Say Goodbye To Tomato Cages & Try This Longer-Lasting Alternative To Grow Them Instead

There's something about seeing a fresh red tomato on the vine that signals our brains to think about BLTs, caprese salad, and burgers on the grill with all the toppings. A good tomato is smooth and heavy, juicy, and richly colored all the way through — perfect for mouth-watering meals and snacks. But in order to get that perfect tomato, you have to have a healthy and well-supported plant. That's where a good trellis structure comes in to help. You can go the traditional tomato cage route for this support system, but there's a longer-lasting alternative that makes a sturdy and load-bearing trellis: metal rebar or cattle panels. A typical tomato cage is made of wood or flimsy metal that sometimes fails to support a hefty tomato plant. Rebar and cattle panels are thick and sturdy metals to hold the weight without bending or breaking. They also last longer in the elements and require little to no maintenance — wood may last a few seasons, but it will eventually fall apart if you don't take care of it. 

If you've grown delicious tomatoes before, you know how oversized the plant can get and how heavy the tomatoes are on the little vines, especially if you have a large yield. Trellises keep the plant from toppling over and growing on the ground, where they can become infected with disease. A sturdy metal trellis will support strong stems and keep the roots of the plant in the ground while allowing better air circulation, all aspects of maintaining the health of the plant to yield healthy tomatoes.

There are numerous configurations to make a cage or trellis for your tomato plant, but with rebar, it's going to be simpler for you if you don't have to do any cutting or welding. Instead, rely on an easy cage configuration by tying or lashing flexible rebar rods into a rectangular frame. Drive stakes of rebar deep into the ground as supports, so your tomato plant doesn't topple over and bring the whole trellis down with it. Use wire, zip ties, or twine to bind the frame to the vertical supports. To create the trellis, repeat these steps two more times until you have two vertical support cages and one horizontal cage lying on top and fastened securely.

You can utilize cattle panels as a part of your rebar trellis or on their own to make a sturdy structure for your tomatoes. If you want to add to rebar trellis for a really solid form, you can simply bend the panels around the sides of the rebar frame and attach them via wire, zip ties, or twine. If you want to make it easier on yourself and test your mettle with just the cattle panels, it really is as simple as sticking one end in the ground, bending the other end into an arch, and then sticking it into the ground, as well. You will still need supports to keep your trellis in place and sturdy, but it's simple to drive rebar rods into the ground at each of the four corners of the arch and attach them to the panels via the items mentioned above. If you use this material as support for your plants, you'll have stronger and longer-lasting "cages" with which you can grow tasty tomatoes.