Planted some tomatoes

[Arkaybee]

We thought we would plant some tomatoes again this year.
One row each of BIG BEEF, CELEBRITY, JETSETTER and SUNMASTER (49 plants per row/195 total). We selectded these varieties for their high disease resistance bred into them which we have to have down here in the southern heat and humidity; also for their exceptional flavor and acidity. Rows are about 80 feet long. Drip irrigation tube at the base of each row fed from a header tube (lay flat tubing) at the far end of the row. Pre-fertilized the ground two weeks prior to planting, incorporated the fertilizer with the tiller then threw up the rows with a three disc (three on each side) row-builder and leveled it off.

These photos are from a few weeks ago and the plants are now getting near the top of the stakes.

Seeds started indoors March 3 with bottom heat pad; germinated in 5 days; transplanted into individual cups after first true leaves appeared; planted into garden on April 13; first bloom appeared April 21; typically the first ripe fruit comes about 6 weeks after first bloom; I think the dryness and the excessive heat delayed the process this season because we picked the first ripe tomato June 8 and had enough to slice up for supper yesterday.

The deluge of ripe tomatoes is about to start so out goes the little HOMEGROWN TOMATOES sign and the drooling begins for folks on their way home from work in the afternoons and they speak of tomato and miracle whip sandwichs along with BLT's, and beg for green tomatoes for making fried green tomatoes but I just can't pick them green--they have to be red ripe to have the full flavor.

The plants are spaced about 20 inches and are staked with 1/2" rebar 6' long into the ground 6-8 inches. Two plants are between adjacent stakes. The tomatoes are restrained by tomato twine tied to a belaying stake (angled stake) at one end and then the twine is wrapped once around the first stake and then each succeeding stake and tied to the belaying stake at the other end. The the twine is strung in the same fashion down the other side of the row resulting in the plants being trapped between the two strings. The strings are NOT tied to the plants. This method of stringing is sometimes called the STAKE AND WEAVE technique. It is the most efficient method of tying large numbers of tomatoes.

The string comes in a box that is placed on your belt and the string is run through a piece of EMT electrical conduit (with smooth fittings on the ends). Friction is applied to the string with the hand as it enters the top of the conduit and the conduit provides leverage to make the string taught.

About five applications of string are made until the plants reach the tops of the stakes (depending on the genetics of the plants) though some varieties do not get that tall.

The rows are about 8 feet apart for ease of cultivating with the tractor tiller and for driving the cart through when harvesting. The plants get quite bushy when full height.

I will update this thread with new photos when production gets going so we can all drool over those red beauties.

Arkaybee

 

[johnk]

That is one pristine garden. Very well manacured.

 

[2720wes]

Thats a good looking tomato patch. Big Beef is a great tomato, that and Burger are my main plants but the light bearing disease prone Brandywine I think is the best tasteing tomato in the world.

Keep the pictures coming, I can almost taste that fresh tomato sandwich

 

[LBrown59]

The photos are from a few weeks ago and the plants are now getting near the top of the stakes.
Arkaybee

Nice lookin tomato patch Arkaybee.

Some one gave us 1 tomato plant that has 2 little grean tomatos on it so me and my wife planted it today .
It can't do no worse than what happened last year.
We planted 14 plants and not one of the plants produced a tomato.

 

[bp fick]

Outstanding. I've heard your system called a "Florida Weave".

From one farmer to another, have a really great year. What a great start.

I potted up 240 tomato plants this year. Sales went so well, I barely held back 100 for myself. They're all out now, and doing fine.

 

[jinman]

With our hot summers, we are trying landscaping cloth over rows and mulch around each tomato plant. Between rows, we put in a strip of tar paper from an old roll I had laying around. We put down our flat soaker hoses under the cloth and mulch. I always try to plant tomatoes pretty far apart. I've been told that keeping plants separated keeps disease from being able to spread plant-to-plant. I'm not sure how big a problem that is with disease resistant plants. Your patch sure looks healthy and certainly well groomed. I think you are gonna have a bunch of tomatoes soon. Good luck with your production and sales. I hope you post more pictures as harvest starts.:thumbsup:

 

[Bird]

I always try to plant tomatoes pretty far apart. I've been told that keeping plants separated keeps disease from being able to spread plant-to-plant.

