Master Gardener: Tomato Staking
By: Laura Hartog
Updated: August 13, 2012
Norm suggests staking tomatoes - saying you'll get your produce earlier, cleaner, and with less disease or insect damage. On the down side, Norm said staking means less fruit, and it can be difficult staking them.
He makes his strips out of old t-shirts to tie up the plants, using them every foot or so. Norm says "When you're doing this, you really want to make sure that you let the branch get long enough that it's limber, that you can pull it close to the stake. If you have short branch and you really yank it close to the stake, you're more likely to snap it."
Another recommendation from Norm includes limiting the number of stems. He suggests restricting it to three major branches -- to limit energy intake. But, he says, you must make sure there are still enough leaves to offer sun protection.
Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by the Penn State Cooperative Extension. To read more about the program:
http://extension.psu.edu/master-gardener/about
He makes his strips out of old t-shirts to tie up the plants, using them every foot or so. Norm says "When you're doing this, you really want to make sure that you let the branch get long enough that it's limber, that you can pull it close to the stake. If you have short branch and you really yank it close to the stake, you're more likely to snap it."
Another recommendation from Norm includes limiting the number of stems. He suggests restricting it to three major branches -- to limit energy intake. But, he says, you must make sure there are still enough leaves to offer sun protection.
Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by the Penn State Cooperative Extension. To read more about the program:
http://extension.psu.edu/master-gardener/about
