I am growing tomatoes in good sized containers but this is what I am running into. The stalks are getting so big that the weight of the tomatoes is beginning to bend them over the cage bars and I am not sure what I should do about it or how to prevent it.

I bought the biggest cages available.

Thanks for any suggestions.

John H. Power
Vero Beach, FL

Hi, John. A lot of folks just let them bend over like that, they don't correct it. Others will attach another cage on top of the first cage to let the tomatoes keep climbing up. Others will pinch the plants to make them bushier. Personally, I quit growing tomatoes in large containers because I used the double cage method and the plants were top heavy, so the wind kept blowing them over. I saw that someone on the tomato thread that had cut lengths of cattle panels and attached them to the sides of the containers. These could be cut to any size needed. Looked to be a good solution for the taller tomatoes. I built a raised bed last year and arched a twenty foot cattle panel over it. By the end of the summer I had a tomato tunnel.

Thanks I will consider those options but won't the broken, damaged stalks cause the tomatoes on those stalks to die? How would they get water?

I have seen pics on this website where the vines actually went over the tops of the cages, reached the ground, and started growing up again. Yes, they can break with the weight of the tomatoes, which has happened to me before. That's why I looked for an alternative. You can still grow determinate tomatoes with the regular size cages in pots. The indeterminates are the ones that keep growing. My cherry tomato that I grow, called purple bumble bee has vines that can reach a length of eighteen feet in one season.

Yes when the vine breaks the nutrients stop or is reduced. My latest (and laziest) effort was using jute twine and the florida weave method. It works well, and can be used vertically or horizontally. I use a lot of rebar, but bamboo and other poles can be used as well. A word of warning about tomato tunnels. You can get stained clothing and hats that will never come clean again.