should i install support stakes, as a young plant, or wait,????

[Chicken]

ive been collecting survey stakes { part of my job } i have a stake or 2 for each plant i plan on growing,{ about 150 }

im thinking it would be better to put the stake, in right beside the young plant when i plant it,

instead of waiting,and possibly damaging some roots, if i install the stake later in the grow,

am i on the right path,???

thoughts.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I don't use stakes. I use to years ago on various plants and my philosophy on that was to put the stake in when I transplanted. Any root damage would be minimal because the plant was small. I figured if I waited until they were bigger they would have bigger roots and the chances of me cutting one with a stake would be greater.

 

[Tom_in_TN]

I plan on using heavy duty metal fence posts (barbed wire variety) at the end of each row. Then drive 4' wooden stakes in the dirt every 10 to 15 feet in the row. Then tie baling twine and string it between the posts on both sides of the plants. Doesn't need to be tight. Just gives some support when the storm winds blow and prevent a bunch of blow downs. I do that for my tomato plants and it does a real good job.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I would just be afraid of the leaves getting cut by the twine. Tobacco will stand right back up the next day usually, but the leaf damage will be there to stay. Probably won't matter if not for cigars tho

 

[Tom_in_TN]

Yeah, thought about that and my 1st worry was it could bruise the stalk. The leaves will be OK.

Tomatoes vines are fairly tender and it does not bother them. As the plant grows, another string is added about 5" to 7" higher until it reaches 2.5', then a couple of final strings until it gets to 4'. I should have noted in my post above that the height of the wood stakes is 54" and driven 6" into the soil. As the fruit sets, the vines rest more and more weight on the twine. The vine just bends a bit and hangs down but the fruit stays off the ground. I started doing the same for pepper plants because when they set a lot of fruit and get some weight on the branches it will split away from the main stalk. I usually get about 8-12 pounds of peppers from each plant. All that growth and no fertilizer.

So, on a 80' row there will be 1 heavy duty metal post on each end and wooden stakes spaced 10' to 15' apart down the row. I do this before transplant and don't need to worry with root damage.

Will do the same with some of the tobacco this year. String some up when its young but leave some with no string and see what happens. I'm still learning new stuff all the time.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

yeah but fruiting vines /= big sail like leaves. either way you will see, it might be a big help, it might be the opposite, thats what 'next years' are for. my 'next years' are for fixing what went wrong last year, hopefully this next one will be more productive.

 

[Tom_in_TN]

it might be a big help, it might be the opposite, thats what 'next years' are for.

Right...so will string some up and leave some alone. But, will definitely put the stakes in while the plants are young. Just leery of what happened to me last year when the big winds hit us several times. Although I did have a big planting of corn get knocked down twice last year. It straightened up both times and got up 9' to 11' tall. Pretty and good and straight for the most part. An earlier planting of corn had already started some ears and it never got back up. Lost that planting.

Anyway, I'll try a bunch of other ideas too and some will be big, stupid mistakes. I figure the worst that could happen is to lose an entire harvest to mold during the cure.

 

[BarG]

Right...so will string some up and leave some alone. But, will definitely put the stakes in while the plants are young. Just leery of what happened to me last year when the big winds hit us several times. Although I did have a big planting of corn get knocked down twice last year. It straightened up both times and got up 9' to 11' tall. Pretty and good and straight for the most part. An earlier planting of corn had already started some ears and it never got back up. Lost that planting.

Anyway, I'll try a bunch of other ideas too and some will be big, stupid mistakes. I figure the worst that could happen is to lose an entire harvest to mold during the cure.

I'm doing ambrosia corn again this yr. Everystalk had 2 good ears. when corn gets knocked down juust straighten back up, same with baccy, unless your for the big grow,then would be rough.

 

[Tom_in_TN]

Would it be fair to say that younger baccy is most likely to get blown faster and easier than older stalks that have a thicker tougher stalk?

Love that sweet ambrosia corn...good eatin'....