I have been starting tomatoes in door and deliberately let them get tall and lanky for about 6 seasons. Trenching the stem with just the top few leaves sticking up cutting all leaves off of the stem that will be in the soil: with a little rooting hormone on the stock and it has been producing massive quantities of fruit (like 60 to 70 on a Roma tomato) but not to totality or ripening state – this year I will do the same but remove a few dozen of the tomatoes from the vine to promote the remaining…
Has anyone tried this?
I've done it. It is space intensive but other than that I haven't had any complaints.
Regards the fruit not ripening. I think that is a lack of heat rather than the trenching or over production. At least I didn't have any problem with ripening.
Did you try harvesting and vine ripening indoors? That is if you have the space.
i'm a little confused and very curious...trenching means you are laying the plant on it's side?
I go about 12 inches of stock under 4 inches of earth and it develops a huge root mass.
tkhooper I live in Calgary - it is at 151 x 51 and the summers are short and the growing seasons was even shorter last year because of the hail that hit 3 times. I did not leave enough room as it was between plants not expecting the healthy leaf development.
Tomatos are one of the few plants that will grow roots from the stems.
You can lay the roots on their side and bury them all the way to the first leaves if you want.
The bonus's of doing that are as above stated.
And massive roots, mean stablitiy to the plant,
loads' of nutrients delivered to produce a huge crop..
The down side is, that it takes a while longer for alllllllllll those roots to grow, and then a while longer for alllllllllll those fruits to be produced, and then by that time, the season is starting to run down, sun time, light time, and with the big heavy load of fruit to ripen, *mostly all at the same time* is alot for one plant to do...
Question Cliver_McGyver,
when do you start your seeds,
when do you usually plant your plants,
and how are your plants planted *ie: regular garden, raised garden bed, or buckets/container?????
Question Cliver_McGyver,
when do you start your seeds?
About 6 weeks before the may long weekend...
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when do you usually plant your plants?
May 24th
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and how are your plants planted *ie: regular garden, raised garden bed, or buckets/container?????
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Just a garden dug in to the lawn nothing special added, there was a lot of top good top soil under the lawn.
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Once the plant takes off it does grow faster...
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I use fertilizer when growing indoors in a soil less mix but do not use anything on the plants out doors.
To get a small jump on your plants, you can plant them outside earlier..
If you work up the soil and have the all prepared in the fall, so it's ready to go in the spring..
And if it's in a raised bed, they heat up earlier in the North,
*I know how the winter's can be up North*
If you put black landscaping fabric on top of soil, or some see~thru plastic..
~~>The see~thru plastic allows sun thru and starts to cook the soil...
~~~>the black landscape fabric keeps weeds' out...
But if you have some means of planting the tomato plant earlier by planting the tomato plant under something like wall~o~water *kinda expensive*, ]
or Juicy Juice Containers,
or Upside down Sterlite Containers,
or one of those zip up the front plastic covered greenhouse's....
To cover the plant, keep it out of the elements, and a little bit more warmth earlier in the season...(BUT KEEP A THERMOMETER IN THE AREA, TO SEE TEMPS' INSIDE, SO YOU DON'T BAKE IT)
And if you keep jugs of empty milk cartons' filled with water out in the sun, next to your plants under those covers, they will hold a bit of heat from the days' sun into the night..
Also, if you add bricks or rocks by the sides too, cause they also hold heat from the days' sun.
And look into COMPOST to feed your plants!!!!!
Does it naturally, slowly and is fed organically.
I have heard that in some parts of Europe that the gardeners will bury pig poop 2 feet down and the decomposition of the matter will heat the ground.
I get frost in May here so it is not easy to get the plants out before the may long weekend that is the norm for this latitude on the 51 parallel at an altitude of 3,500 feet and close to the mountains. We always get a few good hail storms so I will concern my self with protecting them from that...
