Tomato plants can be space hogs from the garden. Even when confined to tanks, the sprawling plants take up several square feet per plant. Tomato plants staked and pruned to one slim vine take up less space, but you are committed to a very long season of pruning and tying. The Florida weave tomato support process is a happy medium. It lets you produce a slim wall of tomato crops that demands minimal pruning.
Spread a 3-inch layer of compost over a straight garden row long enough to accommodate the amount of tomato crops you intend to grow, spaced 18 to 24 inches apart.
Dig the compost into the soil and plant the tomato seedlings, slightly heavier than at the nursery pots — thus the first set of leaves is just above soil level — for the strongest roots.
Insert an 8-foot metal U-channel article on each end of the row, angling each marginally away from the plants. U-channel posts have little metal plates about 8 inches up from the bottom end that you step to push them in the soil. Push them in until the upper edge of the plate is just below ground.
Install additional bets — straight up and down — each 2 plants involving the end bets.
Water the plants in well and enable them to grow to at least 12 inches tall.
Pinch off suckers that form between the main stem and leaf stems from ground level to about 8 inches up the main stem. Pinch small ones in the index finger and thumb or snap off bigger. Bottom growth is more vulnerable to infection from poor air flow and from moisture splashing on leaves near the ground when you water.
Tie 1 end of the ball of twine to among the end bets at about 8 inches up from the ground. Go through a hole protected the ball through one of the clips on the U-channel article and tie the twine away using a knot.
Run the twine across one among the initial two plants into the next article. Pull the twine taut and loop it clockwise around the article — going from the rear of the post, around the front and crossing at the rear — pull it tight again. Preserve tautness and continue to the next article, running the twine across the opposite side of the following group of plants. Repeat looping the posts and pulling the twine tight until you reach the previous article from the row.
Wrap the twine clockwise all the way round the previous post from the row, keeping it tight. The twine must make a complete loop and cross itself to last across the rear side of the plants to the previous post, sandwiching the tomato crops involving the twine.
Wrap the twine round the post from front to rear, pull tight and continue across the rear side of the plants, drawing and wrap until you contact your starting point. When seen from above, the weave ought to look as a series of figure 8s around the posts and plants.
Tie off the twine with a secure knot and cut the end with scissors.
Repeat the process each time the plants develop 8 to 12 inches above the twine.
Pinch the tops of indeterminate crops when they reach the tops of the posts.