Rolling cattle panels into tomato cages

That's what I use. We call it hog wire.

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Another vote for concrete reinforcing mesh here.

Here's a photo of one of my tomato cages, made with remesh. Excuse the weeds in the photo.

a little of both for a long time. the hybrids really fare no better than the heirlooms. for a few years now since i started having this problem, my tomato patch has been an example of everything you shouldn't do if you have fungal issues. i would bury the plants neck deep. i would never mulch and i watered from above. i don't see the problem spreading as fast this year since i mulched. the rain doesn't splash the soil on the plants. i have a few spots on a few bottom leaves, but i have been plucking those when i see them before it spreads.

i have tried at least 15 varieties and they all have failed. granted, i never have selected a variety for resistence, but even so, i see no real difference between the hybrids and the heirlooms i have grown.

but hey, whatever works for you. i had awesome crops of tomatoes in the past and i did it "dirty".

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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar...

"All that is gold does not glitter..."

doohap, those things are the ends of a large reel that is used for coax cable. The local cable company places them on a vacant lot with a free sign in order to get rid of them. There are 4 very long bolts that hold the big round disc to a heavy center that reminds be of sono tube used in pouring concrete columns. The reels are easy to dismantle and will not rot. There are "pockets" that re-enforce the sides that will catch water. These pockets will hold a total of 2 gallons. I have a hole drilled in each pocket so that water can slow release onto the plant. Thus far I am vey happy with the results and plan on collecting more of the cable reels. To me these are as good as a raised bed, maybe even better as there is almost no weeding.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

Wow. Lots of good ideas. I use lots of cattle panel. They are pretty tough to bend by yourself but if you have someone to stand on it, its not too bad.
I think the square idea mentioned above would work great. HOG RINGS work great for connecting panels. my 2cents

With my job, I have the oppritunity to see alot of different ways that folks do things. I have seen someone use 16 ft cattle and hog panels and it works outstanding for them. They dont actually roll them, but what they do is more or less make a hoop. There is an older gentleman on one of the mail routes, that I have learned a great deal from. He stakes down one side and just bends the panel over and stakes it down again. The distance between the two sides is maybe 3-4 ft. He plants his tomatoes on the outside and he from time to time will point them in the right direction when they are growing. The deal is, his tomatoes will hang down and he stoops down and walks under the panel, to pick tomatoes. If I get a chance, I will take some photos and post them. Very smart idea and it works for him.

I need some good tomato cages and this thread has got me thinking. I like the idea of cattle panels cut to make either squares or triangles. I would either loop wires at the end to join the pieces or use S hooks or something similar to keep the sides attached so they could fold flat for storage. Panels are 16' so if the sides were 1' you could get 4 square cages or 5 triangle cages per panel.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

We have terrible problem with blight here, have not raised tomatoes in at least 5 years - just too discouraging to see your crop turn black instead of red.

This year, it's been extremely wet so we rigged up a 6mil aframe plastic sheet over the top of all the young plants. Just took it off because we are finally getting a stretch of dry weather. From what I've read, there are no blight resistant varieties. Prevention as you mention is the only possible solution