Planting on the Same Ground, Year After Year

[TomatoDon]

I was surfing around for opinions about planting tomatoes on the same ground every year. I plant the same fields every year, but I doubt that I'm planting in the exact same dirt.

Surprisingly, some of the comments and articles said that tomatoes like to be planted on the same ground every year. I happened to see my county agent at a function late this afternoon and he advised against planting tomatoes on the same ground every year. He and his father raise tomatoes commercially and they are very leery of using the same ground year after year.

So, I'd like to get the opinions and suggestions from true experiences of my friends and comrades here at Tomatoville. Does it hurt to plant on the same ground every year? What issues can arise? Is there a way to treat the soil every year to eliminate nematodes, wilt virus, etc?

Looking forward to your replies and thanking you in advance.
DS

[JRinPA]

I don't think it hurts too much up here in PA. We just seem to get early blight and septoria for the most part, lots of it, and from what I have experienced the last few years, planting on black mulch doesn't help that, rotating doesn't help that, and trimming bottom leaves doesn't help that. It just comes from the air, as soon as it gets hot and humid or really wet, and it won't matter if you rotate. I have put tomatoes into fresh spots and pre-pruned the last few years and the leaf spots are the same.

The things I read about in warmer climates, nematodes and viruses, that would worry me. Bad things that overwinter in the ground because it doesn't get cold enough.


EDIT best producing tomato plants I've had are CRW cages with unpruned tomatoes trench planted right over double dug rows filled with fish and lime during the previous fall. Tremendous output done that way. And that garden always had tomatoes in it every year for as long as I can remember.

[biscuitridge]

I've planted in the same ground for seventeen years and have not had any problems at all. It depends on what type of fertilizers you are using, as well as other things. I'm strictly organic, I wouldn't do it if you are using commercial fertilizers etc.

[Worth1]

Weeds and other plants grow on the same ground year after year.
Maybe I should stop drinking the same whiskey year after year.

We have what we have and that is what we have to work with.
Threat it right and it will treat us right.....

[b54red]

I have been growing in the same ground for over 40 years and for nearly 40 in the same raised beds. Last year was my most productive year for almost every thing I usually grow. I am constantly adding organic matter to my soil like compost, manures, peat, pine bark fines and slow release natural fertilizers like cottonseed meal and alfalfa meal. Every few years or so if a bed becomes too sandy or too dense I will remove several large wheelbarrows of soil from it and replace with something to correct the problem. I have one particular bed that gets tomatoes planted in it almost every year for the past thirty years or so because it has the best light for growing tomatoes and the production hasn't dropped off that I can see. The one problem that has arisen and may eventually cause my soil to become far less productive is the buildup of certain nutrients to extremely high levels. Almost everything except peat and pine bark that I add to my soil adds to this problem. The nutrients that are highest in my garden are Phosphorous, Magnesium and Calcium according to my soil tests. Nitrogen and Potash are constantly in demand according to the same soil tests so I try to add more of them without getting too much of the ones that are so high but it is difficult if not impossible without going to straight chemicals. My growing results from the continual addition of organic matter to the soil still seems to work so until they don't I will continue using what has been so successful.

Hopefully the beds will continue to be productive until I can no longer physically get out there and garden any longer and at that point the weeds will finally have won.

Bill

[TomatoDon]

JRinPa,

The nematodes and virus's are what people have warned me about. But, like the other posters, I've grown in the same beds and on the same farm land for years and never felt like it caused any trouble. But, since I've been hearing about the dangers of it, I thought I'd ask here for more input. We run the risk of many tomato issues no matter where or how we plant. If there is no hard red line against planting in the same ground every year, I guess I'll continue on like I've been doing.

