My tomato plants are so big the top branches are over the cage and breaking under the weight of their tomatoes--what do I do?

1) Support them with additional steaks. Cages are a bit limiting for certain varieties of tomatoes. You could rest long steaks along the edge of the cage and allow the plant to continue to grow up them by tying off large vines.2) Prune them.

Cages are popular because tomatoes usually don't require pruning when you use them. However, "good years" and strong varieties result in standard cages simply being too small. Pruning a tomato plant properly will force the plant to focus its energy on forming stronger vines and usually nicer tomatoes.

Here is a good video that shows you how to prune your little red friends: expertvillage.com/video/25168_low-mainte... 3) Plant them upside down. Upside down tomato plant systems are the new cool in gardening. I can't wait to dive into this increasingly popular trend next year!

A nice looking upside down setup: tomatocasual.com/ tomatocasual.com/wp-content/uploads/upside-down-tomato. Jpg The cheap and chearfull way to grow tomatoes upside down: glasscock.us/?p=7

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Jason, I'm jealous. It's been a cool spring and the hailstorm here last week smashed a lot of what I had growing. You don't want to loose the tomatoes you already have.

You can pick even the green ones you have, and put them somewhere to ripen--unless you have lots of huge windowsills, you probably won't have enough space that way. You could try spreading them along your deck tables and chairs, covered with newspapers to keep bugs/birds off. Then go back and trim them back a little.

Then you could try some of these cool stakes to help support them. If needed, you could use two sets of stakes: a lower cage, with one of these sticking out the top. They're 6 ft.Tall.

Or you could try these Tomato Ladders for large tomato loads: There are also extensions which add almost 2 ft. To this company's square tomato cages, for almost 7 feet!

You either need to harvest the green or red tomatoes, or go to work finding a support for the weight, these guys need you!

I'm surprised your plants are already so far along.

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