I decided this is the year my tomatoes aren’t going to topple and sprawl all over the place! In the past I’ve used standard tomato cages, which always fail me, especially for indeterminate tomatoes that vine like crazy. I’ve seen some nice pre-fabbed square cages that fold up for easy storage, but I think everyone got the “gardening bug” this year and they are sold out everywhere, including online. So next best thing was to create something myself! I checked out some other gardeners’ DIY cages and decided the following would work for me just fine!
The items above are all you need. I purchased a 5×50 feet roll of concrete mesh or “re-mesh” at Menards. I was able to make 10 cages from this roll, it cost right around $40. The other standard size is 5×150 feet, which is cheaper per foot if you’re looking to make more than 10 cages. Yes, its rusty, but I don’t mind the look. Some people make similar cages with cattle fence panels, however it was outside the budget I had in mind. The other items I used were gloves, bolt cutters, and zip ties. It may also be a plus to be up to date on your tetanus shot — be careful! Haha!
Start by unrolling some of the mesh. It has quite a bit of memory, and gets a bit more difficult to work with as the roll gets tighter, but I found it doable by myself.
Each space of the mesh is 6×6 inches. This is perfect for reaching in with your hand to pick the ‘maters. You can easily grab the fruit and pull it out without rubbing up against the mesh. I counted out 9 squares (54 inches) and then cut the mesh flush on the vertical lines.
Next I brought the edges of the mesh together to form a circle. I used 5 zip ties spaced along the height of the cage to hold the mesh in a circle. I saw some other people didn’t cut the mesh flush with the vertical line, and bent the horizontal line back around to hold it together. I didn’t like this because it was more sharp edges in less predictable places. With the zip ties all the sharp edges are in one line, and I turned my cages so those will be to the back where I most likely won’t be reaching in. Also, if I want to remove them from the garden for storage, I can simply cut the zip ties and let the cages open a bit, which would make it possible to lay them all together in a smaller space.
Last I used the bolt cutters again to remove the bottom horizontal ring to create “stakes” to help stabilize the cage in the ground.
This places the cage 6 inches into the soil. It feels quite stable now, but as the plants continue to fill out, I’m guessing it will need additional staking as I doubt they would hold up in a storm. I’m planning on using a 3 or 4 foot fence post to pound in next to the cage and then use zip ties again. (I love zip ties for everything!)
And that’s it! Minimal investment and time, and cages that will out-live and out-perform your typical tomato cages! I’ll keep you posted on how they work through the season!
