Simple Cherry Tomato Trellis

Saving Time with Cherry Tomato Trellising

As the days are getting hotter and our tomatoes are growing taller, we try to answer the question of what is the most simple cherry tomato trellis. With cherry tomatoes having less foliage and smaller fruits, gardeners have more options on what they choose to support their tomatoes. Trellising, in its simplest form, is just supporting the plant as it grows. It is essential to do as your plants start to mature and need adequate airflow and space. Trellising also helps keep plants and leaves off of the ground to prevent fungal and bacterial diseases as well as insects. We see trellising used in many gardens with everything from melons to squash. Many gardeners understand the time it takes to manually weave a trellis through each plant, also known as the technique Florida weave. This method can be very time consuming as you have to do it multiple times as the plant continues to grow. Gardeners, especially those with larger gardens, will decide to turn to cattle fencing to skip all the hassle. Cattle fencing can be beneficial as it is easier to stake in the ground compared to the Florida weave. The downside of doing using cattle panels with cherry tomatoes or any smaller fruit for that matter is the lack of flexibility within the steel of the cattle fencing, which leads to breakage in the plant. One alternative to try with cherry tomatoes is the Hortonova Trellis Netting. The Hortonova Trellis is described as a thicker fishing line and rolls out in a very manageable way. This trellis is as simple as cutting it to your desired length, zip tie-ing it to one side, and then stretching it tightly across the row and zip tie-ing it to the other side. You are allowing your plants to firmly grow vertically up the net while also having its flexibility without breaking the plant. Another tip when using netting to trellis your plants is to add posts every 10-15 feet and zip-tie the net there as well. Adding the extra support will allow your netting to stay upright and not sag with the weight of the fruits.

Benefits of the Hortonova Trellis

The simple Hortonova trellis netting would be great to try on any cherry tomato variety such as The Sweetie Cherry Tomato or The Black Zebra Cherry Tomato. The Hortonova isn't made just for smaller fruits, though. It is strong enough to hold up even varieties of cucumbers like Diomede and Stonewall, as well as the Kentucky Blue Pole Beans. Even though the netting with the cucumbers might sag a tad bit when they are getting ready to harvest compared to the cherry tomatoes or pole beans, the netting allows you to stretch it as tight as you can to prevent the fruit from being on the ground. Though the netting does hold up great even on heavier cucumbers, we suggest to not use this Hortonova trellis netting on butternut squash or any heavier winter squash because it isn't quite strong enough. For smaller fruits like our cherry tomatoes, this netting works perfectly. The netting comes in various lengths, but there are benefits with having the longer roll as it can never go bad. The Hortonova trellis is sold on the website up to 328 feet long. Another bonus about this netting is its UV resistance, so it will never deteriorate in the sun but rather can be used year after year. Check out the video below to see exactly how to set up this simple cherry tomato trellis. Also, be on the lookout for videos in the future to see just how well this trellis held up with the different cherry tomato varieties.