How To Clean Tomato Cages

Q: How can I clean my tomato cages to make sure I don’t carry any diseases
from my community garden plot to my new backyard garden? 

A: Early blight, late blight and bacterial wilt diseases can be carried over on
tomato cages each year. It is easy to clean cages in three steps: Use a scrub
brush and soapy water to remove any dirt on the cages. Otherwise organic
matter stuck to the cage can harbor disease. Make a solution of one part bleach
to nine parts water and spray it liberally onto cage structures. Bleach kills
fungi and bacteria. Wrap the cages completely with clear plastic sheet and
leave them in the sun for a week. The resulting heat inside will be sufficient to
kill anything else living in there.