Hit-n-Miss
Senior Member
Do y'all do anything to your tomatoes as they are growing? I know to pinch off the suckers but do y'all do anything else to encourage a good harvest? Should blooms be taken off while growing until a certain size? etc...
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Tomato question?
- Thread starter Hit-n-Miss
- Start date
35 Whelen
Senior Member
Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of Epsom salt around the root zone every couple of weeks or so.
Tomatoes are a vine that we grow vertically. If you're growing in cages, you should not pinch off suckers. Since that just reduces your number of stems and available fruit. If you're staking instead of caging them, then yes, do prune the suckers as otherwise the plant will become unwieldy.
Don't remove any blooms. A lot of times the first blooms are the biggest fruits.
You'll want to mulch around them to reduce the fungal leaf diseases and hold in soil moisture.
Use the fertilizer of your choice following the label directions.
Don't remove any blooms. A lot of times the first blooms are the biggest fruits.
You'll want to mulch around them to reduce the fungal leaf diseases and hold in soil moisture.
Use the fertilizer of your choice following the label directions.
Hit-n-Miss
Senior Member
Is it better to stake or cage?
Yes.
I have done both over the years. I grow indeterminate, heirloom beefsteak-type plants in raised beds. Big tomatoes, big plants. My preferred setup is cages with stakes to brace the cages from storms. You get more production because you can grow more stems. And, it's easier to maintain than stakes. Since you're having to constantly re-tie the plant to the stake as it grows.
Just make sure to get big, heavy duty, thick gauge wire cages. Not the little bitty ones that look like they're made out of cheap coat-hanger wire. The set I have I bought at Ace Hardware years ago. You'll have to get two cages per plant. Since most cages are too short for a single plant. The first cage you set up like normal. The second one you cut the legs off with bolt cutters, turn it upside down and zip-tie it to the bottom cage. Then stick a stake in the middle to brace it from toppling over in summer thunderstorms.
There's a million ways to stake or cage tomatoes. If you want to jump down the rabbit hole, the Tomatoville forum is the gardening world equivalent of GON. Not as active as in the past, but a lot of good old posts you can find in Google by adding the word Tomatoville in front of what you're searching for.
Some people use a Florida weave system where you run a row of T-bar stakes every X number of feet and then run a string of twine to thread the vines between as they grow up. If you're growing in a row system instead of a raised bed, that may be the way to go.
If I'm going to cage them, I usually make my own out of heavy woven hog wire, and secure it with a full-sized T-post.
fishfryer
frying fish driveler
I use some 4 ft hogwire and some 5 ft concrete wire, use full size tee posts. I’ve been doing this for decades, works for me. Biggest problem if it is a problem is storing cages in the off season.
NE GA Pappy
Mr. Pappy
I use concrete reinforcing wire. It is a lot heavier than hog wire, and last for 15 to 20 years.
snuffy
Senior Member
What NCH said about hog wire baskets but I just use wooden stakes. I still have some my dad made when I was very young. And I am almost 74. I also stake my peppers.
snuffy
Senior Member
I also give the a good dose of Miracle Grow every week or so
Hit-n-Miss
Senior Member
Thanks I seem to have a brown thumb when it comes to gardening. But I keep trying.
We double cage ours. The first is a standard concrete wire style and over that is a welded rebar cage. The welded cages were made my wife's grandfather and are probably 25 years + old. I'll get some pictures the next time I go over to the garden.
It's not as hard as it seems. Good tomatoes are like good hunting dogs. Get good genetics and they will do most of the rest for you.
livinoutdoors
Goatherding non socialist bohemian luddite
Florida weave is the easiest and cheapest way to tie em up. Mix a cup or two of pellet lime into the soil per plant and that will keep blossom end rot under control. Maters are disease prone in the south no matter what you do. Just how it be in hot humid climates.
fishfryer
frying fish driveler
Some of my tomatoes, a couple of weeks ago
fishfryer
frying fish driveler
Well said about the high temps and humidity in the south. I’d still rather be here than anywhere else. I always plant more tomatoes than I probably need as I know some will die.
livinoutdoors
Goatherding non socialist bohemian luddite
Yessir!
Hit-n-Miss
Senior Member
What varieties are easier to grow in south Georgia?
Hit-n-Miss
Senior Member
Florida weave??
