Corn and high winds

[Southern Gardener]

don't mix. I came home from work last night and wanted to cry. All my pepper plants were down too. Dad came over and we got everything back up - in the rain. More rain and winds are forecasted today.

 

[vfem]

I am so sorry to see that. I am going to have to run some stakes and string along my garden too. I've had some horrible luck with high winds and storms this year. I lost all my peaches that were doing so well because of it.

 

[lesa]

Oh, that made my heart sink! Nature can be so cruel!! Looks you got everything back in order- Here's hoping for sunny days!

 

[digitS']

Winds here sure can be a problem. I guess, that's true everywhere. It looks like you quickly found a cure, Joan.

It seems like I've been "fretting" about my tomato plants all year! The wind has been a great stress on their stems at ground level. This was the year that I was going back to stakes. DW says, "if you tie them with twine, they'll probably break!"

Arrgh! I think she's probably wrong but if we have another 50mph storm and they break . . . She'd already claimed that we get more ripe fruit if they aren't staked. Where do gardeners get all these opinions?!?

Sorry to hear about your peaches, V.

Keep on, keeping on . . .

Steve

 

[Southern Gardener]

The wind didn't seem to harm the tomatoes - I was happy about that! I have several that should be ready to pick today - hope I don't have to swim to get to them.

So Steve, you just let your tomatoes grow where they may? Didn't I read where you have lots of room? I need to have a better plan next spring for sure - like not planting them so close.

 

[hoodat]

I had that trouble every darn year in Oklahoma. I think you'll probably make it to harvest though. Corn is pretty good about being set back up. I always preferred cages to stakes for tomatos for just that reason. I think I'll make my cages a little roomier next year though. 14 inches kind of crowds the leaves and keeps them from getting as much sun as they like.

 

[journey11]

Looks like you got them straightened up nicely. Good system there! This is my first year growing corn. I've wondered what I would do if that happens to mine!

 

[digitS']

The wind didn't seem to harm the tomatoes - I was happy about that! I have several that should be ready to pick today - hope I don't have to swim to get to them.

So Steve, you just let your tomatoes grow where they may? Didn't I read where you have lots of room? I need to have a better plan next spring for sure - like not planting them so close.

They do grow where they may, for about the last 6 years. I used to use cages and preferred home-made with livestock fencing. Still, I had to use 3 stakes to keep the dang things from blowing over. I could also just use the 3 stakes and run baling twine around them, which worked well enuf.

Then, I changed to a single stake with twine running from stake to stake, in a row. Either twine or cable ties were used to tie them to their individual stakes. But, I kept growing more plants until I reached some self-imposed limit of "about 60."

Most are cherries which seem to have a good deal less problem with the sprawl. Still, any fruit ends up on essentially a stone mulch if they lay down on the "ground." That's just the nature of my garden soil.

Steve