My tomato trellis collapsed 3 days before harvest

Built a bamboo teepee trellis in March and thought it was solid, but a windy night last Tuesday brought the whole thing down on my San Marzano plants. Lost about 10 pounds of green tomatoes that got crushed in the mess. I switched to a cattle panel arch from Tractor Supply for $28, and now I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier. Anyone else had a cheap trellis fail on them mid-season?

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sandraflores16d ago

Wait, is a collapsing trellis really the worst thing that could happen? Bamboo teepees are cheap, easy to fix, and you can replace a broken pole in 10 minutes. That cattle panel arch is heavy, hard to store in the winter, and it takes up way more space in the garden. Plus, San Marzanos are determinate, so they don't even need that much support once they're loaded. You lost some green tomatoes, sure, but green ones are perfect for fried green tomatoes or pickling, so that's not a total loss. I've had bamboo stakes snap on me every single year for the last 5 years, and I still use them because they're free if I cut them from my neighbor's overgrown clump. The real issue is you didn't tie the tops tight enough or add a cross brace, not the material. A cattle panel is overkill for a small patch, and now you're stuck with a big metal thing you'll have to cut down with bolt cutters when you move.