florida weave: does anyone pre-weave?

JRinPA · June 19, 2015

Hey all
I am doing a florida weave on a tomato garden for the first time this year. It is not at my house so I plant to check it every week or ten days. Most tutorials I've read says to weave every 6-10" starting when the plant is 1-2 ft tall. I am on the second weave doing it this way.

A few times though, I have read of people doing the weave at 6" interval in the beginning of the season. Tie the strings before the plants even start growing, and then weaving the plants into the string as they grow.

Has anyone here done both, and which did you prefer?

tam91 · June 19, 2015

I haven't done a pre-weave. But, when I've had a plant in a row that was shorter I have had to tuck him into the weave, and I find it a pain - much easier to weave as they grow imo.

crmauch · June 19, 2015

I did the Florida weave one year and liked many things about it (having to go around the ends of rows at all times was a thing I didn't like about it.) Pre-weaving is ok -- if you can catch the tomtoes just as they're passing the string. I wouldn't have the weave overtight (but that's probably a matter of opinion. You may have some breakage, but don't worry the tomato will make more (branches). I wouldn't keep every branch to begin with, but again that's a matter of opinion.

Rairdog · June 19, 2015

I call it "reverse Florida weave". This string has been up for 3 or 4 years contentiously. The last 3 years it was pole beans. Last year I had cherry tomatoes on each end that grew to the deck rails at 14 feet. The beans were going down hill with rust/mosaic so it was time to rotate them out. A bonus of fixed nitrogen is a plus. It's all cherries this year. This method works well but it needs tended every 3 or 4 days. If you wait too long it can get difficult to bend the plants under the string without breaking. A simple solution is a loop of garden wire or clip.

They need a little stake to get them going. Since this pic the stake has been removed.

Looking down at cherries from deck.

My cherokee's. They were out from the weave a little far because of the strawbales so I started them with a versicle string wrap.

Looking down at cherokee's

This method gives better air circulation. It is easier to prune because you don't have to reach in as deep. It also make's it easier to spray treat foilage issues. And....in my situation I can pick, treat and prune in the shade.

JRinPA · June 20, 2015

I just love when I look back at a post I wrote and see ugly spelling and grammar errors. I'll have plant to improve that in the future.

You have a very nice setup rairdog but I get a little queasy looking at that picture looking down from the deck.

I use CRW cages at my house w/o much pruning so I know how the tips can get away in just a few days. There is a short window to weave them back into the cage and after that they need to be tied up.

I think I'll stick with a regular weekly weave with that garden. We put in 36 plants just because we had them already, but the owner just turned 79 so I offered to weave it rather than have her tying up that many plants. Apparently her husband got a look at it after the initial weave and proclaimed it wouldn't possibly work! She told him that I knew what I was doing. LOL maybe, maybe not!

It is a 6x6 grid so going around the end is not a long walk in this case. I should have put four post per row instead of only three, but I guess it should hold up. They are indeterminate, and I'm not sure what to expect. The plants are smaller at that garden than the same plants I put out about the same time in my front yard. Mine are caged. She doesn't water as much as I do, so that could be it. She says she wants to encourage deep roots. I called it tough love. It is about 75+ yards from the house with no hose, so I see the point.

Cole_Robbie · June 20, 2015

One of the nice things about no-till is that you don't have to clear out all of last year's tomato supports to make way for the tiller. I am going to be out there in winter and early spring running all of my support strings. Otherwise I can't keep up with the growth of the plants.

jflournoy · June 20, 2015

My son has a tomato growing business that I help him with, and he put in a little over 800 plants this year. We ran each row of twine before the plants got to that next level. We do kind of a "modified" weave, though, we don't weave the twine in and out in between every single plant. We run a straight line from one post to the next (we have a post every 4 plants), then around the end of the row and at the same height on the other side of the posts. So basically we've got a 2-3" opening between the twine and we weave the plants in between those openings in the twine. It is very time and labor intensive, but we feel it is possible to be more thorough with this method and to get things better supported. Our rows are very clean and it's pretty easy to spot the fruit for monitoring and then harvest.

Salsacharley · June 20, 2015

Rairdog has it right. Why duplicate effort year after year when you already have the structure in place? This is my first year at re-using last year's weaves and it is working out really well. If you have to do a "patch" that is much less than a whole weave. Tomato clips cover a multitude of sins...er....neglected weaving. Pre-weaving would be a great start to setting up an established weave structure.