And I did the opposite because I thought you needed them close together to cross pollinate.

 

[bp fick]

One benefit of close planting is that they help shade each other for moisture retention and reduced sun stress. Many gardeners rely on this.

 

[flusher]

And I did the opposite because I thought you needed them close together to cross pollinate.

Yep--plant them close. When flowers appear, give them a shake to pollinate.

 

[ShenandoahJoe]

I've gotten both kinds of advice, too. When I put the plants too close together, they bear less per plant, but I have more plants. Never have figured out if I get more tomatoes one way or the other.

 

[Arkaybee]

I'm happy that you enjoyed the photos. I will try to remember to update them as the season progresses. They are really close to bursting forth with ripeness.:thumbsup:

Actually, the tomato has a PERFECT flower meaning that it has both male and female parts in the flower and, outdoors, it is wind pollinated. In green houses they can be pollinated by a hand-held leaf blower or by vibrating the stalk of the "fruit hand" or cluster of flowers. Sterile bumblebees are also used inside greenhouses for pollination.

So far it has been challenging to keep the right amount of water in the root zone with the extreme drought we are experiencing. Thank God for a good deep well and drip irrigation.

I have tried black plastic mulch previously and it works well but without the machine to lay it, getting it down by hand is just too much labor. I would mulch heavily with chopped-up oak leaves mixed with pine straw if I had enough--maybe next year.

In years past we have had a good bit of sun-scald on the fruit so we have better protection if they are planted closer together.

We do prune off all suckers below the KING SUCKER which is the first sucker below the first flower cluster. It quickly becomes as large as the parent stem and then there are two large stems producing many suckers or branches that we leave for cover and production. Works well.

Dr. Hanna of the LSU Red River Experiment Station south of Shreveport/Bossier City, LA. taught many growers how to use many of these techniques for greater success.

We had some delicious sliced tomatoes to go with some barbeque sandwiches for dinner tonight.:licking::licking:

Arkaybee

 

[dave1949]

Nice looking tomato patch. Here is our weather forecast for the next week, I don't have any tomatoes out yet and I'm wondering now if this is going to be one our 'lost' summers. :laughing:


Rain Showers Showers Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Scattered T-Storms Scattered T-Storms Showers Showers N/A
55ｰF
High
59ｰ 59ｰ 68ｰ 71ｰ 70ｰ 73ｰ 73ｰ 74ｰ N/A
47ｰ
Low
46ｰ 45ｰ 48ｰ 53ｰ 53ｰ 52ｰ 52ｰ 53ｰ N/A

Dave

 

[DJ54]

Nice tomato patch..!! Almost like a trip down memory lane for me... Dad always planted never less than 12 dozen, and as many as 36 dozen plants. Back at that time, Big Boy's were the hot item. Then Celebrity was the choice of growers.

Rows were approx. 4' apart, and right at 160' long. Staked, and tied with binder twine, tied directly to the plants.

We mulched with ground corn cobs. Back in the 60's corn cobs were plentiful, and local mills were tickled to get rid of them. We had I believe a 3/4" screen in the hammermill, which would break the cobs into approx. 1/2" material, down to fines. Mulched approx. 6" deep... About the only thing that would come up through, was an occasional bull pea vine, as we called them, or a stalk of corn. Great moisture retention, and come next spring, just plow them under, and add humus to the ground.

Blight in the corn in the early 70's seemed to transfer to the tomato plants, so that ended the corn cob mulch. Now since they have blight resistant corn, I tried it around a dozen plants I had out a few years back, and worked great. Problem now is finding cobs.

 

[Bird]

We mulched with ground corn cobs.

I don't recall hearing of anyone using corn cobs before. I'm stilll learning new stuff on TBN. I used oat straw myself.

