Supporting Young Plants
As your garden vegetables grow from tiny seedlings into larger, mature plants, some will need support while others won’t. Knowing which plants need extra help is essential so you can address it early instead of waiting until it’s too late.
Why Do Plants Often Need Support?
There are a couple of different reasons vegetable plants often need support. It is usually done as plants get heavy with fruit to keep the stems from snapping or the fruit off the ground. Keeping the fruit up minimizes mold and fungal problems and results in fewer pest problems. Fruit is easy to feed on when it’s near the soil.
Plants can also be staked, or supported in other ways, to improve air circulation through the foliage. Having them grow upwards instead of sprawling all over the soil allows you to walk between the plants and makes harvesting easier.
Garden Vegetables That Need Support
- Climbing peas, which are sometimes called vining peas. - Pole beans. - Most types of tomatoes. Some plants are shorter in stature, but the heavy fruits weigh branches down. Indeterminate varieties continue to grow all season and will sprawl unless you support them.
- Pole beans.
- Most types of tomatoes. Some plants are shorter in stature, but the heavy fruits weigh branches down. Indeterminate varieties continue to grow all season and will sprawl unless you support them.
Some varieties of squash, melons, cucumbers, and miniature pumpkins produce better-shaped fruit if trained to grow up a trellis. But their fruits may need extra support if they get heavy to keep them from snapping off the vines.
Different Ways to Support Young Plants
When it comes to supporting your plants, sturdier structures are always better. It may be difficult to imagine how heavy a fully-laden mature plant will be, so it’s best to over-prepare.
The most common ways to support plants include trellises, cages, and stakes.
- Trellises have two or more vertical supports with horizontal cross supports to create a grid pattern to support climbing plants. They’re popular for growing peas and pole beans.
- Cages are usually circular frames made of wire, but newer heavy-duty square cages are commonly used for tomatoes.
- Stakes can be metal or wooden. They’re driven into the ground close to the plant, and the main stem is lashed to the stake.
When Should You Put a Support Structure in Place?
The best time to install the supports is when you plant. As your vegetables grow, you can attach them to the structure if necessary using stretchy ties or specially designed plant clips. Some plants like peas and cucumbers grow tiny tendrils that wrap around the support naturally.
Once a plant gets larger, it’s much more cumbersome to attach it to a trellis or set a cage around it. You also increase the chances of snapping stems or branches.
