Things You'll Need:
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Step 1
Separate your seedlings or tomato plants into separate pots, or into separate areas of your garden. Leave at least 8 inches between each tomato plant.
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Step 2
Drive a strong and straight stick into the dirt near the base of each seedling. You can use sticks from your yard or refuse pile, or you can buy plant sticks at your garden supply store to use.
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Step 3
Attach the tomato seedlings to each stick with wire twist ties. Leave plenty of room between the twist ties and the plant, and do not tighten them tightly. Leave them loose enough for the plant to move and grow.
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Step 4
Cut a section of 5-foot-tall chicken wire into a 3-foot length. Repeat until you have a section of chicken wire for each of your tomato plants.
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Step 5
Curl the chicken wire sections into cylinders around your tomato plants. The cylinders should be the diameter of the pots that your tomatoes are planted in. If your tomatoes are not in pots, the diameter of the cylinders should be at least 12 inches. Use a zip tie, a wire twist tie or a piece of string to tie the chicken wire into the cylinder shape.
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Step 6
Dig a small trench in the ground around the tomato plant, or around the outer edge of the pot that the tomato is planted in.
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Step 7
Push the edges of the chicken wire cage into the trench in the dirt.
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Step 8
Use a trowel and your fingers to bury the bottom edge of the cage in the dirt so it stands securely around the seedling.
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Step 9
As your seedlings grow, use your fingers to train the branches up the chicken wire circle. The leaves should grow up instead of down. Use twist ties to secure select branches to the chicken wire to encourage the plant to continue to grow upward.
