How We Manage Field Tomatoes
When you grow hundreds of tomato plants you need a plan to manage them. There are numerous ways to manage tomatoes using cages, wires, cattle panels, doing nothing at all, and many more I’ve never dreamed of. For us, we wanted a system that was not labor intensive or equipment intensive, could scale easily and could be taught easily. We also wanted a system that would help keep good airflow to reduce disease pressure. Basket weaving (also called Florida weaving) is our management method of choice. Here’s how it works.
Basket weaving is a system that uses t-posts and twine to “weave” around the tomato plants to create a support system as the tomatoes grow. T-posts are pounded in early in the season with 3-4 tomato plants between each post. Then, every 7-10 days after the tomatoes have established we weave twine around the tomato plants and t-posts. The first rounds of weaving are done alternating each side of the tomato plant. Left side on the first one, right side on the second, left side on the third, and so on. We then repeat the pattern on the opposite side of each tomato. Once the tomatoes get big and bushy we just weave around the t-posts and skip alternating around the individual plants. We do this until we reach the top of the t-posts then the tomatoes are on their own!
Why go through all of that work you might ask. The main reason is to provide ample airflow for the tomatoes to reduce disease pressure. Other benefits include easier harvesting, keeping fruit off the ground, more space for walking/harvest totes, and easier to spot fruit.
Our field tomatoes!
Close up the the white twine we use to support our tomatoes.
Note the room for air movement left and the white twine right.