Thinking About Tomatoes Already

[seedcorn]

Believe it or not, same plant can be called an F1, parent line, or open pollinated depending upon useage according to geneticist. Took me a long time to wrap my head around that.

But a black tomato is just wrong!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i like my ox heart types. I've kept Linne's Oxheart going now for about 2 years and will keep that one going. this year i had Eagle's Beak, Ukrainian Heart and i did a yellow called Korol Sibiri or King of Siberia that had a faint blush of pink. had a nice flavor with low acidity and somewhat early for me. tomatoes would have been about a month earlier if the weather was warmer towards the start. i've already been eyeing new types to add for next season. i just have to be good about getting them going and enough space in the garden tilled.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@Carol Dee @baymule

This is how I used to support my tomatoes. This year I used T-posts instead of the wooden stakes and liked that better.

Raw materials
2x4’s ripped into 2x2’s and cut in half. One end sharpened.

16’ long cattle panels. Cut the bottom horizontal off so you have spikes to stick into the ground. I suggest cutting them into 8’ lengths with bolt cutters. This makes them a lot easier for one person to handle.

Wire from bales of wheat straw.

2’ long strips of 1x2’s with holes drilled in the ends. I ripped these from 2x4's also.

½” to ¾” wide strips of cloth torn from worn out old clothing, usually old T-shirts.

I drive the stakes about 10” to 12” on each side of the row of tomatoes. Space them maybe 6’ apart. Place the 8’ long cattle panel next to the stakes and push the spikes into the ground. Use the wire to attach them to the stakes. You probably have something about 4’ tall at this point. Continue on both sides of the row of tomatoes until you have one level along the length. You probably don’t have rows exactly evenly divisible by 8’. No problem. Leave some space between the panels so they are pretty evenly spaced. A one or two foot gap won’t hurt anything.

I grow indeterminates so 4’ is not usually high enough. I take another cattle panel and attach that to the upper half of the already installed panels. It’s probably hard to see, but overlap the two panels maybe 24”. Again use the wheat straw wire to tie them together. You wind up with something maybe 6’ tall.
To help stabilize it and hold the two sides apart, I attach the 2’ long 2x2’s at the top with yet more of that wheat straw baling wire.

I use the strips of cloth to tie the tomato stalks to the wire where necessary. Since I only grow indeterminate I usually prune back to two or three stalks. Some of these I can weave immediately but often I have to tie the stalks to get them started. But after they are started, I just weave them as they grow, at least when I remember. I don't always remember in time and have to tie some of these too.

You don't always have room to slip your hand inside to get the tomatoes, not in the overlap area, so you have to come at them high or low. You can do it, it's just inconvenient in that specific area.

 

[so lucky]

Believe it or not, same plant can be called an F1, parent line, or open pollinated depending upon useage according to geneticist. Took me a long time to wrap my head around that.

But a black tomato is just wrong!

You know, there are a lot of stuff discussed on here that make me scratch my head, but your comment makes sense to me.
And I agree, a black tomato just has no appeal to me. But, each to his own!

 

[so lucky]

Speaking of staking vs caging, I read on someone's website the other day something that makes perfect sense; I just hadn't thought about it: they said if you stake your tomato plants, and trim the suckers out to make bigger but fewer tomatoes, they are more likely to get sun scald in hot areas, due to the less dense leaf cover. This person suggested that if you live in a hot climate, you would be better off caging, and not suckering the plants.
I did have problems with sun scald last year, and I did sucker my plants. Live and learn....and keep trying.

 

[baymule]

Thanks for the pictures @Ridgerunner !!!! I showed my DH and told him that's what we'll be doing.

@so lucky I never have suckered my tomatoes, just let 'em run wild. I still get a little sun scald. You just validated why my laziness is a good thing! LOL

 

[digitS']

No, I don't buy that ... about the blacks ... .

I wonder what @seedcorn thinks of heart-shaped. @Chickie'sMomaInNH , I hope you saved seed for King of Siberia. Tatiana doesn't show that there were any sellers of that variety. Maybe it will be a "new offering," somewhere again in 2015.

@so lucky , sunscald is an absolute possibility with lifting those plants and trimming foliage. Last year, the wind sure made me question using anything but a groundhugging sprawl. It isn't the best way and I don't remember ever having so much trouble before with the wind.

@Chickie'sMomaInNH 's appreciation of the hearts make me wonder why I have never, ever grown even one. They are supposed to be pretty darn tough plants, although the descriptions of "wispy foliage" doesn't make them sound that way.

I wonder if a Black Heart would be a good choice ...

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

I prune mine down at the base. It lets them dry out down there so less chance of certain diseases. It also keeps them from getting so thick at the bottom that there is not room enough to get them all on the cattle panels. But once they get up a foot or two, I don't prune unless a limb just insists on growing outside and away from the caging. Some tomato plants just cry out for discipline.

 

[Carol Dee]

@Ridgerunner I see some more cattle panels in my future. Hope DH agrees. We already use them for the peas and green beans to climb. Added cucumbers, squash and gourds to panels this year, too. Love it when things climb instead of sprawl. Makes harvest easier. (Also need to convince him to prune a bit.)

 

[journey11]

@Ridgerunner , those sunny day/blue sky pics literally made me ache for summer! So long to wait until that next vine-ripe tomato.