Training tomatoes corkscrew-style up a stake?

[PrairieGirl]

This is my 4th year growing tomatoes, but my first time using stakes. My question is, should I be training them to grow straight up the pole or spiraling around it? Has anyone tried the latter?

[tomc]

You may well end up tieing tomato plant to stakes. They do not have vining tendrils like grape or curcurbits.

[PrairieGirl]

Thank you. Yes, I am already tying them, but should I be influencing them to go straight up or spiraling up?

[applestar]

Don't sweat it. If it's a round stake and you have the opportunity, go ahead and wrap the vine around -- sometimes it works out better that way.

I wouldn't advise it for square stakes because the corners may put too much pressure on the vine.

Either way, you will need to tie the vine on -- if you merely wind the vine up the stake, it may look secure, but at some point, especially when it starts to fruit, the weight will cause the vine to sag and collapse (yes, I've had this happen before ).

When you tie the vine onto the stake, double-wrap around the stake, then around the vine. This helps to keep the tie from slipping.

[PrairieGirl]

This was very helpful. I didn't think about the corners putting pressure on the vine; that's a good thing to consider. Thanks. And thanks for the word to the wise about sagging vines.