Thanks for all the replies.
DS

[xellos99]

I think commercially in greenhouses and hoop houses they get much more problems because there is not as much air flow, humidity is higher and they grow a lot in the space to maximise yield.
Then after a while disease takes hold and they can lose a ton of money and maybe their business is they get a crop fail half way through.
So for them it is very serious they use grafting to lower the chance of that happening to them.
For the home gardener I don't think its serious, if it fails then it fails so I replanted for 4 years in a row in the exact same spot and no issues so far.

[oakley]

I used to rotate the pea/bean bed with the tomato bed every year as crop
rotation is said to be a good idea...but the main upper tomato bed is just a
better spot and better drainage. Tomatoes love it. No till but do amend the
soil.
I've added more tomato beds over the years and just do not need any more
beans. Rotation no more.

[bower]

I have heard that tomatoes like the same place year after year, and that seems true to me. Like JRinPA said, things like Early Blight will come in their season no matter where you plant, and even if you are strict about sanitation.


I have read about the large commercial tomato growers and that rotation is practiced. But when you read the whole description of their practice, they also till the old tomato plants into the ground right where they are standing. That means that any undigested scraps the next season, may likely be harboring things like molds or bacterial blights, if those are present in a given year. This would be prejudicial to the next season's crop, no doubt.

I do remove tomato plants at the end of season to compost elsewhere, leave the small roots for the worms to eat over winter, and tomatoes have not complained about being planted in the same place with new ferts and fresh compost.

With tomato stems being as big as they are, I think it's unlikely you would get everything fully rotted away in one winter, by tilling into the ground with machines.

[Labradors2]

Because I re-use my plastic mulch, the tomatoes get planted (in the holes) in exactly the same place for three years. Although I rotate my garden (end to end) every 3 years I also grow eggplant and peppers, which are still in the same family, along with legumes, parsley and kale. I use the no-till method, and add aged manure to the surface every other year. As others have said, there seems to be no escaping Septoria and Early Blight whatever we do. I seem to get a good harvest despite not bothering to spray.

Linda

[jmsieglaff]

I do it every year. I don't have room to rotate properly and provide plants with good spacing for airflow considerations. I always remove plants and a good amount of the straw mulch in the fall as I'm sure it contains leaves. Soil borne diseases aren't a problem for me, but I could foresee that being an issue for people who have those problems.

[TomatoDon]

This is encouraging, yet somewhat surprising. There hasn't been a flood of horror stories about planting in the same place every year. Labrodors2's and jmsieglaff's stories were particularly interesting since they pegged exactly they same locations year after year.

I wonder if the container-growing people and the Earth-tainer people do well in the same soil year after year. Unless they change it out every year, they use exactly the same soil, with the roots touching the exact same mix every year. I'm interested to see what they have to say.

As was said, some people don't have a lot of room to rotate and have to use the exact same location every year. I'm sure untold thousands do this every year. If it were a big problem, I think we would have heard more about it by now....but we haven't.

Thanks again for the input!
DS

[kath]

Here's an oldie where quite a few shared their thoughts on this topic:

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...=crop+rotation

For me, what JRinPA said about EB and Septoria finding us no matter what.

kath

[bower]

Forgot to mention that mine are in containers, so exactly what you said Don, in the same soil. For five years I was using the same soil with new compost and kelp etc added to 1/3 of volume, and the results got better every year. Disease even reduced because I got better at the pruning game. Then I changed out the soil, not because of disease but because of a buildup of small pests in my greenhouse. What a mistake for the tomatoes... I have not managed to get the new mix back to where I started. Too much peat, not enough compost, not enough soil life - the garden compost that I started with was really the best part of what I used, as I've come to understand.
At my friend's farm, the greenhouse tomatoes are in ground and grown in the same place year after year too. They have a deep organic soil and their yields are terrific.

[Labradors2]

That is most interesting Bower. I grow a few container tomatoes every year and thought it was best to change the potting soil. Fortunately, I have places that benefit from the old stuff (cold frames and a built-in garden in my deck, but I might just try re-using the mix next year, with some added compost. How do you remove the root ball?

Linda