Single Stem Tomatoes

Livinonfaith,

I'm curious about your straw bale garden. I did eight bales last year and grew some swiss chard, onions, and tomatoes pretty well. I just did it for the fun of it without a lot of high expectations and I was surprised at how well it worked. Due to the nature of straw, it did require a lot of water and a lot of fertilizer. I was a little disappointed when the bales dissolved into straw dust late in the summer and ended the season as mulch in some raised beds. I was hoping for a two year life for the bales believing the straw may act like compost the second year and not require so much fertilizer, but it didn't happen. It was a fun experiment, but not something I would suggest as a real replacement for growing in the soil.

Ted

[b54red]

Ted I have let them grow wild like that before and at first loved it til the really hot humid rainy weather hit. There just was no way to keep them sprayed because the foliage became so thick. With half of them dying of fusarium it was just too much work trying to remove all the dead vines intertwined.

I am more interested in having a nice variety of tomatoes to eat fresh as long as possible from late May til December or January. I am constantly removing and replanting so I start out with a fairly large couple of plantings in March and then just continue right up through July and early August. I was able to have fresh vine ripened fruit from May til December last year without a single weeks gap in production for the first time in over 35 years of growing tomatoes down here. Since the middle of April I have replaced 28 plants for one reason or another and with the way the fusarium is popping up I'm sure I will be replanting and replanting and replanting.

It does look like some of them are flourishing from the single stem pruning and if the fruit size is adequate then those varieties may continue to get the single stem treatment. Still have a ways to go before I am sure. I don't think this method will work for all varieties and it may not work for most in my garden for a couple of reasons. The biggest is fusarium which on a multi-stem plant will frequently take out only one or two stems while a couple of others frequently will continue to produce for an extended time. With the single stem once it gets in the plant it only has one stem to attack. Another reason is there may be major problems with sun scald on some varieties and some of them just aren't reacting well to that much pruning. I guess I will know for certain in a few weeks or so.

Red,

Not having a problem with fusarium, I've been able to keep my fungal diseases under control even in humid weather in the past. I'm not very concerned at this point with the exception of sun scald on those tomatoes totally exposed to the hot sun. I'm growing some cucumber plants up the cages to provide shade and it seems to be working. I expect 50% of my plants to die in the extreme heat from exhaustion, but I am ready to replace them. I tried this year to select some varieties which supposedly have some tolerance to the heat. I typically will prune most of my spring plants back almost to the ground leaving a few healthy suckers near the bottom. The suckers then grow back to strong, healthy, productive plants for the fall. Normally, when our daily temps approach 100 degrees; most of my fungal problems recede and I don't have to battle them through the hot summer even with the humidity. Of course, every year is different. At the end of each season, I think I have it all figured out and I am ready for the next year. The next year always brings a new set of problems to figure out. I think that is why I enjoy gardening.

Ted

[Kazfam]

Insects and Disease
Use the following products only as needed:

• Neem Oil for insects and diseases
• Dipel, BT Dust, or Thuricide for worms
• Serenade for diseases
• Sticky Paper for whiteflies
• Insecticidal soap for insects

Final Wrap
When tomatoes have begun to grow and have some height to them, break off every branch from the ground level up to about 14-16” high on the plant. We have discovered that this action significantly increases air circulation, and cuts down on the incidence of water splashing on foliage of the plant.

https://www.piedmontfarmandgarden.co...ts.asp?Cat=548

Kazfam,

I agree with almost everything you said. The problem I have with many of the products you suggest is the financial investment you have made by the end of the growing season and then you have to do it again next year. I prefer to limit the expense required to grow a productive garden. It ticks me off to realize that my "garden fresh" veggies cost considerably more to produce than the tasteless grocery store veggies. I feel better when I grow great veggies at low cost. Thats why I grow everything from seed which is often saved from last years garden. It's why I try to produce most of the organics used to enhance my soil. While I appreciate efforts to grow stuff in an organic manner, I'm not consumed by the need. It usually results in much greater expense to follow the letter of the law when growing organically. I really prefer to allow beneficial insects to control harmful insects. If I have an outbreak of aphids which the beneficial insects can't seem to control, I'm not so organically minded that I won't grab the best insecticide to get rid of them. I also apply thuricide to control caterpillars. I encourage birds to eat a lot of insects in my garden by placing a lot of bird houses in and around the garden.


Ted

[livinonfaith]

Ted, I'm curious about my straw bale garden, too!

It sound like you know a lot more than I do since you've gone through a season with them.

What fertilizers did you use? I am at the point that I need to start adding some and haven't yet made up my mind what they really need. Will the disintegrating bales add enough nitrogen that I should mainly concentrate on Potassium and Phosphorus?

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

Ted, I'm curious about my straw bale garden, too!

It sound like you know a lot more than I do since you've gone through a season with them.

What fertilizers did you use? I am at the point that I need to start adding some and haven't yet made up my mind what they really need. Will the disintegrating bales add enough nitrogen that I should mainly concentrate on Potassium and Phosphorus?

