Staking Tomatoes with Florida Weave

UPDATE: This method worked well until our vines grew heavy with tomatoes. I have had to go back and tie the individual stems to the rebar closest to that stem. This is working like a dream!

I grew up on the farm back in the 60’s and 70’s. My folks always had a huge garden–some would call it a truck patch. However, we used all of the produce that we grew. Rarely was there any left over to sell.

My Nanny was the master gardener. The rest of us did what she told us to!

Nanny always staked tomatoes with short pieces of rebar. She would drive the metal rods into the ground and tie the tomato plant to the rebar. This was very time consuming, and the only thing that she taught me that never worked for “me.”

I have tried it all. Rolling net-wire into tubes and using that as a cage. Store-bought tomato cages–those bent–and my tomatoes got squeezed between the ribs of the cage. Wooden stakes. Wooden cages.

Finally I found an easy, inexpensive technique that actually works! I went back to Nanny’s rebar, but used a method called the Florida Weave rather than tying the tomato vine to the rebar.

Rebar is a long, metal rod used in concrete foundations. It comes in 3/8 inch and 1/2 inch rods. I bought the 1/2 inch.

The metal rods come in 20 foot sticks. The building supply cut each rod into 3 equal pieces for me at no extra cost. I drove the rebar into the raised bed, making sure to go at least a foot into the undisturbed soil at the bottom of the bed so the rod wouldn’t give from the weight of the tomato plant as it grew and started producing tomatoes. When you have your rebar in the bed, tie the cord securely to it.

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I had a huge spool of nylon twine on hand that I bought several years ago, and feel obligated to use it up! But I do not recommend the nylon. You have to be very careful tying it, or your knots will slip.

When you have your rebar in the bed, tie the cord securely to it. Go around the first tomato–wrap the cord around the rebar on the opposite side a couple of times–keeping the cord tight as you work.

When you have wrapped the cord around the second rebar, go back around the opposite side of the tomato plant and to the first rebar section. Tie it off. (See VIDEO)

If you have several plants in a row, this still works. Just wrap the twine around every other plant. When you get to the end of the row, wrap around rod and then come back down row wrapping around every other plant. Tie off at the end.

This method works well for all tomatoes, especially with the indeterminate type. Indeterminate tomato vines just keep on growing…and growing…and growing and will produce until the first frost if kept fed and watered. They can grow from 6 to 12 feet tall.

My dad had an indeterminate tomato vine that grew so tall he had to stand on a ladder to pick them. He trained the vine to grow up a post with an old metal rake wheel mounted on top. The tomatoes hung down between the spokes of the wheel. Was so cool to see!

Most of the tomatoes plants that you buy are indeterminate tomatoes. Here is a list of the most popular varieties:

• Brandwine
• Betterboy
• Beefstake
• Cherokee Purple
• Sweet 100
• Early Girl

Determinate Tomatoes reach a certain height and stop growing. Bush varieties are determinate. Their maximum height is about 4 feet. If you have limited space such as a patio, you might prefer this type.

They produce their fruit within 1-2 months. If you are wanting to harvest a lot of tomatoes at one time for canning, this would be a good option.

My favorite varieties are Brandywine and Cherokee Purple–both heirloom indeterminate tomatoes.

An Heirloom tomato is a tomato that is not a hybrid–a cross between different varieties. Heirloom varieties have been around for at least 50 years.

Hybrid tomatoes are crosses between different varieties. They are cross bred for disease resistance and some claim, better yields.

As I have already said, I prefer the heirloom. You can save the seed of any heirloom vegetable, plant them the following year, and the seedlings will be exactly like the parent plant. These seeds are open pollenated, old-time varieties that have proven themselves over the years. They have been handed down through the generations.

You can save seed from hybrid vegetables, but when you plant them, you never know what you will get. These seedlings most times will revert back to the characteristics of the parent plants before they were crossed.

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Here is a list of Heirloom tomato varieties with links to seeds. I recommend starting your seeds inside with grow lights by February each year:

• Brandywine
• Cherokee Purple
• Mortgage Lifter
• Box Car Willie
• Arkansas Traveler

The three varieties highlighted with links are my favorites, buy you might like the others too.

Here is a list of Hybrid tomato varieties:

• Supersweet 100
• Better Boy
• Big Beef
• Big Boy
• Bush Early Girl
• Celebrity
• Early Girl
• Heritage
• Jersey Boy
• Rutgers

There are literally dozens of hybrid varieties. You can bet anything named with letters or numbers or a combination of both is a hybrid.

Whether you decide to grow heirloom tomatoes or hybrids, you will need to decide on a way to keep the vines from sprawling over the ground. When the tomatoes touch the ground, they will rot and will be more susceptible to insect damage.

When the foliage or leaves touch the ground, the plant becomes more susceptible to blight. Even when staked, I keep the lower stems and leaves trimmed off high enough that they do not touch the ground.

If you haven’t tried the Florida weave, I would give it a shot. It is so quick and easy and works super well! Good luck gardening! Have fun! And eat well!

If you are interested in details on building these DIY raised garden beds, you can find instructions, demo videos, material lists, etc. here on Bella’s Raised Garden Beds.

https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/02/09/bellas-raised-garden-beds/

The mix we used to fill the beds is loose, full of nutrients and organic matter, and best of all, it was completely free! The vegetables are doing great so far. Here is the post on how we made the mix and filled the beds:

https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/03/31/one-down-5-to-go-filling-bellas-raised-garden-beds/