Dry farming, anyone doing this?

[desertlzbn]

I have been reading on this but an not to sure about actuallynot watering my tomatoes

[RebelRidin]

My folks did it all the time. Tough love!


They didn't always enjoy it though.

[feldon30]

It works if you want peppers that are hotter than molten lava. Otherwise, I see more drawbacks than benefits.

[carolyn137]

I know many in CA do dry farming, but here where I live water comes out of the sky on a somewhat regular basis, so no way could I or anyone else in areas where rain is prevalent do dry farming.

[RebelRidin]

I wouldn't think Tucson would get enough fog, dew or rain to pull it off but if you do manage to get a tomato plant to produce a fruit in Tucson with no extra water by your hand or design...

We want to see pictures! (and sworn witness statements)

[Marymcp]

Not to derail the thread but I'm interested in the comment about withholding water to increase the heat of pepper plants. Can you expand on that a bit? I like my jalepeno's and habenero's hot and sometimes they are not.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Marymcp

Not to derail the thread but I'm interested in the comment about withholding water to increase the heat of pepper plants. Can you expand on that a bit? I like my jalepeno's and habenero's hot and sometimes they are not.

I can only speak from limited experience. I grew some habaneros in a pot and they sometimes got neglected on water as I was taking care of my father at the time. I put 2 of those habaneros in large pot of chili and it was INEDIBLE. Even with a huge dollop of sour cream, it was like trying to eat fire.

A lot of people say that peppers will get hotter when stressed, sorta like a defense mechanism. Hard to prove, but I've heard it multiple times.

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I know many in CA do dry farming, but here where I live water comes out of the sky on a somewhat regular basis, so no way could I or anyone else in areas where rain is prevalent do dry farming.

Yes the water problem I have is how to get rid of it sometimes. I've had a conversation with a guy that comes here to help the man I rent part of the house from. He's gotten the tractor stuck a couple of times. I said to him that if you see this plant of this one growing Don't drive there!

[Marymcp]

Habenero's *are* very hot to begin with....I'll try ignoring one or two of my plants and see what happens. Thanks.

I seriously could not 'dry farm' here in Phoenix. I think rebel is right about the fog etc. That way it could work but I don't believe I have *ever* seen fog in Phoenix.

[Barbee]

I only water my tomatoes when I plant them out. After that, it's survival of the fittest.

[Marymcp]

Here in Phoenix you would be best not to try tomatoes at all in that case. :-))))

[Crandrew]

Originally Posted by Barbee

I only water my tomatoes when I plant them out. After that, it's survival of the fittest.

Seriously? Come on...

[igarden]

when we first moved hre in '89, we had no irrigation system setup and did a lot of growing with very little water. we found the Jalapenos, especially, got really hot with dry land farming. tomatoes seemed sweeter, too.

[Worth1]

Here where I live some years I don't water till june and some years I have to water from the start.

For some reason I thought dry farming was where you coverd the ground with flat stones and watered under them.

Worth