Tomato cages

Do you buy tomato cages or do you DIY? We normally put out about 25 plants. It’s time to replace several cages.

I tend to build my own . However, last year Home Depot had some real nice, thick wire ones for sale for only $3.00 each These stood almost 4 feet tall and sank into the ground a good 12 inches. I bought 15 of them.

One thing I noticed is that Tractor supply has reinforced concrete rod, (4'x8' sheets) - this would make nice tomato baskets.

I use 6"x6" - 10ga x10ga remesh for use in concrete slabs. cut, bend in a circle leave 4 or 5 of the mesh legs long to bend into a hook shape so after bending in a circle hock to keep shape at the end of year un-clip and lay flat, make a pile of them and put a couple 2x4's on top with weight to keep flat and out of the way. I also pound in a 6' t post place the cage over and one or two wire ties keep it up-right. As the tomato grows tuck back the growing ends for awhile then let it rip. Most of ours are 6' tall and have been in use for 10+ years. I'd use 8"x8" mesh if I could find it.