Tomato plant stalks broken

 

The weight got to the stalks.  I thought I had them secured but two major
branches with a lot of my best fruit bent over and are broken but not broken
through.  I tied them up and straightened them out as the leaves looked
pretty perky still.  Any chance they'll make it or should I just cut them
off?   I lost 8 good sized fruit from another branch that was hanging only
by a thread.  Can they be made to ripen possibly?

I sure beat the BER problem.  It just took way more calcium than I ever
thought necessary.  In the last 2 weeks I only lost 3 to BER after heavy
calcium supplements.

 



And you don't remember anyone telling you that BER happened at the
beginning of production and then went away? You are such an idiot.

Leave the branches alone. This is what tomato plants do.
--
- 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

 




    Most tomatoes, except for the "patio" tomatoes that have a fairly
thrifty habit and can even be pruned to grow as a standard, require some
sort of support. You can influence the directions of growth and, some
say, the number of fruit by early pruning but, as a rule, I don't bother
with it. I just cage the plants in fence wire and let them rip. Small
fruit can be a sign of over-bearing, commonplace for tomatoes and in
which case the fruit may be thinned very early in its development (if
you wait too late, say until they're "frying" size, the remaining fruit
isn't likely to get any bigger), and/or of root crowding, which is
particularly troublesome for container-grown plants.
    Limestone may not be your best source of calcium because of its
effect on pH. Gypsum adds calcium without raising pH. Unless you have
serious nutrient imbalances to correct you can eliminate or, at the very
least, seriously mitigate future calcium deficiencies by incorporating
bone meal, a slow-release source of phosphate and calcium, into your
admixture in whatever quantity is required to provide sufficient
phosphate. Excesses of certain micro-nutrients -- magnesium, for example
-- can interfere with plants' ability to acquire and/or to transport Ca.
--
the Balvenieman
USDA zone 9b, peninsular Florida, U.S.A.

 



I used cages and trained the vines as best I could.  But I did not tie off
the heavy clusters and they broke higher up the vine.  All the break points
were my biggest clusters.  Next time I'll tie off each cluster individually.
I may just get rid of the smallest ones at this point and let the plant put
its energy into the largest fruit.


Very interesting.  Since my tomatoes are next to my peppers I was watering
them with the same magnesium rich fertilizer I used for the peppers.  I did
stop doing this and switched the tomatoes to fish emulsion only about the
time the BER showed signs of abating.  You may have found the missing link.

Paul

 



 Last I looked farmers never tied up tomato plants. They were hand
picked every day till exhausted  but then  a machine came and the plant
was taken whole. Those truck farms are now homes after first growing
soybeans in a transition time.  
 Guess if you want to tie or support plants the vineyards could offer a
template but they deal with hardwood.
  So my question is what is wrong with losing some tomatoes to a turtle
or some other varmint.  Esthetics in the garden I appreciate but I have
to look at the energy required. Perhaps younger folks  in small area
like to garden for different  reasons ?  

  Leveller  Bill

--
Bill  S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden
     What use one more wake up call?