Tomato Stakes – Are Stakes Better than Tomato Cages?

One of the age old problems with tomatoes is that they tend to sprawl all over the place. While this is not always bad, in some cases this can lead to malformed fruit, invasion of pests, and some tomato diseases if we just let them lay on the ground. So as we look for tomato support, let’s take a look at the advantages of tomato stakes vs cages for tomatoes, including some of the tomato spirals.

Tomato cages and trellises are bulky and can be difficult to store, unless they are made in panels and can be made to lay flat for storage. They do let the tomato plant grow in a wider area, which is its natural tendency, but this can also make it hard to reach into the cage to pick the fruit that has ripened in the interior of the cage. If you are using a watering aid like the Automator, once again it can be difficult to reach inside. Finally, many of the cages you see in local nurseries aren’t really that sturdy, with simple spot welds that tend to break off sooner than you’d like.

The other typical way of supporting tomatoes is to stake them. Typically this requires more pruning of the tomatoes than cages do. A stake can be made of almost anything. One common material is bamboo, which is relatively strong but will decay over a few seasons, but you can find it in almost any length you need. Another very common one is rebar, which certainly is strong enough, and can be driven into the ground. In both cases, the basic idea is to tie the tomato plant to the stake every foot or so as it grows, pruning off the excess growth to keep it trained to the stake. Care must be taken to make sure the vine is not choked off by the twine or tie wrap used to tie the plant off. The use of twine is recommended as it has plenty of strength but some give to avoid cutting the vine. *MORE BELOW*

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Pruning and staking makes the job off getting to the fruit a little easier, and access to the bottom of the tomato plant for watering and weeding is easier than with cages. The downside is that the plant is cut back pretty aggressively and may not yield as heavily as it might if it were to spread more.

The latest generation of “tomato stakes” are more like tomato towers. What these have in common is that they are like stakes in that they are a single structure that the tomato grows around, not in like a cage. They often have a couple of rods going up, or are a spiral shape. With either of these designs, the advantage is that the tomato plant can grow a little more horizontally, but doesn’t sprawl, and needs to be secured to the tower. Often they have lateral pieces that the tomato will naturally wrap around, so that it doesn’t have to be tied to the stake nearly as often.

These tomato towers are a good compromise between cages and stakes. The let the plant grow out a little more, yet not some much that you can’t get to the fruit. It keeps the tomatoes off the ground, and requires a minimal amount of pruning to keep the plant trained to the stake.