Tom and I just got wood fired pizza where the menu stated..."good food takes a long time so be patient." Good blog posts work much the same way. Time and lots of it to create quality work. The time Tom spent researching alone! But these tomato cages are worth the wait. Promise. Tom made these tomato cages for our garden to replace some of our old cages and what a difference! They can be left in the garden all year long so storage will never be an issue. And you know how it is with those flimsy wire tomato cages, they last one season, maybe two and then you toss them in the garbage. The cycle of buying, tossing and re-buying the following year was getting pricey and annoying. Now we have stable trellises that will last a lifetime and surprisingly look sharp too. Use these on your tomatoes, eggplant, squash, peppers, cucumbers and even beans and peas. Best of all, you'll be shocked at how easy they are to make.
Why make your own PVC cages?
After just one year, this is typically what happens with those cheap and flimsy wire cages. Make your own PVC cages and be set for life! After all, your big, vibrant plants deserve some good support. Don't we all!
Supplies needed to make one 50" heavy duty PVC tomato cage
 Sharpie to mark pvc pipe, yardstick, and pvc cutter |  |  work gloves while cementing |
*A note on the PVC cement. The cement is used to permanently hold all the fittings as shown below to the pipe. If you choose to cement the whole tower it will be a stronger structure. Or, you may just want to cement the bottom portion of the cage which will allow more versatility to adjust the height or disassemble at the end of the season.
 20 1/2" elbows for each 50" cage |  4 1/2" tee's for each cage |  16 1/2" crosses for each 50" cage |
20" wide (40" and 50" heavy duty tomato cage)  48- 10" pieces for the 40" cage 60-10" pieces for the 50" cage | 50" high and 14" wide heavy duty tomato cage  40 7" horizontal pieces & 20 10" vertical pieces |
You can customize these cages to meet your growing needs. Tom optimistically thinks he can get our tomato plants to grow 5-6 feet which is why he built several 50 inch towers.
I am not so optimistic so I wanted a few tomato towers to be a bit shorter. Plus, these ones work quite well for your peppers, eggplant, squash and cucumbers. You just don't need quite the height.
Remember this post on growing the biggest and best tomatoes? Quick refresher: Tom planted four tomato plants around a buried water tube. He needed an extra-wide cage to accommodate four tomato plants hence the 20 inch wide tomato cages.
I am not so optimistic so I wanted a few tomato towers to be a bit shorter. Plus, these ones work quite well for your peppers, eggplant, squash and cucumbers. You just don't need quite the height.
Remember this post on growing the biggest and best tomatoes? Quick refresher: Tom planted four tomato plants around a buried water tube. He needed an extra-wide cage to accommodate four tomato plants hence the 20 inch wide tomato cages.
Step-by-step assembly instructions for your PVC tomato cage
Mark all your 10" and 7" lines and then cut
Organize all your parts for easy assembly
Cement vertical and horizontal pieces to four crosses
Add and cement elbows
Add four tee's
You may just want to cement the bottom square of the cage, especially if you are unsure of how big you want them to be. This gives you more storage options as they can be taken apart at the end of the season. It also allows you to adjust the height at any time.
Add horizontal pieces
Repeat steps 1 and 2 and then add tee's on the top square
Connect elbows
Push down the cage gently so you can see where the four pipes enter the ground. Pull the cage out and then take a metal stake and sledgehammer so the cage easily slides into the ground.
See how neat and effective PVC tomato cages are in the garden?
Tomato cage showdown. It's clear who the winner is!
Now that we're growing the biggest and best tomatoes, we need heavy-duty cages to support these budding plants.
How do you prop up your plants? What do you use?
How do you prop up your plants? What do you use?
