Caging the Tomatoes

Lee Allen, an agricultural engineer at the Palmer Agricultural Research Center, has tested out a method for growing tomatoes that sounds so good that one wonders why she or he didn't think of it first.

Around transplanted tomatoes--and it will work on other warmth-loving vegetables such as sweet corn, cucumbers, squash and peppers--Allen has built simple protective structures made of wire and clear plastic sheeting. The basic structure is a circular wire cage made from 6 x 6 inch reinforcing mesh about 24 inches high, each cage being about 26 inches in diameter. Allen cuts the bottom wire away from the mesh, leaving 6-inch long wire ends to jam in the ground, thereby keeping the cage stable in the wind. Allen leaves the top of the cage open, but wraps clear plastic around the sides, using string and one or more vertical sticks to hold the plastic in place.

Unlike a real greenhouse, the cages set around plants do not protect them from frost. However, the cages do improve the growing environment. They help to retain moisture around the plants and to warm the soil as well as lessening the cooling effect of rain or irrigation water.

In an article in the January 1981 issue of Agroborealis, Allen reports the production of green and red tomato fruit using the wire and plastic cages to be two to three times that of uncaged control plants.