Question: Do I need to stake my tomatoes? Do cages work well?

Answer: The best way to grow tomatoes in Texas is to put them in home-made cages constructed from concrete reinforcing wire. Cut it in 50-inch lengths, so you’ll end up with 16-inch-diameter cylinders. The pre-fabricated cages you see in garden departments are for northern climates where tomatoes don’t get very tall due to the much shorter growing season. In Texas, we need the added height the concrete wire will give us. Put one or two stakes alongside each cage, to prevent the plants from blowing over in the wind.