Why try a Tormato?Considerations!
Spacing the tormato loops
Last Updated on Friday, 29 May 2009 21:27 Written by Laura Crichton Friday, 29 May 2009 21:03
How far apart should your holes be drilled? That will depend entirely on your needs. I have 2 tormatos that are 7.5 feet tall! In order to cover the whole length of the PVC with only 20 feet of Pex, they had to be spaced fairly far apart. On this one they are 12" apart. This is all the taller I would recommend making your tormato.
Typically, I go with about 6 feet above ground and the holes spaced about 8 inches apart.
I also like to space the loops near the bottom closer together (so the bottom hole will be closer to the second to last hole) and try to make these loops smaller than the rest. The tomato plant won't be as bushy down there, and should be trimmed near the bottom anyhow, but there should be good support so the bottom branches do not contact the dirt.
Here is one with 10.5 inch spacing, you can see the loops are wider and have quite a steep slope to them.
Here is one with 6 inch spacing.
It all depends on what your needs are. You may only want a 4 foot tormato. You could probably make one out of only 10 feet of pex. If you do, please send me pictures!
Read 2 Comments... >>
Why try a Tormato?
Last Updated on Friday, 29 May 2009 19:02 Written by Administrator Thursday, 28 May 2009 17:48
Quite simply, there are probably other plants in your garden that would like some attention too. Think how much time you spend tying up your plants, resetting your cages...
Storage is simple! Pull out the Pex and you can store these just about anywhere!
It's versatile! How tall are you expecting your plants to get? You can adapt the tormato to your growing needs.
DIY is COOL!!! You can say you built it yourself.
Aren't they beautiful??!?
Read 32 Comments... >>
Cost
Last Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2009 17:36 Written by Administrator Thursday, 28 May 2009 16:58
Less than $8!
I picked up 100 ft of PEX tubing at my local big box hardware store for $22. For each Tormato, I use 20 feet so this is a cost of $4.40 in Pex. The PVC was $2.39 at another big box hardware store (who for some reason only sell PEX in 20 foot lenths for $6.50) and the elbows for the end cap/trellis system was another $1.19.
$7.98 a piece! Not bad! Hopefully they will last for quite a few years.
You probably have some twine laying around, Nylon will probably hold up better and have less breakage if things start getting really heavy!
Read 3 Comments... >>
