Tomato Cages and Supports - Looking for the Best Tomato Cages

Start looking at the topic of tomato cages and supports, and you’ll find that there is a rush of creativity that has been unleashed in the world of gardening when it comes to tomato cages. We take a look at the variety of tomato cages that have been designed over the last few years and see which cages might work best for you.

First, there is a lot of information on making your own cages and tomato supports. The plans for these can be found in many places. There are plans for making them with reinforcing wire, for staking with wooden stakes, for trellises made from twine, and more than we can list here. One very popular approach these days is to use a support made from PVC pipe. PVC works well because it’s not only strong, but doesn’t rust, and can be made almost any size. At the bottom of this post is a couple of videos on making tomato cages that will appeal to the tinkerer and experimental gardener in some of us.

But others of us prefer to buy rather than build, looking for an idea that’s tested and quick. Here’s a look at some ideas that can work for your tomatoes.

The Veggie Cage and Tomato Spirals - It would not be completely accurate to call these tomato cages, but more accurately to call them supports. There are similar in that they are spirals that have the plant grow up through the spiral and are supported that way. The primary difference is how they are supported. The Tomato Spiral is inserted in the ground, and supports itself, so won’t hold up quite as large a plant, but is fine for some of the smaller determinate varieties.

The Veggie Cage needs a central stake, and the Cage is attached to the top of the stake, and then droops down to the ground. The strength needed for support comes from the stake itself, and not the cage, so you can beef that up to support about any plant that you want. It can stretch to a height of seven feet if needed.

Tomato Cage $13.99 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Veggie Cages, Set of 3 $22.99 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Tomato Spiral - 6′ $5.95 Store: Yardiac.com Tomato Pen Support System $39.95 Store: Gardens Alive! Tomato Towers $19.95 Store: Henry Fields Seed and Nursery Co. Green Tomato Ladders, Set of 3 $49.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Ultimate Plant Cage $19.95 Store: Yardiac.com Terrazza Planter Trellis, 16" $69.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Red Tomato Ladders, Set of 3 $49.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Woodstream Coropration STEZ1 Stake It Easy Tomato Plant Cage $24.55 Store: UnbeatableSale, Inc.

Tomato Cages - If you are looking for something thats more like a traditional tomato cage, you can find some good ones that not only do a good job of holding the tomatoes in place, but can easily fold flat for storage in the off season.

The Ultomato cage can not just be folded flat, but because it hooks together on itself it can actually be added to a tomato plant that is already well established. So if you have a plant that you were tying to a stake but it’s getting unwieldy and you don’t want to go back and prune it aggressively this can be a life saver for your tomato plant.

Those are just a few of the many tomato cages and supports you can find. Add your comments on your favorite types of tomato cages below.

Here’s a video on making your own tomato cages.