The Florida weave . I have to laugh softly every time I get wind the name . It sounds like a bad false hair , maybe even a rollickin ’ good dance down south ( and maybe it ’s both ? ) .
But it ’s really an good method of trellising ( staking ) tomatoes if you plant your tomato plant side by side in rows .
Many small - graduated table sodbuster and commercial-grade growers engage the Florida weave method ( also call the handbasket weave method acting ) because it ’s fast , simple to set up and assert , and uses distance expeditiously during the growing season — as well asafterthe develop season when there ’s so little cloth to hive away .
I first learned about the Florida weave over 12 long time ago when I was decide how to support my 14 tomato flora in raised beds .
That first summer , I cage in all my tomatoes with the metal conical cages you typically feel in garden centers . While the conical cages ferment all right in the beginning , I managed to wipe out a few ( mostly while deracinate old plants ) and did n’t have enough for all my sprawl indeterminates that time of year .
I also found that my plant life became too top - heavy for the John Milton Cage Jr. as they grew taller — and while I ’d like to think I was an awing first - timer at growing tomatoes ( haha ) , the simple fact was that my works easily outgrow those small cones .
So rather than buying more cages ( too much money for something that was n’t durable ) or constructing my own towers out of rebar and kine panels ( too much employment ) , I start looking for tomato supports that were inexpensive and effortless .
That ’s when I identify the Florida weave technique !
The Florida weave used quotidian supplying I already had around the yard ( stakes and string ) , and with a little help from my ready to hand hubby ( who has all the fun tools ) , I had all my plant life neatly trellised in no metre at all .
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What is the Florida weave?
With the Florida weave method , the approximation is to “ sandwich ” your plants between length of twine . The string gently holds up the plant without the pauperization for additional stake and clips .
Ideally , you originate trellis tomato plants when they ’re under 2 groundwork tall and well-to-do to manage . ( I do mine shortly after Itransplant my tomatoes in a trench , but before Imulchmy beds . )
Larger plants become unruly and hard to interweave around the offshoot . You also start the risk of driving wager into the roots of more effected plants . So , start ahead of time with this system !
What kind of tomatoes can you support with the Florida weave?
The Florida weave works especially well for determinate tomatoes , since they never grow more than 5 feet in height . This make it easy to contain the plants within the weave and have them be fully supported , specially if you ’re using wooden stakes and natural - fibre twine .
However , I ’ve always trellised indeterminate tomato industrial plant with the Florida weave and never had issues . In raise beds , my plants typically spring up 8 to 9 feet tall , so any part of the vine that grow beyond the stake merely drape over the topmost twine like a layer sheet on a clothesline .
How to support your tomato plants using the Florida weave technique
1. Choose your stakes
initiate with sturdy stake at least 6 to 8 animal foot grandiloquent . count on what you have available , these are my top choices :
Steel fence thyroxin - posts : T - posts reach from 5 to 10 feet magniloquent . The7 - footor8 - footT - posts are the perfect pinnacle for a Florida weave post , and their larger diameter ( 1 3/4 inch ) makes them sturdy enough for supporting several undetermined plant in long quarrel .
While I ’ve essay all the other options below , T - post are now my go - to as they can be reused yr after year , bear up well against fart , and can easy suffer turgid , heavy plants .
Rebar : If you ca n’t find tall T - posts , consider usingrebar(which are tenuous metallic element post used in expression ) . At lumberyard and household improvement storage , they typically come in length increment of 2 feet ( up to 20 foot ) .
A unmarried 20 - foot opus of rebar can be cut into three adequate length to give you three stakes that are 6 feet 8 inches magniloquent .
With their pocket-size diameters ( 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch ) , rebar stake are easy to tug into the ground . If you wait until after a good rainwater ( when the soil is nice and soft ) , you could even push the rebar in with your hands .
Wooden stakes : An easily available and inexpensive option , I ’ve used 2×2 wooden stakes successfully for determinate Lycopersicon esculentum . They ’ll last for a time of year or two , but are prostrate to rotting and splintering , and the tops might shatter with a emphatic hammer strike .
In a pinch , you’re able to expend wooden bet for indeterminate varieties , but they may start to bow as your plants develop taller .
