How to Make Tomato Cage Plant Stands

by jessyratfink

16K4912

Intro: How to Make Tomato Cage Plant Stands

This is less of a how-to and more a basic idea that you can use to create plant stands of all sizes! I saw a photo on Pinterest a long time ago of someone using an upside down tomato cage as a plant stand and thought it was super clever. When we moved into our house, the previous owners had left a few old metal tomato cages behind.

I figured I'd never have use for all of the tomato cages in my garden, so I brought them inside to use with my plants. I love how simple these plant stands are to make and how clean they look. They do a great job of keeping my plants up and away from pets and in the sunlight. :D

Best of all, I'll show you two easy ways to make plant stands out of tomato cages. We'll cut through the cages with a Dremel for one stand, and use our hands and pliers to bend the next stand into shape.

STEP 1: Tools + Materials

You won't need much:

  • Metal tomato cage
  • Dremel + metal cutting wheel OR
  • Pliers (for bending)
  • Gloves (for bending)
  • Safety goggles (if you're gonna be cutting!)
  • Spray paint (optional)

Make sure to wear your PPE if you decide to go the power tool route and cut the cage's legs off. Also: I didn't wear gloves when bending the legs, but you may want to if you can't get a good grip.

Metal tomato cages come in a large variety of sizes, so shop around to find cages to fit the pots you'd like to make stands for. These are fairly large: with the legs cut off they stand at about 18 inches tall.

STEP 2: Cutting the Tomato Cage

This is the cleanest and simplest way in my opinion. :)

Cutting the legs off is easy with a Dremel! I made sure to use the cutting wheels to smooth out the edges of any cuts I made. I also used the cutting wheel to cut off the tiny metal pieces that were extending beyond the bottom hoop.

STEP 3: Bending the Tomato Cage

I found it hard to cut this gauge of wire using handheld wire cutters, so I played with bending a few tomato cages.

In the end, this is what I came up with! By bending the legs down and around each other, you end up with a nice sturdy plant stand that doesn't wobble.

STEP 4: Enjoy Your New Plant Stands!

Here's a photo of both of the stands next to each other for reference, and a close up of my gorgeous Thanksgiving cactus <3

If you make your own stand, please post a photo for an I Made It! below! I'll send you some instructables goodies :D

8 Comments

laurelzein 5 years ago

would be awesome for trailing plants as well, and tomato cages come in colors as well...great idea,

KellyL135 5 years ago

These will go awesome anywhere! I'm going to add this to my list!

JoniS28 5 years ago

About what size planters do these hold? Thanks!

jessyratfink 5 years ago

The ones I'm using have 8 inch pots in them!

JoniS28 5 years ago

Jessy, thank you for the info on the plant pot sizes. I need to make a few of fews this spring.

JoniS28 5 years ago

The Ace Hardware near me sells heavy duty plant cages that come in different bright colors with a shiny finish. I bought a lot of them for my garden. Now I need to buy some for my houseplants! Thanks!