Single Stem Tomatoes

[b54red]

Well I just got one side of a long bed with tomatoes planted between 18 in. and 25 inches apart. When I get some other varieties ready I will plant the other side of the bed close like this and keep to a single stem. That may not seem like it is very close to some of you but down here if you don't have good air flow your plants will only last a short time before diseases whack em. Last year I experimented with planting tomatoes in two beds 24 inches apart and keeping them to two stems but that created too much of a wall of foliage and I lost a huge number of plants to gray mold as soon as the plants got about 2 months old and ready to start producing. The gray mold ended up thinning my plants to anywhere from 6 to 10 feet. I already have two beds planted with wider spacing and will allow several stems to develop on those and see how they compare. I don't expect to make as much fruit but I am hoping it will be easier to maintain and spray. I am also hoping the plants will not be affected by foliage diseases as badly. Time will tell.

[kath]

Originally Posted by stormymater

Pruning for me has been problematic - We dip scissors in Clorox water between cuts but the stems all too often get a yellowed scab/eschar at the cut site which then slowly ascends & becomes circumferential - killing that part of the vine & slowing, then stopping all tomato production. My plants that look like escapes from a dinner theatre production of "Hair" but they do not that that scabby infection... just other stuff...

I dip shears in alcohol between cuts and haven't had a problem.

B54red,

I had gray mold for the first time ever last year. It only killed a few plants and defoliated a few more. The defoliated plants recovered in late summer and put on more foliage for my fall garden. The fungus didn't seem to care how close plants were planted. It struck randomly without regard to air flow. It stopped progressing when the early cool summer became a hot, dry, drought stricken summer. It tried to make a fall comeback, but the regular application of 10% bleach followed by a copper based, anti fungal product pretty much stopped it.

My forty one varieties are planted as of March 1. I noticed today a few are ready to open some blooms.

Ted

[Tracydr]

Good tip on the alcohol. Was just reading that on pruning hibiscus, to use hand sanitizer gel.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by tedln

B54red,

I had gray mold for the first time ever last year. It only killed a few plants and defoliated a few more. The defoliated plants recovered in late summer and put on more foliage for my fall garden. The fungus didn't seem to care how close plants were planted. It struck randomly without regard to air flow. It stopped progressing when the early cool summer became a hot, dry, drought stricken summer. It tried to make a fall comeback, but the regular application of 10% bleach followed by a copper based, anti fungal product pretty much stopped it.

My forty one varieties are planted as of March 1. I noticed today a few are ready to open some blooms.

Ted

Ted, due to our incredibly high humidity, I usually have a few cases of gray mold every year and it usually starts in a very dense plant with a lot of foliage. Last year was different because it still appeared randomly among some of my normally well spaced plants but it was devastating in the two beds where I had planted the tomatoes close together in order to trial more varieties. Since I had seven raised beds planted with tomatoes and peppers last year and only the two with the close planting method had any significant damage, I have to conclude that the lack of light and air flow was the primary reason for the severity of the gray mold problem. Last year dealing with the gray mold in those two beds was like dealing with some kind of slow acting late blight. That is why I am going to try the single stem method to see if it makes a difference. I am sure to see some gray mold this year as I do most years but I am hoping the single stem will help keep the plants less susceptible.

[ExpendableZero]

I did single stem last year and ended up with lots of sun scald and green shoulders. I'm not sure if if I want to try again this year.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by ExpendableZero

I did single stem last year and ended up with lots of sun scald and green shoulders. I'm not sure if if I want to try again this year.

I would much rather have a few tomatoes with sun scald than try to keep the diseases at bay with heavy foliage. When you get gray mold you will lose so much foliage that any remaining tomatoes will end up with sun scald anyway. I have been keeping all of my tomatoes pruned well for the last couple of years and spaced usually 6 feet apart with only 2 to 4 stems supported by a trellis. The results far outstripped any that I had in years past with little pruning and the use of cages or stakes for support. I am only doing the single stem experiment in one large bed and plan to have about 40 tomatoes in that one bed that would ordinarily have 10 to 12 tomato plants.

[b54red]

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this single stem method and since I lose so many plants to fusarium each year I am seriously considering going with single stems in the remaining beds. It would allow me to set out far more seedlings and with the hit and miss of fusarium maybe I will have a few more plants that make it. Since I am spacing nearly 2 ft apart the foliage diseases should be no more difficult to control than on my regularly spaced plants with more stems. I already have two beds with more regular spacing of 5 to 8 feet apart so if a few of them live I should have plenty to eat.

[b54red]

Well I've decided to go all in on the single stem experiment and try this in my remaining beds. We still have enough tomatoes in the freezer that I won't need a large amount to replenish my supply. Other than the first two beds with normal spacing of 5 to 8 feet the rest will be single stem with around a two foot spacing.