I started out by prepping the bales through the winter every couple of weeks with 13-13-13 fertilizer. The straw has no nutritional value until it starts decomposition. The prepping starts the process. They are ready to plant in the spring.

We are really off track for this thread which is supposed to be about single stem tomatoes. PM me and I will gladly discuss straw bale growing.

Ted

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by b54red

and some of them just aren't reacting well to that much pruning. I guess I will know for certain in a few weeks or so.

Hi Red,

I am pruning to two stems and using a trellis this year for first time. The ones you say aren't reacting that well... Can you expand on what you are observing?

Also, ... Earlier this month think I remember you said you would be doing Missori pruning on some of your more sparse plants. Is that helping any?

Thanks,

[b54red]

Rebel, the Missouri pruning did help on them especially when they were smaller.

It seemed that on some of the plants they just didn't grow very fast or look very healthy when limited to one stem. Others actually set more fruit than the multiple stem ones which I don't understand. I do know that the ones that were doing so badly have improved incredibly since I allowed another stem to develop.


The varieties that excelled with the single stem will be kept that way but with some of the so so plants I am making a few changes. I am allowing an extra stem to form on many now that they are over 4 feet tall and have set a lot of fruit. There is also a lot more room in some spots due to some of the plants dying from fusarium and leaving big gaps. I also replanted in a lot of the gaps but not all. I am still keeping all of the ones that don't have the extra space at one stem except the ones that reacted so bad to the single stem.

Red, I seem to remember Carolyn Male making a statement that a certain number of leaves are required on a plant to provide nutrients from photosynthesis for each developing tomato (paraphrased). I don't remember all of the details, but it seems possible that limiting the stems may limit the required number of leaves. It could also be possible that different varieties with different leaf types, sizes, and shapes could influence each varieties ability to perform well as single stem or multi stem plants. If that is true, I wonder how the "stick" tomato plant is able to fully develop fruit with all of its leaves bunched tightly against the main stem. Ted

[b54red]

Ted if that is the case then some of my plants surely don't have enough leaves. Worms ate a bunch during the rainy week and Gray Mold has destroyed a good bit of foliage. Some plants are looking rather odd with clumps of tomatoes running up a bare stem for several feet before any leaves appear. I really had no choice in this happening it was just one of those things where you get a perfect storm of problems.

The plants that did look like they didn't take to the single stem were mostly plants with a very open growth habit even when they have a good many stems so with just one they were somewhat naked looking. They also didn't grow vertically like you would expect. The plants that have thrived on the single stem are mostly between 6 and 7 feet tall while those that didn't are more like 4 to 5 feet tall. Another thing that makes that odd is I have always thought of many of those as the larger vines in the past like Brandywine Sudduth's and Cowlick's.

I can say that I am learning some things about these varieties that surprise me and hope I will be able to make some use of them in the future. I will probably keep using the single stem pruning for plants like Spudakee, IS, CP, Black Krim and some others since I can see no advantage in production to giving them more room which they need with more stems. Also the Gray Mold damage is not as severe on the ones with single stems that got it as on the regular plants. I had to cut off a bucket full of foliage off the regular pruned DDR because of Gray Mold. I can't say it helped with the worms though, because with less foliage they did more damage to the single stem plants.

Bill

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by b54red

Rebel, the Missouri pruning did help on them especially when they were smaller.

...

Thanks Red. That's good to hear. As soon as I get the rest of these clear of the ground for 18 inches I am going to start with that.

I think some of them are feeling a little naked

Your observation about some of the singles having set more fruit is interesting. Are yous saying they simply set more fruit in total (larger %age of blooms fertilized and setting) or is there an increased number of blooms formed for that stem?

Bill, I also have a lot of very tall plants with exposed tomatoes about 24" above ground. I am growing some cucumber plants on the cages to protect the tomatoes from the sun. The exposed tomatoes are so large some of the trusses can't support them and break off. I have to check the soil around the plants for dropped trusses every evening. Are the worms the type that eat into the fruit leaving small holes or do they eat the foliage? I had a lot of the type that eat into the fruit causing it to ripen before it is fully developed. Those are the tomatoes I throw over the fence for my dog who loves them. I also had a short period where the conditions were right to cause blossom end rot on some developing fruit. It didn't last long, but I've tossed some pretty nice tomatoes with the blossom ends rotted away. In my case, it may be a blessing to lose some fruit to worms and BER reducing the total number of fruit each plant must provide nutrients for. Ted

[b54red]

Ted I did have some tomatoes damaged by the worms but the Sevin got most of them before that could happen but not before they shredded hundreds of leaves.

Rebel, I'm posting a pick to show you what I am talking about. It shows and Indian Stripe plant that I kept to a single stem and the worms and Gray Mold got a lot of the lower leaves and the second one is of a Spudakee with the same problem.

[RebelRidin]

Now those are some nice clusters! Obviously reducing the number of stems does not have to be a tradeoff to production, at least not for some varieties. It will be interesting to see your single stem keeper list at the end of the season.