Watering Tomatoes

 


With our amiable discussion of "blossom end rot", and the merits of
avoiding water stress in the vine, solidly fixed in the rear view
mirror, I send along some views on watering published by our local "fish
wrap", a vassal of the NYT. Unfortunately, it says nothing about
container gardening.

<http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100630/LIFESTYLE/100639909/1314/l
ifestyle04?Title=McCreary-Tips-on-tomatoes-and-sweet-corn>

Here are a few tactics about tomato culture to keep them healthy and
productive between now and then (harvest). Most are related to watering
routines.

Extra water is not welcome. The best way to determine if water is needed
is to probe into the soil 4 to 6 inches beneath the surface. The top
inch or two should always dry out a bit before rewatering to guard
against fungal diseases, but lower levels should stay moist, never
soggy. Because clay soil holds water longer than sandy ground, watering
is never the same in these two conditions even when both types are
heavily mulched, as they should be. With clay, tomatoes may need
watering only once a week.

Guard against flavor loss. Too much water reduces flavor in tomatoes
just as it does with berries and other fruits. Flavor loss may also be
attributed to weather, but that, of course, is beyond our control.
Sub-soil moisture lasts. Watering deeply and infrequently is good
general advice for many plants, both edible and ornamental, that are
planted in heavy soil. Even though we probe with a trowel to determine
moisture content below the surface, we can never test the deeper layers
where tomato roots extend. Frequent heavy watering saturates lower
levels of soil and deep roots will rot.

Don't fret about drought. At least, not if you've prepped the soil with
plenty of compost before you planted. Several years ago, a gardening
friend replicated the technique that his father had used in growing
tomatoes by not watering during summer, not even once. At planting time
he used a posthole digger to remove 3 feet of clay soil, amended half
the volume of soil with compost, and watered thoroughly. As he expected,
he harvested a fine crop.

Go light on fertilizer. Although tomatoes benefit greatly from fertile
soil, too much of a good thing goes wrong. Side dressing with compost
and/or applying light doses of fish emulsion every month is all that's
needed. Too much nitrogen produces an excess of foliage and a paucity of
fruit.
-----

Wishing you all the best of barbecues for the week-end, especially here
in the US, where we celebrate throwing off our colonial masters by
observing "Independence Day". Additionally, I wish a quick return home
for our boys and girls overseas, and justice for the greedy, who have
wrought so much pain and suffering in the world.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/2/maude
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/28/naomi_klein_the_real_crime_scene

 

j0069bond@hotmail.com writes:
[snip]

I'm doing something a bit different this year with the babies.  As soon as
the first plants (started in peat pellets) were 3/4-1-inch tall, I started
moving them into larger peat pots filled with starting soil.  They are all
in standard nursery trays which makes the next step a bit easier. Each
morning, I take the trays outside and put them in a raised bed with an old
storm window over them - a makeshift cold frame - and bring them in at
night.  This way they get the full daylight (sunshine isn't the right word
for our area!) during the day.  It seems to be working very well as, so
far, nothing is getting leggy (or leaning to one side) and all plants look
healthy.

Interestingly, the cauliflower was the first to sprout, tomatoes next.
Even basil is growing like this; it didn't grow at all before for me.  I
started with one tray of plantings, three seeds in each pellet, six
pellets of each, so now have 18 plants of each that I planted, figure
that's a great sprout rate.

I'll report back later as to whether this is working.  One thing for
certain  they shouldn't need any hardening off to plant them when the time
comes as they will already be semi-hardened.  It's a lot of extra effort
with regard to moving them, but still less than walking a dog. <g>

So, Seth, you might try setting them outside during the day for that extra
light, depending, of course, on non-30s temps.  If you daytime temperature
is at least 10 degrees above freezing at all times, it might be okay.

On another note, has anyone thought of trying mirrors to help maximize the
light from the grow lights used for starting seeds?  Any thoughts as to
whether it would be effective?

Glenna

 

The other day it was below 40 and windy but my car that was sitting in
the sun had 80 inside .

Last winter I had plastic cover over my elephant garlic.  Grew some
monsters.  Got lazy this winter and the garlic are less than 4 inches
tall.

I got a bunch of free used storm windows but just too lazy to set up
the cold frames.  Easier to whine and beg from other gardeners for
their excess.

 

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 11:19:39 -0800, glenna@pmug.org (Glenna Rose)
wrote:


I use aluminum foil. A single strip of shop lights isn't really wide
enough for some of my seed trays, so I run aluminum foil from the
outside of the seed tray to the outside of the shop light. Works like
charm. Some times the outer seedlings would lean toward the light, now
they stand up straight.


Penelope
--
You have proven yourself to be the most malicious,
classless person that I've encountered in years.

 

Well,  It has been about 9 days since I transplanted them.  They are
doing great.  They have grown a good bit.  But I notice on two of them,
that the leaves were curling and had very faint dark spots on them.  I
read that it could be a phosphorus deficiency.  I want to try  to fix
it before it becomes a serious problem.

Thanks for the input

Seth