June 19, 2015	#1
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	florida weave: does anyone pre-weave? Hey all I am doing a florida weave on a tomato garden for the first time this year. It is not at my house so I plant to check it every week or ten days. Most tutorials I've read says to weave every 6-10" starting when the plant is 1-2 ft tall. I am on the second weave doing it this way. A few times though, I have read of people doing the weave at 6" interval in the beginning of the season. Tie the strings before the plants even start growing, and then weaving the plants into the string as they grow. Has anyone here done both, and which did you prefer?

June 19, 2015	#2
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	I haven't done a pre-weave. But, when I've had a plant in a row that was shorter I have had to tuck him into the weave, and I find it a pain - much easier to weave as they grow imo. __________________ Tracy

June 19, 2015	#3
crmauch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: Honey Brook, PA Zone 6b Posts: 399	I did the Florida weave one year and liked many things about it (having to go around the ends of rows at all times was a thing I didn't like about it.) Pre-weaving is ok -- if you can catch the tomtoes just as they're passing the string. I wouldn't have the weave overtight (but that's probably a matter of opinion. You may have some breakage, but don't worry the tomato will make more (branches). I wouldn't keep every branch to begin with, but again that's a matter of opinion.

June 19, 2015	#4
Rairdog Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2014 Location: Noblesville, IN Posts: 112	I call it "reverse Florida weave". This string has been up for 3 or 4 years contentiously. The last 3 years it was pole beans. Last year I had cherry tomatoes on each end that grew to the deck rails at 14 feet. The beans were going down hill with rust/mosaic so it was time to rotate them out. A bonus of fixed nitrogen is a plus. It's all cherries this year. This method works well but it needs tended every 3 or 4 days. If you wait too long it can get difficult to bend the plants under the string without breaking. A simple solution is a loop of garden wire or clip. They need a little stake to get them going. Since this pic the stake has been removed. Looking down at cherries from deck. My cherokee's. They were out from the weave a little far because of the strawbales so I started them with a versicle string wrap. Looking down at cherokee's This method gives better air circulation. It is easier to prune because you don't have to reach in as deep. It also make's it easier to spray treat foilage issues. And....in my situation I can pick, treat and prune in the shade.

June 20, 2015	#5
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	I just love when I look back at a post I wrote and see ugly spelling and grammar errors. I'll have plant to improve that in the future. You have a very nice setup rairdog but I get a little queasy looking at that picture looking down from the deck. I use CRW cages at my house w/o much pruning so I know how the tips can get away in just a few days. There is a short window to weave them back into the cage and after that they need to be tied up. I think I'll stick with a regular weekly weave with that garden. We put in 36 plants just because we had them already, but the owner just turned 79 so I offered to weave it rather than have her tying up that many plants. Apparently her husband got a look at it after the initial weave and proclaimed it wouldn't possibly work! She told him that I knew what I was doing. LOL maybe, maybe not! It is a 6x6 grid so going around the end is not a long walk in this case. I should have put four post per row instead of only three, but I guess it should hold up. They are indeterminate, and I'm not sure what to expect. The plants are smaller at that garden than the same plants I put out about the same time in my front yard. Mine are caged. She doesn't water as much as I do, so that could be it. She says she wants to encourage deep roots. I called it tough love. It is about 75+ yards from the house with no hose, so I see the point.

June 20, 2015	#6
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	One of the nice things about no-till is that you don't have to clear out all of last year's tomato supports to make way for the tiller. I am going to be out there in winter and early spring running all of my support strings. Otherwise I can't keep up with the growth of the plants.

June 20, 2015	#7
jflournoy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Ohio Posts: 118	My son has a tomato growing business that I help him with, and he put in a little over 800 plants this year. We ran each row of twine before the plants got to that next level. We do kind of a "modified" weave, though, we don't weave the twine in and out in between every single plant. We run a straight line from one post to the next (we have a post every 4 plants), then around the end of the row and at the same height on the other side of the posts. So basically we've got a 2-3" opening between the twine and we weave the plants in between those openings in the twine. It is very time and labor intensive, but we feel it is possible to be more thorough with this method and to get things better supported. Our rows are very clean and it's pretty easy to spot the fruit for monitoring and then harvest.

June 20, 2015	#8
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	Rairdog has it right. Why duplicate effort year after year when you already have the structure in place? This is my first year at re-using last year's weaves and it is working out really well. If you have to do a "patch" that is much less than a whole weave. Tomato clips cover a multitude of sins...er....neglected weaving. Pre-weaving would be a great start to setting up an established weave structure.