Tomato Growing Part 2 – Transplanting

In this installment of our tomato growing guide, we’ll show you how to transplant your three week old seedlings into bigger pots in preparation for the garde…

Question by Amber: How do I stake tomato plants that are falling over from the cages?
This is my first year with tomato plants and I used cages while they were still little. But now my cages have fallen over and I need to raise them. Any suggestions? Is there anything I can do that doesn’t harm the roots?

Best answer:

Answer by skahhh
I just add stakes. Did you push your cages into the ground though? Why did they tip over? You have a ground hog nearby or other varmit staking out their territory? You can smell their piss if you do.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

26 Comments

  1. oh an that blue grass beat crazzy cool

  2. (mi lik it) i like it very much thanks all the way from Jamaica yah mon……

  3. Great video, and it’d be nice to also have had an explanation on why no peat pots?

  4. What’s wrong with peat pots?

  5. GREAT VID! DIG THAT CRAZZY BEAT!!

  6. Not enough light. you need some light either grow light bulbs or Fluorescent bulbs about an inch from your seedlings.

  7. What am I doing wrong if my seedlings come up but are super long and skinny?

  8. nice

  9. when I use peat pots ants end up eating them and the plant

  10. Wow………no dislikes…..

  11. i love your video it was exellent and i love the song

  12. Love the flick! What kind of fertilizer do you get and where can I find it! I don’t want to use anything w/ nasty chemicals!

  13. Hi, Why “no peat pots”? I always use them because you can plant the whole thing in the ground without disturbing the roots.

  14. great video A+ for effort how many kinds of tomatoes are you growing ?

  15. nice job great video!!

  16. Yes just standard flourescent bulbs. They put out nearly as good of a spectrum as grow light bulbs and are much cheaper.

  17. are the 4ft lights just standard fluorescents?

  18. thanks! very informative!

  19. Very nice video. Thank you.

  20. This was the easiest howto video I have ever watched as well as easy to understand. It also captured my attention and kept me watching instead of boring me to death! Loved the music!!

  21. Very useful video. Helpful and easy to follow. Excellent step by step instructions. Very handy for the beginner gardner or even someone that may need a refresher.

  22. You should be able to just get a stick or rod that is long enough to support the cage. Just stick it in the ground and tie it if necessary. Sounds like your gona have lots of tomatoes, yum

  23. the cages shouldnt have fallen down if they were stuck in the ground, if you dont want to try the cages again use some small stakes and some yarn to hol it up…

    But it would use the cages again and stick them deep into the ground use stakes to help keep it in the ground…

  24. I do not quite know what you mean by cages. Tomatoes like to be planted about 12 inches apart and each one tied to a stake ,firmly in the ground. You need to take out side shoots as they grow, from the side brsnches, and keep tieing up as plants grow. Water regularly if in a greenhouse. Feed with Tomorite once a week when fruit is beginning to set. They will not do any good if they are falling over. I hope you can save them.

  25. I have the same problem. My cages are 4 feet tall but my heirloom tomatoes have grown taller than that and some were pushing the cages over. I have them in containers so I pushed them against the fence and zip-tied them to it. But I ran out of fence space, so I got 4′ wooden poles (around 1″ x 1″) and drove them into the container right next to the cage. I then tied the cage to the stake. Some of my plants were heavy and I needed to use 2 stakes.

    Here are some ideas of what you can do in the future if using cages again,

    1) Use metal U-stakes to hold them in when you first place them over the tomatoes, drive the U-stake over the last “rung” when it is flush with the ground
    2) Make sure you cage is the right size for your plant, there are various sized cages that you can buy. I should have gotten the larger ones but it was okay to push them against the fence, but check the varieties that you are planting and how big they will get so you get the right size cage.
    3) Add wooden poles when needed as the plants grow up.

    Good luck!

  26. I use fencing material to make my cages which have holes large enough to get my hand through to pick tomatoes and make them about 2 – 3 feet wide circles securing the ends with wire to hook them together. the materail comes in rolls and is about 3 ft high. Then I secure the fencing to the ground with stakes wood or metal rebar as it is very windy where I live. but those tomato cages you buy from the store are a joke and have neve worked for my tomato plants.

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