To Stake or to Cage, that is the question.

Justosmo · May 17, 2017

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to Stake or to Cage your pepper plants.

I'm a stake guy but cages seem so much less upkeep. Cages Pros? Cons?

96strat · May 17, 2017

If I top them I cage them and stake them if I don't.

The_NorthEast_ChileMan · May 17, 2017

Stake. That way if the plant needs nothing, no harm - no foul.. If it does, add as necessary.

ThatBlondGuy101 · May 18, 2017

Depends on growing habit.

And cages can make it hard to pick fruit.

Tall plants I'd stake.

And like North-East said (#3), if you put in a stake and then don't use it, no problem. But if you don't put in a stake and you should've, then you'll kick yourself.

Same kinda goes with cages, but if you don't need it, then it can be annoying picking fruit, like I said.

All in all, depends on growth. Good Luck!

MikeUSMC · May 18, 2017

I cage over staking. That way, all the branches have support if they get heavy too, vs. just the stem.

ShowMeDaSauce · May 18, 2017

I might cage my lemon drops and Aji Citos this year. The lemon drops get "viney" and they are somewhat of a pain to stake and tie.

JoynersHotPeppers · May 19, 2017

I find if I cage when we get bad storms I suffer more damage, it all depends on your environmental factors. I swear I live in a wind tunnel and June is ruthless on our plants.

Gorizza · May 19, 2017

What about the Florida weave? Its pretty popular on tomato gardens (I'm using it for my tomatos this year) and I've seen it on a pepper farm once.

Purdue Agriculture

VegetableGardener

MSU Extension

Red Wicket Market Farm

grahamsprodigy · May 20, 2017

This seems to have a lot more to do with the type of plant. If you are growing little peppers, you probably don't need any support at all. If bells, New Mexico, etc., yeah, one or the other will likely benefit you. BUT..

Stake at seeding, or not at all. Cages are great because you can add them at any time as a second thought. In areas with lots of wind, the cage is definitely going to be preferred.

Gorizza · May 21, 2017

Just got my tomatoes hooked up today. You cn see some of my other babes too.

ThatBlondGuy101 · May 21, 2017

Good discussion!

Rumbl · May 22, 2017

grahamsprodigy said:
Stake at seeding, or not at all.

Why do you say this? Putting a stake or two into a pot full of roots isn't going to damage anything as long as your stakes are normal size and there's only a few.

ako1974 · May 25, 2017

MikeUSMC said:
I cage over staking. That way, all the branches have support if they get heavy too, vs. just the stem.

+1. I mostly cage, but really, it's to make use of tomato cages that never worked on tomatoes. For taller pepper plants, I will use stakes, but for plants that get bushy, the plants can easily get wonky with all the fruit and cages prop them up nicely.