Bamboo : Thick bamboo works better than woods as it ’s conditions tolerant and has awesome malleable lastingness , but it ’s also harder to come by unless you get your own bamboo . ( Most of the bamboo bet sold at garden centre are more suitable for abstemious - responsibility staking . )
If you have a bamboo nursery nearby ( Bamboo Craftsman in Portland , Oregon , is where I ’ve source mine ) , choose strong , straight poles about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter with thick cell walls .
2. Install the stakes
Center a stake between each plant and drive it 12 inch into the ground using a sledgehammer orT - position driver .
Quick Tip
If you utilise liothyronine - posts , aT - Emily Price Post pulleris an incredibly ready to hand tool to have around the K !
If you put a stake between every two to three plant , repel it 18 in into the background ( and even profoundly if your garden receive a lot of wind in the summertime ) .
You want to keep at least 5 to 6 feet of stake above terra firma for trellis your plants .
( The picture in this mail show my T - Emily Price Post in the ground outside of my upgrade seam , but if your thyroxine - Charles William Post are on the shorter side , definitely establish theminsideyour raised bed so you have enough height . )
3. Choose your twine
Use a durable , conditions - resistant twine that does n’t stretch too much , liketomato twine(a heavy - duty poly works well),waxed twine , tarred string , or synthetic baler string .
A fragile nylon rope also work , as doesheavy - duty hemp cord , which is thick and durable , but not so burly that it ’s hard to tie a sozzled knot with .
In a pinch , you could even use jute , sisal , or plain one-time cotton wool twine , but you ’ll have to re - tighten up the lines throughout the season when they start to sag .
( Hemp corduroy was used in these images , but I ’ve tried all types of twine and my favorites right now — for long suit and resilience — are poly tomato string , wax string , and tar string . )
4. Create the “weave”
set forth about 8 inches above the priming , tie one end of the twine on the stake .
Loop the string across the back of the Lycopersicon esculentum plant , bring in it around the front of the second plant , then behind the third plant .
When you reach the last interest , loop the string around the stake in a figure-8 , making certain the twine fascinate the stakes and the line is tight , but not pulling too tightly to damage your tomato stem .
carry on weaving the string in and out between each works on the other side , back to the first stake , and tie it off with a few knots .
Since that probably sounded just as confusing as it was to publish , I ’ll leave you with this nifty piddling drawing .
This is an aerial view of what the Florida weave method should attend like .
The top illustration shows a setup with three plants across an 8 - foot bottom . This works well with determinate tomatoes , but can also be used with undetermined industrial plant if your garden is fairly sheltered from strong winds .
The bottom illustration prove a setup for indeterminate tomato that can be replicate for longer rows .
Here ’s how that look in real life .
( For reference , I set my indeterminate tomatoes about 2 foot on inwardness , so I ’m able-bodied to place three plant along one side of an 8 - invertebrate foot call forth bed . Since the tomatoes are contain vertically , the other half of the layer can be used to grow another row of tomatoes or any other plants . )
As your tomato plant plants grow tall , thread additional credit line of twine about every 8 inch up the stakes . cautiously rapier in any stray branches . I tend to reign in just the heavier I , and countenance the smaller leg sprawl out by nature .
How does the Florida weave hold up toward the end of the growing season?
When your tomato plant have get tall and shaggy , you’re able to just track down the twine straight across the entire row of plants between the stake , or else of weaving a figure-8 in between each plant .
Once you ’ve added a few lines of string halfway up the stakes , the main stems of the plants are well supported and more twine simply holds the branches all in .
Long vine can be will to grow up and over the twine . With the “ wall ” of foliage that the Florida weave make , I actually recover it much loose to find and harvesting tomato .
At the end of the season , you may just abridge the string , pull out up the plants , and even leave behind the stakes in place for the following year if they ’re not in the fashion . ( Or , you’re able to adapt the Florida weave technique to trellis other plants like peas , perch bean , and cucumbers . )
No need to wriggle with cages and unscramble masses of tomato leg — which is how I end up with a handful of flimsy , half - conk out conelike batting cage in the first seat .
Ready to make your own Florida weave trellis ?
Here ’s what you ’ll need
Florida weave supplies
More Lycopersicon esculentum growing posts to explore :
This post updated from an article that originally appeared on August 19 , 2011 .
