Tomato cage collapse - wire vs bamboo debate

Last Tuesday my whole row of Roma tomatoes came crashing down after a surprise storm in Boise. The wire cages I bought from Home Depot just folded over like wet cardboard. My neighbor swears by bamboo stakes and twine, says wire is garbage for heavy fruit. I saved what I could but lost maybe 6 big tomatoes that split on the ground. Has anyone else had a cage system fail hard, or do you think wire works fine if you anchor it right?

3 comments

3 Comments

joel_butler20d ago

Did my tomato plants just stage a rebellion or what?

jake_torres6826d ago

I mean, I've had wire cages completely fold over from taller indeterminate tomatoes in a storm too, it's brutal. Back in 2021 I had maybe 8 Better Boy plants that just crumpled after a heavy rain, and I lost a ton of fruit that hit the ground. Bamboo stakes and twine have been way more reliable for me since then, but I also started bolting my cages to some rebar stakes driven into the ground, that helps a lot if you really want to stick with wire.

keith_rivera1925d ago

Wait, you bolted the wire cages to rebar stakes in the ground and they still held up okay afterward? That sounds like a lot of work just to keep those flimsy store-bought cages from pancaking on you. Maybe that's the trick though, since those cheap wire cones definitely need something solid to anchor to so they don't just fold over the second a storm hits.