From Dirt To Dinner :: The Tomato Interview, Part 2
did you read part one? did you love it? i know i did. i find beth's approach to be unintimidating. casual and knowledgeable. which is what i need! thanks again beth! and please join us this friday for our Local Meal including RHUBARB! play along, won't you? (find the FAQ's here.)back to the interview.....
4. Varieties :: Are there certain varieties that are easier to grow than others? are cherry easier than beefsteak? I've grown heirlooms for the past 3 years and am now wondering---are they harder to grow? Is that why I feel like I have a black thumb? or is a tomato a tomato in terms of how to grow it?
Sweetie, I don't know if what I'm about to tell you is going to make you feel huge relief or huge frustration:) Heirlooms are generally harder to grow. Here's why:
Heirlooms are the real deal - they are the original strain of plant from years and years ago that has been passed down through the generations; it hasn't been changed or altered, but rather, preserved for its amazing qualities of taste, loveliness, uniqueness, what-have-you.
Hybrid tomatoes, the other type, have essentially been bred for commercial purposes. The strains of one type of plant have been crossed with another to give it traits that would make it easier to grow, look better in a store (a uniform red tomato as opposed to, say, a striped Green Zebra), and travel better. As a result, these tomatoes are more resistant to diseases and pests and are sometimes more prolific in production.
BUT, they don't have the flav-ah of an heirloom - flavor is not really part of the mix in the hybridizing process. Also, know that you can save the seeds from an heirloom tomato for use the following year, and those seeds will produce the exact same type of tomato from year to year to year, just as those before us have done for generations. If you save the seeds from a hybrid you're going to get something different, if anything at all.
That said, even a hybrid tomato you grew yourself is going to taste far better than that bought from a store. It still has that straight from the plant flavor we are all looking for when we decide to grow our own tomatoes. And it might provide you with more in the way of production.
I think if you've had some bad luck with tomatoes in the past it might be worth trying some of each - an heirloom or two so that you are growing something really special and divine, and a hybrid or two to ensure you get a harvest of some sort in the event that the heirlooms have problems. Take advantage of the good qualities of both.
5. Sunlight :: how much sun do they need? Can I grow them indoors if I have a super sunny spot?
Tomatoes need at least 6 or more hours of sun a day. There's no negotiation on that if you want them to produce properly. There are what are referred to as "outdoor" and "indoor" tomatoes, but indoor really means inside a greenhouse, not a house-house. I don't know that you could create the right environment inside a home. The 6+ hours of sunlight would be hard...they need good air circulation...I just don't know.
6. And finally the most vexing topic for me. pruning. I know about suckers. I know I'm supposed to remove them, which I have done. but am I supposed to prune other parts of the plant? I feel like I have never given the plants enough space, possibly. they get huge! i feel like i get more plant than I do fruit. OR I get lots of fruit that doesn't ripen or when it does, it's not tasty, but mealy instead. am I supposed to limit the amount of branches and/or fruit so that what I do allow to grow gets more of the plant's energy?
Ok, pruning. pinch the suckers. You already know that. You also want to have just one main growing stem, so pinch off to keep that limited too. Also, if your plant gets to be too big and you want it to stop growing in size you can pinch off the growing tip (the part at the top of your main stem). Then it will stop getting bigger and focus instead on fruit. You can also do the latter if you sense the season coming to a close, ie. frost is coming, and you want the plant to focus its energy on its last fruit.
What you are describing though - a large plant with not a lot of fruit - is most likely not a pruning issue as much as it is one of fertilizing. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, and even more so if you have them in containers. And they can be tricky. In the beginning, they need quite a bit of nitrogen in order to produce strong stems and leaves, but it can't be too, too much. I think I just read in Organic Gardening that too much Nitrogen early on makes the plant essentially spend all its energy on those stems and leaves, so that it then doesn't produce as much fruit.
So you want to provide your tomatoes with a good amount of Nitrogen in the beginning. This would be the first number in the ratio on a bag of fertilizer, by the way. So if you were looking at an organic fertilizer that said 5-3-3, that means it is higher in Nitrogen...N-P-K; Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium. In general, these correspond to the growth of the following - Leaves-Roots-Fruits - and in that order, always. N-P-K. Leaves-roots-fruits.
Soooo...you can now see why in the beginning when you want to encourage leaf and stem growth you'll need to feed with something more rich in Nitrogen, but apparently not too much. And then you can probably deduce that if what you want is to encourage fruit growth on your plant, you want to up that last number, the Potassium. In Grow Great Grub, Gayla Trail says that once those flowers start to show up, you want to cut back on your Nitrogen and start adding Potassium every two weeks. There are lots of tomato specific fertilizers on the market, including many organic ones. I think you'll find that these are slightly more rich in Potassium because we want those fruits.
Ok, the mealiness is caused by the same thing as the cracking (number two) - too much water when fruit is ripening.
Based on what you have told me, I have a theory about your past problems with tomatoes. You've mentioned the cracking and the mealiness. I also feel like you've mentioned before, perhaps in an email, something about plants having limp or yellowed leaves. This is generally a sign of a lack of Nitrogen, but I know from serious personal experience that those limp discolored leaves can look an awful lot like a plant that needs water. Maybe it looked that way to you too, and maybe it made you over-water a bit, causing those problems with the fruit.
So my advice to you, Dear Kate, is that for this year maybe you try to feed a little more (nitrogen early, potassium later) and water a little less. And I have thus completed the Tome of the Tom-ato. And I'm quite certain you are the only one still reading...if you even still are!
