Stringing Indeterminate Tomato

I planted tomatoes in the SFG for the first time this year. I am an old row gardener and have tomato cages (Texas Tomato Cage - 24 inches in diameter). I used these cages this year for my tomatoes. Needless to say, they took up 4 sq ft per tomato. This is a huge waste of space so I also tried pruning and stringing some of my tomatoes. This method is working very well except for one problem. As I wrap the tomato around the string (or the string around the tomato), the string begins to get too tight. I had to cut the string and add another length of string in order to keep stringing them. I have watched the "Frontporch Farms" video a number of times and watched other videos, but no one ever talks about actually setting up the string. My main question is, how do you determine how much slack to put in the string so you can continue to wrap the tomato ??? Or do you make it so you can keep letting out more string as the tomato grows???:scratch:

Also, can someone tell me how to get a new topic in a specific forum. I did not want this topic in a regional forum but in the SFG General Discussion forum. Did I miss a step when I started the topic.

We can move the thread later, no worries.
As to the string,I usually cut my string about 18 inches longer than the distance From the soil to the support above. I wrap the string but don't really tie it to anything,the slack just lays on the ground. I loosen the string at the bottom and gently work the slack up the plant as needed. Does that make sense?

I went ahead and moved your topic to the seeds and plants forum.

When starting a new topic, it helps to be in the forum you want to post your topic in. Were you in the regional forum "coastal & tropical south" when you started this? If so, that's why it ended up there. People from other regions often see your topic anyways, so don't stress too much about where you post.

It looks like you got an excellent answer on the stringing, and since I don't string my tomatoes I'll leave that alone and just say I hope you'll still come back to visit the regional forums in the future!

Camprn - Thank you. Yes it makes sense.
Michelle - Yes I was in the Tropical South subforum. Next time I will get in the forum I want to post into.

I use zap straps to tie my tomatoes to the leader string and make it quite loose to allow for growth of the main stem.
On occasion I have to go back and cut the zap straps, but by then the plant is well supported up above.

I leave the slack at the top with a removable knot. Found it a lot easier to use short ladder than to get the slack from the bottom up. Especially when the plant was tall and heavy with fruit. My plan for my box of tomato's was eye hooks. Tie it off, wrap up the tomato's over the top support and then back down to the eye hook leaving slack and removable knot. Unfortunately deer ate all of them down to stumps and I am now using kind of a Florida weave because they are more like a bush.

This was my first year stringing and I had the same discovery. I realized it as I was putting them in, though, so other than the first plant I left extra twine at the top above the knot and from time to time I would untie and loosen. It was a little awkward doing that up on the stool, but it was much easier than trying to bring up slack from the bottom, which I had to do with the first one.

I tried some of my tomatoes using the string method. I made a mistake and did not prune properly. Things got so heavy that some of the strings (twine) broke and some of the tomatoes fell over. Next year I will use that string that they use to bail pine straw or wheat straw. Also, my height of the poles started out at 5 feet tall. I had to add a five foot extension. That still was not high enough and I added another two feet. The structure is now 12 feet tall and the tomatoes have grown above the top.

In commercial greenhouses they use clips that go from tomato to string. The string is tied to the bottom clip around the t tomato. At the top there is a rafter or some such very sturdy structure. From it hang little reels of the extra string. So as you need more string you unwind it from the reel. It works really slick but requires a brain that will keep up on the pruning etc. That person is not me I got lots of excuses, some real and some moonshine why I can not prune a tomato.





It is described pretty well in this link http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/tomatoes-in-the-greenhouse-tips-from-traditional-practice-at-audley-end-house-2699/

Turan wrote:

Oooooh! Me LIKES!!! for the great tip, Turan!

[quote="mollyhespra"]

Turan wrote:

Thanks, I'll have to remember that for next year!