Tomato cages out of PVC pipe

[ArthurDent004]

I need to put up a tomato cage for my Early Wonder in a 5 gallon SWC. I was thinking of putting a bamboo stake in the each of the four corners of my rectangular bucket for anchors and then covering these stakes with 1/2 inch PVC pipe. I would create rectangular ladder rungs from elbow joints and short pieces of pipe so the rectangle can slide down over the PVC pipes sticking up. The rungs could be secured to these pipes with small screws or eye bolts. This would allow the rungs to be placed anywhere they are needed and allow the cages to be broken down easily later. I would use three way connectors and short pipes to provide solid rectangular support at the top of these pipes.

Would this be overkill for a tomato cage? Am I overthinking the amount of support need for such a small container? Would bamboo stakes and twine be enough support?

[feldon30]

You mean like...http://feldoncentral.com/garden/tom_pvc/

[Salsacharley]

Feldon30 has a great design.
I came up with another idea for a 5 gal SWC.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=29691

[ArthurDent004]

Something similar. Say you take concrete rebar like this

http://www.lowes.com/pd_17199-157-05...bar&facetInfo=

and pounded it halfway into the ground. That gives you a foot anchor sticking up. Take two 10 foot pieces of PVC pipe and cut them in half. Put each 5 foot piece over one of these pieces of rebar. I'd leave out the 4 way star pieces and make a solid rectangle. Make the rectangles big enough to slide down over these posts. Drill holes through the pipes at the spacing you want and use eyebolts to connect the rectangles to the pipes standing up. This would allow you to adjust the height of the rectangles as needed.

[amideutch]

The cage part is easy. What you need to think about is how are you going to support the cage/container. As the plant grows and gets fruit the more susceptible it is to falling over from wind, been there done that. Especially when the water reservoir gets empty or the aggregate dries up from plant uptake they will get top heavy.

So if you don't have a fence to tie it to you may need to drive a metal rod or pipe into the ground next to the container to anchor it.

Ami

[ArthurDent004]

Here's a picture of my completed tomato cage. The first build I had envisioned didn't work out as well as I wanted so I used Feldon's plans and created one for the 5 gallon SWC I'm using.

[Salsacharley]

Hey Arthur,

That cage looks very good, but, like mine, labor intensive and pricey with all those connections. Is the bottom secured into the ground?

It looks like the filler tube might be hard to reach inside the cage, especially if the plant gets big and thick. You could add yet another connector....a 45 degree connector to extend the filler tube opening outside the cage.

If you don't have too many plants to grow your cage is an excellent one that can last a long time.

Charley

[ArthurDent004]

The plant is growing indoors so I don't have to worry that much about support. I was thinking I need to lock it down to the bench it's sitting on.

I was curious to see what it would cost to build this kind of cage.

My parts list:

4 10 foot piece of schedule 40 1/2 inch PVC pipe 1.86 per pipe
1 10 pack PVC Sch 40 Tee 4.14 per pack
2 10-Pack 90-Degree PVC Sch 40 Elbow 2.52 per pack
12 90-Degree PVC Sch 40 Cross Tee 1.26 per unit

Total 31.74

I had most of one 10 foot piece of pipe left over after this build.

I've been top-watering my plant and just using the fill tube and a dipstick to check the water level in my reservoir. I don't water until the water level in the reservoir reaches a certain level. I was wondering about creating a watering pipe with 1/4 inch holes that rests on supports over the soil so that when water is added you get a watering can effect.

[Cole_Robbie]

If you use the gray pvc electrical conduit instead of the white pipe, your cage will last much longer in the sun. The conduit contains UV inhibitors.

[ArthurDent004]

I never heard of gray PVC electrical conduit before. I was looking at Lowes and Home Depot and saw the pipes but I didn't see the cross or T-connectors that I used to build my cage.

[Cole_Robbie]

Yeah, I haven't seen the 4-ways. The T connectors are ★★★★★★★★ boxes. It would work, but would look awkward. I don't know if your cross connector would fit the gray conduit.

Alternatively, you could paint the cage with a flat white latex paint. That would buy you more time against the degrading effects of the sun.

[ArthurDent004]

I've seen others say they used two coats of paint for UV protection of the PVC pipes used in their tomato cages. I believe Raybo mentioned that he uses a UV spray for his Earthtainers - http://www.amazon.com/303-Products-3...ray+protectant

[PaulF]

Several years ago I made a couple of cages out of white PVC. They were fairly expensive, but looked very good along side the reinforced concrete wire cages I had been using for many years. By the end of the season the practicality just was not right for me. While they were as tall as I wanted to make them by adding layers, the spacing did not lend the PVC to supporting my outdoor plants. In the years since, the PVC has been put to great use on other projects, so it was not a complete loss. Looked great, would last forever, was plenty strong enough, just not for me.

[ArthurDent004]

I was thinking I could simplify things for any future cages by building the frame out of PVC pipe and leaving out the cross pieces. I'd replace them either with eyebolts and some rope strung between them for a ladder or just drill a hole in the pipe and thread the rope through the drilled hole. You could even string rope from the top of the cage frame down and make a net. You could eliminate the rope entirely if you wanted to use the trellis netting you can find at Lowe's or Home Depot. Just secure it to the top of the frame and wrap it around.

[Salsacharley]

I've just been using twine for lateral support on my PVC cage and it has worked well. You just have to make sure you tie the twine securely on the pipe. Drilling holes and threading rope would be more secure but also more work. With 200+ plants that's not fun.