Even though I only have one bed with the single stem plantings right now it has around 40 plants in it. Nearly double what's in the other two beds. I am already finding it easier to keep the suckers pruned on the single stem plants and after the initial tie up they should be easier to keep supported. The only tomatoes in these beds that I may allow to make two stems are a couple of hearts because their foliage is so sparse.

[b54red]

I now have two beds over 30 feet long with single stem planting down each side. I am finding it very difficult to keep them to one stem; but I am doing it anyway. Some of the plants seem to be responding the the heavy pruning very well while some varieties seem to be suffering. I have had a half dozen plants split into 3 or 4 mains and deciding what to clip off is really hard. I am going to continue the trial and see how it goes. There may be varieties that perform much better than others with this treatment. I have 3 Tarasenko plants set out with 2 of them having multiple stems and one kept to one stem. The one with only one stem that was set out over a week later than the other two has more than twice as many blooms and is the healthiest of the three. Now to see how fruit set and production goes along with disease and sun scald. This may turn out to be a very interesting experiment or a total disaster.

[ddsack]

b54red - Keep posting on your progress on this experiment, and be sure to let us know which varieties don't do well with severe pruning. I'm not a severe pruner, and not having super humid summers, don't have to be. I did try to grow one pruned bed in a year that I had many extra plants that I didn't want to discard. I just couldn't keep up with all the suckers and deciding which of equal divisions was the main stem, especially when I went on vacation for a week and came back to a tangle of growth. I might be persuaded to try harder next time, if you have found you can still have good results. I am more trusting of results when someone has tried it both ways with a large number of plants like you have. Leaving aside the disease issues, the problem I have with pruning is when people say they want the plants energy to go to the tomatoes, not the leaves. But the leaves are the power cells that convert the sun's energy so the plant (and tomatoes) can use it, so there has to be some ratio below which the tomatoes won't have the fuel to grow to their potential in production. I don't remember enough of my biology to know if the green outer layer of the stem is able to contribute anything. If so, that would make a difference. The other thing you could keep an eye out for is if there is any difference in flavor in pruned and unpruned. Does the flavor derive solely from the soil components that the roots are in charge of, or do the number of leaves left on the plant exposed to sun have an effect? If you ended up pruning all your remaining plants, you won't be able to do a direct taste test this time.

[b54red]

dd, I am going to keep at least two beds with regular pruning which for me is just keeping them to between 3 and 6 main stems with the plants a full 6 feet apart. With our hot and humid very long growing season if I don't prune I end up with a tangled diseased mess that produces very little fruit and what it does produce is usually extremely small after the first few trusses.

I know what you are talking about with the number of leaves and I can see that is going to be a problem as far as sun scald on some of the varieties with lighter vegetation. Since I have the plants so close together I am stuck with the plan now and can't really allow more stems so I might as well continue it. I will just have to wait and see if it makes a big difference in production and taste.

[WillardJones]

b54 red, Yesterday I set 20 Manapal tomatoes and 15 yellow open pollinated tomatoes and 20 Old Brooks tomatoes at 10 inches apart. The goal is grow them as a single stem. I know a man at Blairsville who grew 900 Manapals at 10 inches as a trellis tomato last year. Some years he grows them as a double stem trellis tomato at approx 17 inches. This is the only variety he plants. Last year he set them out around Memorial Day. I have some concerns that the Old Brooks won’t behave well as a trellis tomato.

[b54red]

Willard, I don't know anything about those two varieties but I wouldn't put them 10 inches apart unless you are only looking for a very short season growing for market. With the humidity levels down here putting the plants that close is just asking for trouble.

[b54red]

Ok for an update. Most of the plants in one bed have been in the ground a month or so and I have kept them to one single stem except for Linnie's Oxheart which I allowed two stems because of the wispy light foliage. I also messed up and took off all of my growth tips on one of my Tarasenko-6s; but I'm sure something will pop up on it soon.

Moreton is reacting the very worst to the severe pruning. It is weak looking and has so little foliage that I am going to allow it another stem. Cowlick's is also showing the same look but to a lesser degree so I will allow it one more stem. Rose is also looking bad but it is from something that caused the new leaves to be twisted and curled but it looks like it is recovering a bit now so I will leave it for a while longer. Spudakee, Cherokee Purple, Tarasenko-6, Marianna's Peace, Indian Stripe, Eva's Purple Ball, Zogola, and BTDP are looking the best. Surprisingly some of the varieties in the single stem bed are actually doing a bit better than the ones with multiple stems that were planted a week earlier. I have lost a few to the wind breaking them off before I got them tied up and I have another bed that was set out last week that I will report on later. So far the single stem plants overall are doing as good as the multiple stems but it is very early in the season and the foliage diseases haven't hit hard yet nor has the fusarium.