That is the question! Do you stake tomatoes in the spring or just let them do their thing. This summer, I put up an initial stake, then pretty much let my tomato plants decide where to go. Things looked bleak for my tomato crop with an early raccoon invasion and then a drought, but the plants survived, thrived and I ended up with a decent yield of tomatoes. In fact, my vines are still producing. Overall, I’ve had a very good crop.
I have tried in past years to stake the plants, only to have them all tumble over when the weight of the vines was too much for my ill-constructed support system.
I have always admired the beautifully staked and tied plants on the Eastern Shore tomato farms, but I think they do that as much for the easy harvesting as they do to grow more tomatoes.
In the wild, tomatoes are not staked and they do just fine, but wild tomatoes tend to be smaller in size, and don’t need as much support.
One problem, advise the garden gurus, is that bugs and worms can get to un-staked tomatoes easier, therefore you may lose more fruit, but I am thinking that next year I will spread one of those organic, tomato tarps on the ground first, then poke holes through and for the plants, let the vines do what they want and see what happens.
Any ideas on the subject would be most appreciated.