Pros & Cons of 3 Tomato Trellis Systems and Which Popular Method I DON'T Recommend

Hey guys it's Brijette with San Diego Seed  Company and today I'm going to talk about tomato   trellising. It's a very hot subject with lots  of opinions and lots of different ways that you   can do it I'm going to demonstrate today tons of  different ways that you can trellis your tomatoes   and some of the thought processes on why you  might choose that system now before i get into   that make sure you hit the like and subscribe  button so you're notified any time we put a   video out alright so for those of you who know  us know our channel you know that i love talking   about the tomahawk system it's a really cool  system that basically revolutionized the way   that i grow tomatoes because it is a commercial  tomato growing system it really helped us maximize   production in our very small urban space and we  also use it at our three acre farm in ramona so   it's a really neat system some of the the  pros of the system is it is orderly and neat   it also maximizes production it minimizes diseases  because of the open nature of it now the cons to   the system is like with anything it's a little  more work you do have to get the tama hook   system here you got to get some plant clips but  we're talking about minimum investment with how   much tomatoes you get out of it and the system  only works with indeterminate tomatoes or pole   tomatoes you wouldn't be able to use this system  on determinants like romas or dwarf tomatoes so   this is meant to trellis up vining tomatoes and  keep them nice and orderly now i won't get into   the whole hullabaloo of how it works we've got  tons of videos on that on our youtube channel on   our instagram but you can see just from looking at  this this tomato plant it is loaded with tomatoes   and it's going to be very easy to harvest them  because they're easy to see you can find them   they are going to ripen in succession so that  you so harvesting is quick and it's easy and it   is maximizing the space we're going up and not  out so now the reason why you use the tomahawk   versus just tying it to the top of the trellis  per se is you really have endless space that   you can go up because as the plant grows up you  continue to clip it and then you can unwind it   and lean it and essentially have as much space as  you have string on here for the plant to grow it's   really an amazing revolutionary system that you  can use in the garden to maximize space because i   don't want to spend the time or the energy or the  money building a trellis that's 30 feet tall i can   use the tomahawk system and get 30 feet of space  on using the system for the plant to grow up so   it's another great benefit of it really great for  urban spaces small spaces and those who just like   a really nice tidy garden now let's go check out  another method that's a little bit easier to use   and very popular as well okay so here's  another system that's super popular because   it's so ornamental and beautiful but it's  just using a cattle panel that you actually   curl over an area of your garden and we have  them attached here to t posts and he's got them   attached just with some zip ties very simple  you can use wire but it makes this really cool   arching trellis that you can grow just about  anything up and tomatoes grow really well up   this you can see here he actually has our lucid  gems which look amazing which are growing up here   and he's using the plant clips here to just clip  it to the trellis when the plant is big and stocky   like this you got to use a plant clip because if  you try to wind it by hand you'll snap it and then   you'll be really mad but when it's small like this  you can come out in the morning and you can very   gently kind of wind it through but still  using some plant clips is a really good idea   now the pros to this system is they they create  an ambiance in the garden they almost create like   a room when the tomatoes grow all the way over  here you will have a nice shaded spot that you   can hang out in and it's just it's really neat and  really it's where you see it all over instagram   is because it's just a really cool look that you  get in your garden it is a little bit of work um   i would say it's a little less work than the  tomahawks but not by a whole lot and you do   have to buy the cattle panel which can be kind of  expensive plant clips are pretty cheap so that's   not a big deal and depending on how you want to do  it you can choose to prune the suckers constantly   and try to keep it nice and neat or you can let  it kind of go wild and just grow all the way over   the choice is yours this is a little bit more of a  loosey-goosey method but again it will provide you   with tons and tons of tomatoes so he's got lucid  gem berkeley tie-dye we've got beef steaks brandy   wines so you can really grow any indeterminate  tomato either a big slicer or a cherry tomato   over the system what wouldn't work very well  for the system is a determinate tomato or a   dwarf tomato it's just too much trellis for this  particular system but all in all it looks amazing   and if you get the space once you install this you  can grow tons of stuff over it he's got pumpkin   you can grow flowers you can do all kinds of  stuff so an added benefit is this system can   be used with lots of different crops now let's  go look at one of my least favorite systems okay so this is my least favorite system  and honestly i wouldn't even call it a   tomato trellising system you can't really see but  deep down in here somewhere in here is a tomato   cage i really do not like tomato cages they are  really only good for very small dwarf tomatoes   really any other tomato gets much too large for  them and the problems with this system is one   tomato cages are often too small and too flimsy  and they can easily fall over taking your whole   plant with it which is pointless because the  trellis is supposed to support it it also is   it also allows the plant to grow very close and  squished together and you can actually see in here   there are tons of white flies that are  happening and white flies happen when   there is a lack of air flow and a cluster of  plant material really close together they can   reproduce very quickly in those conditions and  really infest the tomato plant very quickly   another downside of this is you can't find  the tomatoes i have to go in here and i mean   i have there's some tomatoes down there but you  know i'm going to lose a lot because they're   not going to be you're not going to be able  to find them now you might be thinking yeah   well this is also hasn't been pruned very well  and you're totally right these have gone crazy   but with a tomato cage it's kind of hard to prune  because everything is just all crazy and you can't   see where the plant is going and train it very  well so again this is my least favorite system   and honestly don't recommend it for any varieties  but if you have to use a tomato cage use it on   determinate varieties like this which is a roma  or a dwarf variety but you still gotta prune a   little bit because this mass of tomato leaves  is only gonna cause issues with powdery mildew   white fly all kinds of stuff in the summer when  we start getting to tomato eating caterpillars   tomato hornworms you're not going to be able  to find them in this mess what you'll do is   you'll dig you'll find a tomato to look all  great you turn it around half of it's missing   because the tomato hornworm ate it so it's really  not a great system but a possibility so no matter   how you grow your tomatoes a key factor in growing  tomatoes is you have to grow it on something   it is much too much of a sprawling crazy plant  to let it grow on its own it needs some type of   trellis there's tons of different systems out  there there is the tomahawk system like you see   here tomato cages one of my least favorites cattle  panels that you can use up and arching you also   can use them in a round circular way no matter  how you grow your tomatoes just know prune them   for airflow plant them in the warm season so they  need to be planted in the spring or the summer and   make sure that you you keep an eye on them so that  they're growing happy and healthy and producing   tons of tomatoes for you and not becoming infested  with with insects so i want to know what tomato   varieties you're growing in the garden and i  want to know how you're trellising them so make   sure you comment on this video and share with me  your favorite trellising method for your tomatoes

Channel: San Diego Seed Company

Views: 18,252

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Id: GCmYf4thnGQ

Length: 9min 12sec (552 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 27 2022