 

[bp fick]

Nice looking tomato patch. Here is our weather forecast for the next week, I don't have any tomatoes out yet and I'm wondering now if this is going to be one our 'lost' summers. :laughing:

Dave

Hey Dave, some years are just tough. Same weather here.

I plant three varieties to alway hedge my bet. The Manitoba Cold Sets are already setting quarter sized green tomatoes and did so by June 9th!!!!! It's my first year with this variety, so I'll let you know. I may have a variety recommendation for us folks who live in great north and can experience a crappy summer. I made a little video yesterday for YouTube.

YouTube - ‪DSCF3289‬‏

 

[jinman]

Actually, the tomato has a PERFECT flower meaning that it has both male and female parts in the flower and, outdoors, it is wind pollinated. In green houses they can be pollinated by a hand-held leaf blower or by vibrating the stalk of the "fruit hand" or cluster of flowers. Sterile bumblebees are also used inside greenhouses for pollination.

Arkaybee

Yep, one plant should bear fruit just fine with no other plants around. I used to have a friend who said you could take a fly-swatter and "beat" the plants with it to make them set more fruit and make more tomatoes. I never tried that, but it just might work.

The diseease that most commonly goes from plant-to-plant is the tomato fungus that attacks older mature plants. It's very hard not to spread that when picking tomatoes too, because you pass it with your hands. Keeping the proper amount of moisture for each plant and getting full sunlight are two keys to good production. The last I read about the average mature tomato plant is that it needs about 5 gallons of water per week with moisture in a 3' diameter circle around the base of the plant.

Last year I planted BHN444 plants and they did well, but this year I could not find any. The grower told me they had some BHN64 plants that were similar but would produce in 64 days. I also love Early Girls that are very similar to your Jetsetters. I have grown some tomatoes that seem to turn into a tree and are hard to contain, but the Early Girls and BHN64s should have very bushy plants that don't overgrow my cages.

 

[Bird]

Years ago, I read about whipping the plants to make them pollinate better, but I thought it was for multiple plants instead of just one. Oh well, I learned something new.

 

[sixdogs]

That is the most beautiful batch of tomatoes I have ever seen.

 

[dave1949]

Hey Dave, some years are just tough. Same weather here.

I plant three varieties to alway hedge my bet. The Manitoba Cold Sets are already setting quarter sized green tomatoes and did so by June 9th!!!!! It's my first year with this variety, so I'll let you know. I may have a variety recommendation for us folks who live in great north and can experience a crappy summer. I made a little video yesterday for YouTube.

YouTube - ‪DSCF3289‬‏

Nice video BP, thanks. Amazing tomato variety to be that far along with no blossom drop in the chilly weather.

My strawberry patch has green berries, a return of warmth will bring them on quick. Had a good bit of asparagus this Spring too. I have picked radishes in my raised bed and have leaf lettuce about ready there too. Planted some sugar pod peas for stir fry that are coming along, about ready to give them a string line to hold on to.

Every year is an adventure, that's for sure.

I have an asparagus question - I had to go away for almost two weeks and the asparagus all grew out, as normal. What do you think about letting those fronds feed the roots for a while, then cut them down and try for a second crop? The bed is in it's third year now.

Congrats on your Member of the Month!
Dave.

 

[Arkaybee]

As promised, here is an update of the tomato project with photos of the plants today and yesterday's and today's harvest which is only the beginning but I will confess that they are delicious and like they say "there's nothing like a REAL vine-ripened tomato." Enjoyed some last night for supper and on a sandwich for lunch today. It is a struggle to keep enough water going to the plants with temps in the 98-100's and no rain in sight. I'm sorta glad that I didn't plant the other veggies that I usually plant because they would have really struggled as well.

1st pix--How the plants look today.
2nd pix--Today's plants from another perspective.
3rd pix-- The plants are loaded with fruit.
4th pix--Closeup of fruit cluster on plant.

Gotta get the sign out cause we can't eat em all.

Enjoy,

Arkaybee