bamboo stakes: better late than never

As my tomato plants grow taller, they are looking like they need some support. The heavy branches cause the plant to lean and the stems are not strong enough to keep the plant erect, especially when weighed down by tomatoes. There are many ways to scaffold tomato plants including trellises, verticle ropes, cages, stakes or a combination thereof. Since there is a bamboo patch growing in the backyard, I harvested some bamboo shoots to make stakes. I looked for the dry pieces which were stiff and strong. The bamboo ripped right through the tomato roots when I stuck them into the soil right next to the plant. This is definitely a step I should have taken on the day I planted the tomato starts, so the roots could grow around the bamboo. Better late than never. Hopefully the tomato roots will recover. I also added a metal cage and a bit of masking tape to bind the stem and bamboo so that the plants stay straight.