Sweetie, I don't know if what I'm about to tell you is going to make you feel huge relief or huge frustration:) Heirlooms are generally harder to grow. Here's why:
Heirlooms are the real deal - they are the original strain of plant from years and years ago that has been passed down through the generations; it hasn't been changed or altered, but rather, preserved for its amazing qualities of taste, loveliness, uniqueness, what-have-you.
Hybrid tomatoes, the other type, have essentially been bred for commercial purposes. The strains of one type of plant have been crossed with another to give it traits that would make it easier to grow, look better in a store (a uniform red tomato as opposed to, say, a striped Green Zebra), and travel better. As a result, these tomatoes are more resistant to diseases and pests and are sometimes more prolific in production.
BUT, they don't have the flav-ah of an heirloom - flavor is not really part of the mix in the hybridizing process. Also, know that you can save the seeds from an heirloom tomato for use the following year, and those seeds will produce the exact same type of tomato from year to year to year, just as those before us have done for generations. If you save the seeds from a hybrid you're going to get something different, if anything at all.
That said, even a hybrid tomato you grew yourself is going to taste far better than that bought from a store. It still has that straight from the plant flavor we are all looking for when we decide to grow our own tomatoes. And it might provide you with more in the way of production.
I think if you've had some bad luck with tomatoes in the past it might be worth trying some of each - an heirloom or two so that you are growing something really special and divine, and a hybrid or two to ensure you get a harvest of some sort in the event that the heirlooms have problems. Take advantage of the good qualities of both.
5. Sunlight :: how much sun do they need? Can I grow them indoors if I have a super sunny spot?
Tomatoes need at least 6 or more hours of sun a day. There's no negotiation on that if you want them to produce properly. There are what are referred to as "outdoor" and "indoor" tomatoes, but indoor really means inside a greenhouse, not a house-house. I don't know that you could create the right environment inside a home. The 6+ hours of sunlight would be hard...they need good air circulation...I just don't know.
6. And finally the most vexing topic for me. pruning. I know about suckers. I know I'm supposed to remove them, which I have done. but am I supposed to prune other parts of the plant? I feel like I have never given the plants enough space, possibly. they get huge! i feel like i get more plant than I do fruit. OR I get lots of fruit that doesn't ripen or when it does, it's not tasty, but mealy instead. am I supposed to limit the amount of branches and/or fruit so that what I do allow to grow gets more of the plant's energy?
Ok, pruning. pinch the suckers. You already know that. You also want to have just one main growing stem, so pinch off to keep that limited too. Also, if your plant gets to be too big and you want it to stop growing in size you can pinch off the growing tip (the part at the top of your main stem). Then it will stop getting bigger and focus instead on fruit. You can also do the latter if you sense the season coming to a close, ie. frost is coming, and you want the plant to focus its energy on its last fruit.
What you are describing though - a large plant with not a lot of fruit - is most likely not a pruning issue as much as it is one of fertilizing. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, and even more so if you have them in containers. And they can be tricky. In the beginning, they need quite a bit of nitrogen in order to produce strong stems and leaves, but it can't be too, too much. I think I just read in Organic Gardening that too much Nitrogen early on makes the plant essentially spend all its energy on those stems and leaves, so that it then doesn't produce as much fruit.
So you want to provide your tomatoes with a good amount of Nitrogen in the beginning. This would be the first number in the ratio on a bag of fertilizer, by the way. So if you were looking at an organic fertilizer that said 5-3-3, that means it is higher in Nitrogen...N-P-K; Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium. In general, these correspond to the growth of the following - Leaves-Roots-Fruits - and in that order, always. N-P-K. Leaves-roots-fruits.
Soooo...you can now see why in the beginning when you want to encourage leaf and stem growth you'll need to feed with something more rich in Nitrogen, but apparently not too much. And then you can probably deduce that if what you want is to encourage fruit growth on your plant, you want to up that last number, the Potassium. In Grow Great Grub, Gayla Trail says that once those flowers start to show up, you want to cut back on your Nitrogen and start adding Potassium every two weeks. There are lots of tomato specific fertilizers on the market, including many organic ones. I think you'll find that these are slightly more rich in Potassium because we want those fruits.
Ok, the mealiness is caused by the same thing as the cracking (number two) - too much water when fruit is ripening.
Based on what you have told me, I have a theory about your past problems with tomatoes. You've mentioned the cracking and the mealiness. I also feel like you've mentioned before, perhaps in an email, something about plants having limp or yellowed leaves. This is generally a sign of a lack of Nitrogen, but I know from serious personal experience that those limp discolored leaves can look an awful lot like a plant that needs water. Maybe it looked that way to you too, and maybe it made you over-water a bit, causing those problems with the fruit.
So my advice to you, Dear Kate, is that for this year maybe you try to feed a little more (nitrogen early, potassium later) and water a little less. And I have thus completed the Tome of the Tom-ato. And I'm quite certain you are the only one still reading...if you even still are!
2 Comments:
How much water do Heirloooms need? I live in California - not too warm yet - as a matter of fact - we just experienced unusual rain last week - I am seeing yellow leaves - bought heirloom tomatoe plants about 2 weeks ago - replanted into bigger containers.
A- I think the general consensus is about an inch of water a week for tomatoes. And I'm not sure what kind you have since there are SO MANY types of Heirlooms (part of what's so great about them:) so it's hard to say more than that without knowing what kind they are.
But if you are seeing the yellowing leaves that really sounds like a lack of nutrients. Look for that part in Kate's questions number 6 where I talk a bit about Nitrogen and fertilizing.
And good luck!
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