Spiral tomato support stakes – good or not so good?

Have you already put tomatoes outside or are you still hesitating? Temperatures are quite low and in many cases they still hover around the freezing point. That is not good for many crops, including tomatoes and you should not plant tomatoes outside under these conditions… But when you do, you should pay attention to right substrate, fertilization and other basic principles of tomato growing. Make sure to provide each plant with the right support. Spiral metal stakes are very popular now. Some people love them while others prefer the regular stakes. So, what is the advantage of using spiral stakes and what are the disadvantages?

The main advantages of spiral stakes

So what are the main advantages of spiral stakes? Well, there are few of them and we shall tell you in the following lines.

Natural tension while growing

Tomato plants climb naturally upwards along spiral stakes. They will intertwine with the spirals and you should not need to deal with tying as you would with straight stakes.

No strings attached…

Yes, no tying butfrom time to time it may be necessary to point and guide the tip of the plant into the next spiral, but this is nothing.

Nice design

Spiral stakes looks very nice in your garden and when all tomato plants grow through them the overall picture looks very organized and professional.

Maintenance-free

Spiral stakes are mostly made of stainless steel, or the surface is treated with hot-dip galvanizing. So, you only need to take them out and stick them to the ground and when the harvest is over you put them back in your basement. No painting or anything like that.
Photo: Radek Štěpán

There are also disadvantages

Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of them too. So let’s take a look at them.

Higher price

Definitely. Spiral stakes cost more and the price is around 2 euros or more, so for 10 stakes 1.8 m long you pay at least 20 euros. Shorter stakes may be cheaper, but they are only suitable for small varieties of tomatoes.

Less stability

If your tomatoes grow wild and you have many fruits, spiral stakes may start to lean sideways and the professional and nice look is gone. If you have an extremely good and “heavy” harvest, they may even fall down. Poor anchoring may also be the reason, so make sure to anchor stakes properly.

Insufficient length

Spiral stakes are often too short. If you clip suckers growing on your tomato plants, which is certainly recommended, they will grow very tall. They can easily reach 2 meters but spiral stakes are often made 1.8 meters long and a good part must be anchored in the ground…

Spiral stakes are great but it is up to you whether you go for spiral or other type of stake or support.

Preview photo: Radek Štěpán