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Re: Tomato start transplants

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

At 12:49 PM 5/12/00 -0600, Jennifer wrote:
>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>I keep reading in books, articles, etc. to transplant tomatoes up to their
>top leave , so the stems will send out new roots.  I've been transplanting
>mine up to the seed leaves. Is this wrong?  Am I really supposed to
>covering up some leaves, just the seed leaves or no leaves at all?

Tomatoes are almost unique in their willingness to be planted in the garden 
below the soil level in their transplant situation.  Putting them farther 
into the ground strengthens the plants a good bit because what used to be 
aboveground stem tissue willingly pokes out roots and makes a bigger anchor 
for the aboveground plant parts.  In windy situations this is especially 
valuable.

You haven't hurt your baby toms by transplanting them just as deep as their 
"seed leaves," but those little leaves will be dropping off momentarily so 
they should not be viewed as any kind of marker or indicator for future 
reference.

It's perfectly OK when outplanting into the garden to pinch off the bottom 
few sets of leaves so you can submerge more of the current stem tissue deep 
into the soil.

Many people swear by digging your garden hole and laying your tom 
transplants on their sides, gently bending the stem upward for just the 
last few inches so a couple sets of leaves show once the hole is filled 
in.  Personally, the stems of my homegrown transplants are usually stout 
enough that I can't do this very well without breaking off the stems.  So I 
just plant mine vertically like other species.

>This is the first year I've done my own starts, and my first to have an actual
>garden. My tomato starts are about 12 inches tall, and I will transplanting
>them one more time before our area's last frost date at the end of May.

Congratulations on starting your plants from seed, which is certainly one 
of the most rewarding things a gardener can do.  It sounds like your 
growing season is fairly short, so I'd recommend leaving a fair amount of 
current leaf and stem material above the ground when you do outplant in 2 
more weeks.  Unlike many plants, tomatoes are really quite flexible about 
how deeply they are set into the dirt.

Get a box of epsom salts at the drugstore and throw a couple tablespoonfuls 
of the salts into each planting hole and mix it up with the soil there 
before you tuck in the transplants.  That'll help prevent "catfacing" of 
the fruits.

Burpees and other vendors sell red plastic sheeting to be used specifically 
on tomatoes (and strawberries) as a groundcover in the garden.  Evidently 
the red reflects the sun back upwards onto the undersides of the tomato 
leaves and encourages faster ripening and more fruit.  This red plastic 
"mulch" would be valuable for  you, Jennifer.  It was developed jointly by 
Clemon University and USDA researchers.

I bought some to try myself here in DC, although we certainly have a 
long-enough growing season and plenty of heat for tomatoes.  Just thought 
I'd give it a try.  (BTW, the red plastic is said not to do much about 
preventing weeds; black plastic is the one for that.)

Burpees' price for a 30-foot-long swath (the smaller of two quantities 
available) of the stuff is $15.

Must leave the keyboard now and go outside and plant my own tomatoes!  This 
year, I've been having bad knee trouble so I did not grow my own from seeds 
(first time in at least a decade).  Just couldn't face the many extra trips 
up and down the basement stairs to water them and adjust the grow-lights, 
etc.  So I'm not as excited about my garden this year as in prior seasons.

Once you've gotten the seed-starting bug, it's really hard to give up 
growing your own stuff from scratch!

--Janet


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