Tomato Stake Dimension?

[stavebuyer]

Thinking about cutting a few tomato stakes to peddle next year. What are some common dimensions and species you have sold? I have some red oak, white oak and ash lumber 1 1/8" thick air drying now but think thicker stock would make a better but more expensive stick.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

They use 12 inch x 12 inch x 16 foot long mater stakes in Texas.  8)

But otherwise I usually saw mine 1 1/4 square x 8 foot tall here in S.C. / Made of White Oak.

[Magicman]

Make a search on "tomato stake".

I did and got many threads and posts.

[Woodwalker]

They use 12 inch x 12 inch x 16 foot long mater stakes in Texas.  8)

But otherwise I usually saw mine 1 1/4 square x 8 foot tall here in S.C. / Made of White Oak.

I've found it's easier just to cut the tops out of the plants when they get about head high.
I then use 1 1/4 or 1 1/2" X 8'. Cut height to fit the variety of plant. Material is whatever is handy.

[Coon]

By the sounds of things you guys must grow 'maters on steroids  :D  Takes alot of tending and pinching to get mater plants that tall not to mention lots of well rotted poop and water.  ;D  Average plants here are about 3 feet tall.  :D

[MesquiteSawyer]

The large amounts of bulls**t likely to be found here accounts for impressive growth of our tomatoes.   ;D 8) 8)


I would think anything in the 1-1.25" square range would work great.  I would stick to the white oak over the red oak or ash, but I'm just jealous I don't have any of those species to saw up.   >:( Good luck on sales.

-Mark

[thecfarm]

Coon,mine will get 5 feet tall. I've heard some get taller in my area,but tomaotoes are REAL easy to grow here. But than you got the bother of the plants trying to fall over. They have to be staked good.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

The large amounts of bulls**t likely to be found here accounts for impressive growth of our tomatoes.   ;D 8) 8)


IM ROLLING :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[WH_Conley]

Don't make too many trailer loads ahead. Start out with what won't make anything else. I have some in the barn dried and bundled that have been there for 5 years or so.

[LeeB]

  I would stick to the white oak over the red oak or ash, but I'm just jealous I don't have any of those species to saw up.   >:( Good luck on sales.

-Mark

You should have some red oak and white oak, plenty of live oak(hard stuff to saw), cedar, pecan and cedar elm. You are right though, not a whole lot of easy sawing woods around San Marcos.

[sandhills]

LeeB, my complete ignorance is going to have to rear it's ugly head again, what is cedar elm?  I've never heard of it before.

[Magicman]

I'm not LeeB, but until he gets here I'll tell you what I know about Cedar Elm.  That is the proper name, but it has several different common names:  basket elm, red elm, southern rock elm, and olmo (Spanish).  the scientific name is Ulmus crassifolia Nutt.

It's bark is silver-gray to brown-gray, non fissured with thin flat brittle scales which are loose at the edges.  I call it scaly bark elm.  It has the smallest leaves of any of our Elms. It produces seed that are eaten by squirrels, birds, and wild turkeys.  I see more of it in the bottoms and along the creek.

I do not saw much Elm, so I can not testify about the wood/lumber.  The "old folks" would steam and bend it to make baskets, etc.

My Dad always talked about "Pith Elm".  I wish that I had questioned him closer about exactly which Elm that he was referring to.  He would say he was going to take a "Pith Elm" club to me, and he was usually mad at me for something that I did or didn't do.  I figure that it must have been some hard stuff and I was always glad that he could not find any at that moment.   :-\

[customsawyer]

You guys have made me shoot beer out of my nose. This is not funny. :D

[WH_Conley]

Jake, that is alcohol abuse. :D

[customsawyer]

If they can use 12X12X16 for mator stakes then I can shoot a whole beer out my nose. ;D

[WH_Conley]

 :D :D :D

[WDH]

In Southeast OK and Northeast Texas, they call cedar elm pith allum. 

[Coon]

You hit the nail right square on the head MesquiteSawyer.... sometimes it gets pretty deep around here.  Deep enough that my No. 7 Scoop Shovel isn't too far away for me to shovel my way out.  :D   

[bandmiller2]

Up here in Ma. our puny little girly tomatoes can be handled with 1x1" oak 4' long just like a sticker with a point. Frank C.

[WH_Conley]

I had one store that used to take stakes every year. They had an old man in the yard that had to tell about his tomatoes. They always broke over the top of a 6 foot stake, sometimes broke the stake. Said nobody made a stake to hold the variety he grew. The last load I took over I sharpened a 12 foot 4x4 and gave to him, told him to let me know how many more he needed. As I was leaving the other guys were ribbing him about how he was going to drive it.

[MesquiteSawyer]

LeeB,

Where in TX are you from?  You know my neck of the woods well.  How'd you end up in Arkansas?  I just moved back to TX from MO, and I am glad about it now, but come summer I won't be. 

As for white and red oak, we have them around, I just don't have access to any currently.  People around here would rather hug a tree than make something useful from it, so logging is sort of frowned on.  As for live oak, I have had HORRIBLE luck with splitting.  Mesquite is far more forgiving and most of what I saw, but it is fun to mix it up. 

Didn't mean to venture off of the subject.  Some of my best memories are from sitting around at the cafe or coffee shop listening to the old timers tell stories.   ;D ;D ;D  I would have loved to have been there when that fella got his jumbo stake.   8)

[ellmoe]

My Dad always talked about "Pith Elm".  I wish that I had questioned him closer about exactly which Elm that he was referring to.  He would say he was going to take a "Pith Elm" club to me, and he was usually mad at me for something that I did or didn't do.  I figure that it must have been some hard stuff and I was always glad that he could not find any at that moment.   :-\

Lynn,   In Fla. this is Winged Elm. I had no idea why it was called this. One day I notice this nasty smell coming from the veneer mill next to the sawmill I was running. The smell was just like an old, nasty, urinal. When I inquired about the odor, I was told, "p--- elm". Didn't take an olfactory genius to figure that one out! ;D These logs were stored under a sprinkler system and that may have explained the extra pungence.
Mark

[WDH]

When I called it "pith" allum earlier in the thread, I was just being polite  :.  Cedar elm also has wings like winged elm, Ulmus alata.

[LeeB]

MesquiteSawyer, I used to live in Liberty hill and before that Cedar Park. I lived in Central Texas for 35 years. When we first moved to Liberty Hill, Austin was about 20 miles away. When we left, 'town' was about 2 miles away. Too much growth and too many people for me. Lot's quieter here and way less people. Living in hill country still and a few more trees. I do miss some things such as a good sausage, and HEB grocery stores. I love the weather here.

I never noticed cedar elm to have an unpleasent smell. There were other elms in the area that defenately lived up to that name and were not cedar elm. I didn't think they were the same thing. I have some of each that I brought up here with me. One of these days I'll get around to making something out of them.

[Magicman]

WDH, which Elm is actually "pith allum"?  It's not Cedar Elm.  Maybe I should get my book back out.