tomato plants are judging me and sulking at my half arsed efforts...so this year I am determined to do better and I'm hoping my tomato plants will repay my efforts with an abundance of gorgeous fruit.
Do you wiser, smarter and more organised growers in my computer have any tomato support suggestions or advice (extra points if it's cheap or I can make it myself). Thanks in advance.

[Thelma Sanders]

In the greenhouse I use a single cane per plant, pushed in next to the plant and tied to a wire that runs at eaves height from one end to the other about 14-15ins in from the glass.(There's usually a convenient strut across the greenhouse ends to fix that to
Outside I make a 3 cane tepee around each plant and tie the plants to that, with baling twine tied round the tepee every foot or so from soil level up.

[veggiechicken]

I tie a string to the GH roof with a heavy weight on the end (big metal nut) and bury it in the pot before I plant the tomato alongside it. As the plant grows I twist it around the string. The weight of the compost keeps it in place.

[bario1]

I use bailing twine tied to the frame of my polytunnel. When the plants are a couple of feet high i just tie the twine loosely around the stem below the first set of leaves and then twist it round the stem a couple of times. As the plant gets taller I keep twisting it around the twine.

[Penellype]

I do very similar to Thelma, with canes tied to a horizontal wire in the greenhouse and outside I use either canes or tomato cages like these https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-to...E&gclsrc=aw.ds. You could achieve a similar effect with 3 canes and some string.

How effective these methods are depend a lot on what you do. If you allow the sideshoots to develop into branches you will have problems with both a single cane and a cage. I allow my Sungold tomatoes to develop like this and tie them to miscellaneous strategically placed canes as they grow, but you do need to keep on top of it otherwise the branches will break. With larger fruited tomatoes you need to keep tying the stem to the support otherwise the whole thing may start to sag. I have had the main stem of a beefsteak tomato break from the weight because I didn't support it properly.

I also find that if you have heavy trusses of large fruit it helps to support the stem of the actual fruit truss, which can otherwise bend, cutting off water and nutrients from the fruit. This results in smaller fruit and possible blossom end rot.

[SarrissUK]

I bury a string under the tomato root ball when I plant it too, then tie that to a long piece of bamboo that runs the depth of the greenhouse as high as possible over the toms.

As the tomatoes grow, I just twist them around the string. Works very well!

[Cadalot]

5 x 4ft or 1.2m bamboo and a cable tie

[Bren In Pots]

In the greenhouse I use a single cane per plant, pushed in next to the plant and tied to a wire that runs at eaves height from one end to the other about 14-15ins in from the glass..

That's how I grow my toms, I've tried the string method but I just couldn't get it to work think I had my string to lose so I put the failure down to operator error.

[mrbadexample]

String.



I just wrap it round the stem - I don't bother burying the end. Once you've got a couple of turns round the stem it rarely moves.

I prefer this to canes as it allows the plant to blow around a bit more, and is very difficult to poke your eye out with.

[veggiechicken]

Tomatoes on a weighted string.

[veggiechicken]

Lest you think I'm stuck in my ways, here's GH No2 last year - toms tied to canes which are tied at the top to a horizontal wire.

[rary]

I used to put the string under the plant when planting and tie the other end to a roof strut but several times the string has either rotted or snapped so now I place a cane and plant beside it, when tieing, a figure of 8 loose to the plant and tight to the cane

[mrbadexample]

Tomatoes on a weighted string.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]85115[/ATTACH]

What variety is the plum tomato VC? They look tasty.

[veggiechicken]

Do you mean the big ones launching themselves across the roof? They're Black Icicle. Always grow these - very productive and tasty. Always look as if they're wilting though!

[Scoot]

Without reading all the replies I'm sure someone will have mentioned this but just in case they haven't try using string. The the string to your container and the roof of your greenhouse and just wrap the plant around it as it grows.