Part 10

Rows for single stem, staked and pruned plants may be as close as three feet and plants may be as close as eighteen or even twelve inches, though some growers contend that two feet is close enough.

Methods of Planting

The essential point in field setting is to pack the soil firmly about the roots, thus establishing maximum contact for moisture absorption. Whatever the method of planting, the aim should be to get the plants from the old home to the new with as little delay and check in growth as possible. For the first-early crop, they should be moved so that "they never know it." With bands, pots or blocking in flats or beds, it is feasible to avoid practically all disturbance of roots.

The tomato will, under ordinary favorable conditions, take hold and grow even if shaken quite free of earth. Plants, however, should be dug loose rather than pulled, to prevent undue breakage of roots.

Plants ought to be watered well some hours before transplanting. Transplanting machines and hand planters of the Masters type give a little shot of water at the root, thus helping to establish contact with the soil. Starter solutions are discussed on page 35. These machines are commonly used for cannery setting and, to some extent, for market tomatoes. Blocked plants can be set pretty fast by hand with much less disturbance of roots. Some manage to set potted or blocked plants by machine, keeping a ball of earth about the roots.

The rows are usually marked out fairly deeply, plants are dropped in fours between rows and it is a very short job to pack soil about the clod of earth in which the plant is growing. Another method is for one worker to make an opening with a spade. A second places the plant in the wedge-like opening and the first steps on the soil to firm it solidly about the roots.

Plants are generally set a little deeper than in the plant bed.

Cultivation

The old idea about cultivation was "the more, the better." More recent experiments notably those by Thompson have shown that little need be done beyond controlling weeds. He found that stirring the soil gave no significant increase in yield over mere scraping sufficient to destroy weeds. It is pretty hard to convince many old time gardeners of this. The value of dust mulch for conservation of moisture has been pretty well discredited by experimental comparisons.

Irrigation

Irrigation is not essential for tomato production in humid climates and is seldom provided except under market garden conditions. Water is occasionally an asset in a dry season and, of course, the grower who waters at such times reaps a harvest in higher prices as well as in increased yield. The advantage of irrigation is especially marked if dry weather retards plant growth and delays maturity of the first of the crop, for the high prices of the early market are involved. Judicious irrigation will sometimes continue production for late fall market. Yet gardeners seldom plan permanent overhead equipment for tomatoes. The movable lines that are now used to a considerable extent serve well for the tomato crop.

The furrow method of irrigating tomatoes is the most common in the West. This plan allows the water to make its way down the rows, slowly soaking in all along the line. The tomato stands drouth better than many of our crops, especially if the soil holds moisture fairly well, either naturally or through a liberal humus content. Excessive moisture is doubtless a factor in causing the plants to run to vine and drop their blossoms. Hence, in western sections, it is customary to water thoroughly just before or just after setting the plants and then to avoid applications until the setting of fruit is well advanced.

Thorough soaking is better than frequent light waterings, as it encourages a better development of root system. An Idaho bulletin suggests three irrigations. Late irrigations tend to delay ripening of fruit, but this object is sought in the late fall shipping districts of California which find their best markets after eastern crops have been nipped by frost.

Irrigation must be handled with care to avoid cracking of fruit, which occurs when soil becomes rather dry and then is heavily watered. Watering late in the season is said to make fruit watery and of poor quality.

Mulching

R. A. Emerson in 1903 reported results of careful comparisons between vegetables that were cultivated and others that were mulched with straw. These results indicate that mulching gives good results with tomatoes, both as to yield and quality. However, frost injury was more severe on mulched plats, and Emerson points out that the mulch should not be applied until the plants are well established.

Mulching is recommended by a good many writers and growers and it seems to be practiced to some extent in Missouri. The advantages claimed are conservation of moisture and clean, fine quality fruit. L. W. Purdum and Sons of Virginia use 4-5 tons per acre of wheat straw, staking their plants and irrigating. They report unusually heavy returns per acre under these methods. The Missouri people apply as much as sixteen tons per acre, making the cover five or six inches thick. The practice of mulching, however, is not common, and the cost will likely prevent its general use.

TO TRAIN THEM UP OR LET THEM SPREAD

Growers attending conventions will often stay up half the night to argue about training and pruning tomatoes and to debate the details of their favorite procedures.

For home garden, the method is strongly commended. Many market gardeners follow the practice and it has gained materially of recent years in New England. Some market reports quote staked tomatoes separately and at a materially higher level than fruit from unpruned plants.

Most of the southern shipping sections follow the practice and it is practically universal in greenhouses.

One way is to drive a stake by each plant tying at several points along the stem with cheap twine. The other plan, recently gaining in favor, is to set posts every 25 feet or so, string a heavy wire on top, and another a foot from the ground. Cheap jute twine is strung between wires and the tomato plants are merely twisted around the string. Tying is not required. Some omit the lower wire, tying a non-slipping bowline loop around the plant near the ground. In either case, plants are kept trimmed to a single stem though occasionally an extra branch is allowed to grow. In southern Illinois, plants are tied to a short stake without pruning.

Pro and Con

The advantages claimed for pruning and training are:

Earliness. High yield per acre. Ease of cultivating and spraying. Ease of picking. No injury from snails and wire worms. Quality of fruit:--size, color, smoothness and cleanliness. Crop finished earlier. Less sunscald.

The disadvantages claimed are:

Many plants required. Reduced yield. More blossom-end rot. Higher cost of labor. Cost and care of stakes and wire.

The validity of each of these points varies greatly with conditions; in fact, the answer to the whole question depends largely upon the location and the ideas of the grower. In trying to reach a conclusion, it is well to realize that training makes certain radical changes in the plant. It loses leaves through pruning, it is supported from the ground, and it is spaced differently. Since the leaves manufacture the basic substance for themselves, and for the rest of the plant, removal of leaves reduces the resources of the plant. H. C. Thompson has found that the root system is reduced about in proportion to leaf reduction. It is fairly clear that single-stem training greatly reduces the yield per plant, and other methods result similarly in proportion to the severity of pruning. When plants are spaced closely enough together the yield may be brought up to that of areas unpruned and unstaked. Idaho experiments indicate that staking alone does not affect the total yield, but that it does favor early maturity under the different pruning systems. The disadvantages of training are largely economic. Will the marketing conditions justify the extra cost of staking and pruning?