Re: does one pinch tomatoes?

Interesting that you give temps of 65+.  What I have been told is that soil
temps needed to be above 50 but didn't realize that 65+ would make that
much difference.  Should have guessed.  The best tomatoes I ever had were
in south Texas in Harlington...very hot soil.

Bonnie Zone 7/7 ETN
Remember:  The River Raisin, The Alamo, The Maine, Pearl Harbor, 9/11


> [Original Message]
> From: Daryl <pulis@mindspring.com>
> To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
> Date: 4/30/2007 1:44:38 PM
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] does one pinch tomatoes?
>
> Kitty,
>
> I'd wait until your soil temp is consistently above 65 degrees before 
> planting, and 70 is better. My soil was just shy of 65 a month ago after 
> record temps in March, but plunged back into the upper 40's around Easter 
> with our big freeze. I often move my plants into larger containers,
setting 
> them more deeply each time I move them up, until it's time.
>
> I don't prune any more. I use large cages made of concrete reinforcing
wire 
> and let the plants pretty much do as they will, only pushing stray
branches 
> into the cages.  That lets them have maximum shading for the fruit and 
> maximum leaf surface for photosynthesis. Yields are enormous.
>
> When I lived up north, I used to pinch out the suckers (the sprouts that 
> appeared between the main branches and the primary stem) to limit fruit 
> production to what the plant could ripen before frost.
>
> Pinching the growing tip does not encourage branching lower down. A
tomato 
> plant naturally produces growth from below.
>
> Planting deeply does not strengthen the stem, though it does allow 
> adventitious roots to form and extra roots are a good thing.  (You've 
> probably noticed little bumps along the stem, especially in humid
weather. 
> They quickly grow into roots if in soil.)
>
> A caution- plants set deeply into cold soil will sit and sulk and NOT
make 
> new roots until the weather warms. Sometimes they're set back so far that 
> they produce later than seed directly sown into warm soil.
>
> If your soil deep down is cold, and the surface is warm, and you have
long, 
> lanky plants (a minus in my book), plant them sideways into the warm
stuff. 
> I always try to have short, stocky seedlings available for my customers, 
> rather than long, skinny ones.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> d (the tomato nerd)
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kitty" <kmrsy@comcast.net>
> To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
> Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 4:05 PM
> Subject: [CHAT] does one pinch tomatoes?
>
>
> > I'm not sure whether it's time to plant my Sweet Baby Girl tomato
plants 
> > out yet but I think I will move them up a pot size.  I checked
Crocket's 
> > Victory Garden and he says that in the sprawling method, tomatoes do
not 
> > get pruned. But he only mentions pruning for other methods as
"...[when] 
> > no pruning is done, the crop matures later than with the single-stem 
> > methods.  Pruning encourages early ripening at the expense of heavy 
> > yield."  But doesn't an unpruned sprawling method indicate single-stem? 
> > He does mention removing suckers - is that term the same as suckers on 
> > shrubs?
> >
> > I do know to transplant them more deeply, up to their seed leaves to 
> > strengthen the stem, but I thought pinching the growing tip would not
only 
> > cause branching (which I assume to be a good thing) would also thicken
the 
> > base of the plant.
> >
> > Kitty
> > neIN, Zone 5
>
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