Sorellina's Tomatoes 2008
- Thread starter Sorellina
- Start date
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
Get a bigger hammer?
a BFH
Ciao all-
I consulted the Human Backhoe and he had this to say:
1) Pre-till soil to 2 feet, breaking up clods and amending with compost at least a week before driving in stakes.
2) Wait for soil to dry out completely if it rains.
3) Measure out where the stakes will go using whatever method works best for you. Duane places small bamboo stakes every 2 feet between stakes within a row and 3 feet apart for the spaces between each row. If you don't have a lot of little sticks to do this, measure out the distance between one stake and the next and use the stake to make a shallow hole where it will go.
4) Duane pounds in the front row and the back row first so he can use those stakes to sight the rows in between. Be sure to leave at least 1 foot of space in front of the first row of stakes for your plants!
5) Place ladder in front of where stakes will go and climb up so that top of stake is at chest level.
6) Use a soft rubber mallet for driving in stakes.
7) Drive in 1-1.5 feet using an over the head arc.
8) Wear heavy work gloves, especially on the stake-holding hand.
I consulted the Human Backhoe and he had this to say:
1) Pre-till soil to 2 feet, breaking up clods and amending with compost at least a week before driving in stakes.
2) Wait for soil to dry out completely if it rains.
3) Measure out where the stakes will go using whatever method works best for you. Duane places small bamboo stakes every 2 feet between stakes within a row and 3 feet apart for the spaces between each row. If you don't have a lot of little sticks to do this, measure out the distance between one stake and the next and use the stake to make a shallow hole where it will go.
4) Duane pounds in the front row and the back row first so he can use those stakes to sight the rows in between. Be sure to leave at least 1 foot of space in front of the first row of stakes for your plants!
5) Place ladder in front of where stakes will go and climb up so that top of stake is at chest level.
6) Use a soft rubber mallet for driving in stakes.
7) Drive in 1-1.5 feet using an over the head arc.
8) Wear heavy work gloves, especially on the stake-holding hand.
Ciao Pam-
Do you use the PVC pipe as merely a guiding tool for the stake and take it out after pounding in the stake, or do you leave a PVC piece in for every stake, more as a means of extra stability?
I think the latter would be useful for people with very soft soils and high winds. I know some gardeners who have weaving structures and the poles they use are on either side of the garden beds with a length of metal pipe sunk into concrete. Stakes are then placed inside the piece of pipe.
We get strong wind gusts associated with thunderstorms in the summers here, but the 2x2" stakes work fine and have never fallen over or broken, not even with plants that eventually exceed the height of the stakes with a heavy fruit burden.
I should also mention that during June and July, I'm quite busy tying the plants up the stakes and I use a soft twine for that. I don't use sisal as I find it too rough on the plants and it doesn't tie nicely. I tie the plants up every foot or so and I never ever take the suckers off. Some people do, my neighbour Tony does, it's somewhat of a personal preference. I will tell you this: removing parts of growing plants leaves open wounds behind that make the plants more vulnerable to disease and insect assault. It can get challenging to wrap one's arms around a tomato plant with a 3 foot diameter, and sometimes I tie a plant like that twice, tying first one half of it around the stake and then the other half. It seems to work and I always have high yields and healthy plants.
Do you use the PVC pipe as merely a guiding tool for the stake and take it out after pounding in the stake, or do you leave a PVC piece in for every stake, more as a means of extra stability?
I think the latter would be useful for people with very soft soils and high winds. I know some gardeners who have weaving structures and the poles they use are on either side of the garden beds with a length of metal pipe sunk into concrete. Stakes are then placed inside the piece of pipe.
We get strong wind gusts associated with thunderstorms in the summers here, but the 2x2" stakes work fine and have never fallen over or broken, not even with plants that eventually exceed the height of the stakes with a heavy fruit burden.
I should also mention that during June and July, I'm quite busy tying the plants up the stakes and I use a soft twine for that. I don't use sisal as I find it too rough on the plants and it doesn't tie nicely. I tie the plants up every foot or so and I never ever take the suckers off. Some people do, my neighbour Tony does, it's somewhat of a personal preference. I will tell you this: removing parts of growing plants leaves open wounds behind that make the plants more vulnerable to disease and insect assault. It can get challenging to wrap one's arms around a tomato plant with a 3 foot diameter, and sometimes I tie a plant like that twice, tying first one half of it around the stake and then the other half. It seems to work and I always have high yields and healthy plants.
I'm sorry, I should have been more detailed. I use a piece of PVC that has a smaller diameter than the support pole, and I take it out after using it to open a nice deep hole. Then the plant pole goes in the hole.
I use a pole and a cage on my large tomatoes. The cage offers protection from the dogs when the plants are small, and some support for the branches of bushy plants. I take the suckers off about half of my plants early on, later in the season I'm usually too busy to give them that kind of attention, plus I get some late fall tomatoes off of suckers. I got two nice sized tomatoes off a Tropic plant in November last year.
Now that I have the thrip problem under control, and thus their Weapon of Mass Destruction Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus; different blights are the most common disease problem for tomatoes around here, and they come mostly from the roots. So, cutting suckers isn't really a disease issue for me. Oh, I will continue to plant some Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus resistant plants every year, but removing some trees that were serving as reservoirs for the thrips made that problem controllable.
I use a pole and a cage on my large tomatoes. The cage offers protection from the dogs when the plants are small, and some support for the branches of bushy plants. I take the suckers off about half of my plants early on, later in the season I'm usually too busy to give them that kind of attention, plus I get some late fall tomatoes off of suckers. I got two nice sized tomatoes off a Tropic plant in November last year.
Now that I have the thrip problem under control, and thus their Weapon of Mass Destruction Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus; different blights are the most common disease problem for tomatoes around here, and they come mostly from the roots. So, cutting suckers isn't really a disease issue for me. Oh, I will continue to plant some Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus resistant plants every year, but removing some trees that were serving as reservoirs for the thrips made that problem controllable.