dtizme
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Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 10:23 pm
Location: Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada. Zone 5a

Had a nice cage find today

I was @ the local convience store today and found 16 cages sitting in their scrap metal pile. Came back with the car and grabbed them. I plan on mainly using them for pepper plants. Is their any other veggies these would be suited for? I tried 1 with a tomato plant this year and there not strong enough for them. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Here's a pic
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gumbo2176
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They would be good for peppers and I would think some varieties of eggplants, especially ones like the Ichiban variety that have smaller fruit as opposed to the larger purple ones like are in many markets.

As you already know, they are useless for tomato plants by being too small and flimsy.

I went to Tractor Supply a couple years ago and bought a few dozen of those 4 ft. long x 3/8 inch round metal rods with the small metal triangle welded to one end to help them stabilize in the ground. I use those for peppers and eggplants. What I like about them is the whole lot of them fit in a very small space in my shed when not being used.

Good find, and less in the landfill.

imafan26
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I prefer the folding tomato cages since they store flat and open up into a little fence, but for free, why not. I cannot tell if that is the three foot or five foot cage. It it is a three foot cage, it helps to support the branches of peppers, I use the taller round cages for cucumbers and snow peas. My eggplants are fairly large plants and I just stake them.

If you do use the round cages, it helps to use rebar stakes with them, sometimes they cannot support all of the weight very well and lean.

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rainbowgardener
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You can always use them for trellis for peas and beans. If you need it taller, just stick a second one in the top of the first. As long as it isn't heavy crops like tomatoes, it works.

imafan26
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Great idea Rainbow, I did not know the round cages could be stacked, I only tried to stack the folding ones and that did not go well, the top cage kept slipping down until I anchored them with ties to the bottom cage and to the support stakes. That is why I use the CRW now, No problems and works on everything.

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Gary350
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Cages work good for tomatoes and peas too.

I picked up 6 cages at Road Mart 2 weeks ago. I was driving along and there they were laying next to the street in a pile of trash and tree limbs.

One mans trash is another mans treasure.

imafan26
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The tomato cages did not work well for me for tomatoes unless I had a dwarf like patio tomato. Most of my tomatoes get over six feet so I need a sturdier and taller cage. I was told my tomatoes are getting too much nitrogen and that is why they are so tall. It makes sense, I get a lot of leaves but not much roots from root crops.

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Gary350
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imafan26 wrote:The tomato cages did not work well for me for tomatoes unless I had a dwarf like patio tomato. Most of my tomatoes get over six feet so I need a sturdier and taller cage. I was told my tomatoes are getting too much nitrogen and that is why they are so tall. It makes sense, I get a lot of leaves but not much roots from root crops.
It is possible to give tomatoes too much nitrogen. I give my plants 15/15/15. I often have plants 5 ft tall I use cement rebar to hold up the tomato cages. Larger plants make more tomatoes. Don't give them any more nitrogen and they will make more tomatoes.



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