[.ca] 6-foot Tomato Tower

• Nylon netting is non-burning to plants and will last up to 20 years in full sun
• Reusable- Collapses for compact winter storage
• Safer than traditional Tomato Cages- no rust or sharp edges
• Keeps fruit off the ground- helps prevent rot, insect, and rodent damage

Great Concept That Doesn't Hold Up... Literally:
I bought several Tomato Towers in 2005 after having searched and searched for a product that would support grape and cherry tomatoes in a raised garden that is surrounded on two sides by heat-retaining brick walls. Nothing else looked strong enough to support these vines that grow to over 8 feet in the heat. I installed the Tomato Towers over three in-line Moby Grape tomato plants. The stark-looking towers really stuck out at first, but as the tomatoes grew, the towers blended in completely. After only two months, all three vines had easily outgrown their 6-foot towers. And that was when the trouble began. I discovered one morning that a tower on the end of the row had collapsed overnight. Further inspection found that the welding joint between the lowest two poles had broken apart at the top of the lowest green plastic ring, revealing that the surprisingly thin steel used to make the rods had already rusted. I used a wooden stake to fortify the bottom part of the tower, but it was quite a handful to prop up the fruit-laden upper part of the tower and then hold it in place while lashing the rods to the wooden stake. But less than two weeks later, all three towers were on the ground. The other two had buckled at the same rusted joint as the first tower. There hadn't been any wind or rain overnight, and the tops of the vines had become intertwined after having outgrown the tops of the towers. The sheer weight of the fruit and vines had caused one tower to collapse, taking the others down with it. The idea behind this product is right on the money, but it is woefully underbuilt for the task. There are two improvements that need to be made. Heavier gauge steel is a must for the rods and joints. And the bottom stake that goes into the ground needs to be longer, as I found wobbling towers after rainfalls and garden watering on more than a few occasions once the towers became more top-heavy. I'm not entirely convinced that the plastic parts would last 20 years under full sun like the claim for the nylon netting. Even so, if the manufacturer were to substantially beef up the construction of the Tomato Towers, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase them again.

Good Idea - terrible product:
I bought 10 of theem since idea was great. Design is very bad. From the practical usage: 1) Plastic rings are too weak - when trying to set rings on a pole, plastic ring cracked due to the fact that distance between two rings was too high 2) netting is not tied well to the rings - when trying to set rings on a pole, netting fall off - had to tie it manually.

Bad Right Out Of The Package !!!:
Terrible experience with this tomato tower. Bought three and had to retie 2 of them where the plastic nibs had disintegrated. The third one the netting was not even attached to the plastic ring at all - defective right out of the package. I will never buy this again!