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Originally Posted by emcd124
2. If you dont paint or spray the rusty wires, do they ever stop coming off all over you? Every time I reach through a hole to pull a sucker or otherwise fuss the plant I wind up marked with grime all up and down my arm. Will that go down as it is more exposed to the weather or is that a lifetime feature of the rusty mesh construction?
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If not painted, they will rust forever. We have 10+ year old rusty cages and I try to be mindful of what I wear when I deal with the plants. Ours are stored outdoors all year round. I could probably use a wire brush on them to remove trash and rust at the beginning of the season but I know they would just rust up again. Having painted our wire mesh fence this year, I think it would be a good idea to paint new cages too.
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3. The recommended diameter was 22-24". Thats how big I made mine but they look huge! it seems hard to imagine the plants will fill them out and be sufficiently supported inside there. So now I'm wondering whether or not a particular approach to ye olde "to sucker or not to sucker" is also implicated in the choice of diameter. For a 22-24" cage, does that imply letting the plant freely sucker? constraining to one main stem? I usually wind up with 3-4 stems through partial design and partial laziness...should I modify the diameter to be smaller in the future?
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Our cages are about that size and I almost never prune the plants. When a tip grows out a hole, I just push it back and keep them inside until the vines eventually spill out over the top. We get more than enough tomatoes to feed our family, neighbors and various other folks.