My $40 mistake with cheap tomato cages from the big box store

I bought a set of those flimsy, coated wire tomato cages last spring, thinking I was saving money. They were about $40 for a pack of six. By mid-July, my Cherokee Purple plants had grown so heavy that the cages bent completely inward, crushing stems and dropping a bunch of unripe fruit into the dirt. I had to run out and buy sturdier, more expensive stakes to tie them up, but the damage was done. I lost at least a dozen good-sized tomatoes to rot and breakage. The lesson was clear: don't cheap out on support for big, heavy plants. Now I only use those cages for peppers or eggplants. Has anyone found a good, strong cage that doesn't cost a fortune?

3 comments

3 Comments

alice2691mo ago

Check local welding shops for custom cages.

grantf731mo ago

It's the same story with so much stuff now. You buy the cheaper version to save a few bucks, and it fails right when you need it most. Then you end up buying the good thing anyway, so you spent more in the long run. I see it with tools, kitchen gear, even phone chargers. That initial price tag is a trap, and it feels like companies are counting on us to fall for it over and over.

karen_roberts41mo ago

The cheap toaster I bought last year caught fire making a single Pop-Tart (true story). Now I own a $200 appliance that could survive a nuclear blast, which is exactly what they wanted. My wallet still smells like smoke.