Backyard Farming the Natural Way

After struggling with various techniques over the years in an attempt to tame those large indeterminate tomato vines, I have come up with a technique which works the best for me.  If you enlarge the image on the left, you see that I have inexpensive clothes hangers  attached to a nail.  In this case, I have used 10′ electrical conduit and have drilled small holes in which I have inserted finishing nails.  I put a little tape on the nails to keep them from falling through. I have successfully been able to manage plants up to 7′ tall in raised beds using this method. You might need to have the center supports for the hangers about every 2 1/2′ up the stake. Once a few branches of tomato become unmanageably long, I add a hanger and just start gently placing the hanger over the ends of the growth and pulling several branches through.

Here is a slightly different approach using re-bar, and here I have simply pulled a tie-wrap tightly and inserted an ‘S’ hook which I made from some 9 gauge wire.  I make  ‘string ladders’ whereby I can easily adjust the hanging distance from the support.  I first cut some string about 20″ long and wrap it around something like a shovel handle (pulling each end evenly).  I then start by tying a square knot around the handle. Afterward, the first tied loop is removed, and then the adjoining section of string is looped around the handle, and another knot is tied. This is done until a few sections are produced as seen in the image.

Also not pictured, are some some long stakes that I made by ripping 3/4″ pressure treated wood into 1″ widths.  I cut a point on the end and then drove these into the ground about 18″ deep and then simply drove finishing nails through to hang the supports (as in the conduit method).

This method of staking and supporting large tomato plants works like a charm, and is especially helpful when those huge tomatoes start weighing the plants down! I can reuse the stakes, string supports, and hangers year after year. The advantage to the hangers over traditional tying methods, is that you can support a lot of branches in one hanger without them being bunched together and constricted etc.

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