tomato cage quick fix

[encore]

just an idea, don't know if someone has suggested it before or not, but while planting tomatos, one of the hoops on the cage broke right at the weld, seems to happen alot, anyways, i took a piece of small diameter shrink tubing about 2 to 3 inches long slid it on wire all the way then back onto other side about half way, then heated it, seems to work good, ! just a thought. ----tom

[zeuspaul]

Good idea. Another option is to bend back the wire and increase the size of the opening. Even with 6 inch squares I cut wires and bend them back to combine 4 squares into one every other opening for better access to the inside of the cage.

[brownrexx]

I have also used small zip ties diagonally where a weld broke.

[JRinPA]

I have a broken link in a CRW grid...I'll have to try that shrink tubing trick. I'll need 200ft of extension cord but the heat gun on low should be okay with 12 ga ext cord. The break is in the grid wire, I think I may have nipped it with a grinder by accident? Generally CRW won't break like that.

I have had good luck with my CRW cages, and have had very few broken welds. Some I re-welded when I have the wire welder out and remember, some fixed with zip ties. Most failed welds are at the "legs" that I formed by cutting the bottom squares; after a few seasons they might bend out of shape far enough to break the weld, if bent in tension.

My brother though, he bought a roll of CRW that, halfway into the roll, had a long repeating section of broken welds. His cages feel a lot flimsier than mine because of this. It would take a lot of zip ties to fix them! I told him he should return it as soon as we noticed it, halfway done or not, but he didn't. So I certainly won't take the time to weld the breaks for him now.

If anyone runs into that issue with a roll of CRW I recommend strongly to return the remaining roll, even if you are 10 cages in when you start seeing problems. Let them make it right.

[Donnyboy]

I understand the question to reference the traditional tomato cages instead of the concrete reinforcement wire cages. I've broken many welds on the traditional cages over the years and have always repurposed them by cutting them into 8" and 10", straight pieces of strong wire which make perfect garden staples when bent into a staple shape. It does require a strong wire cutter to cut them. They make great staples to hold cloth to the ground and keep hoses and soaker hoses in place.

[worth1]

$2,000 TIG welder to fix a 3 dollar cage.

[JRinPA]

That sounds like a good reason. "I need it for projects honey. I can even fix those old cages."