Re: Ripening Tomtoes (wasTesting , an tomatoes

Deborah Lindsay wrote:
 > I did a control albeit not for every variety (would have taken up too
 > much space). The ones without the red plastic are pooping along as
 > usual, lots of fruit but still green...
 >
 > It would be interesting to try all three together-no plastic,black
 > plastic, and the red plastic. Maybe next year.

Hi
Please folks would you prune your replies of extraneous repetition. We,
and doubtless some others like us, do have to pay for our download time!

Many years ago, I think in Organic Gardening, I saw a method described for starting tomato crops earlier than normal, which looked as though it would be particularly good for short-season areas. As I was at the time writing an advisory column in a national magazine it seemed a good idea for me to try it out.

The essence of the method was pre=warming the soil by means of a plastic mulch so as to be able to plant earlier. Very interestingly they advised that the most effective plastic film to use was actually a _clear_ one. This would of course have disadvantages if left on all the growing season, as it would certainly encourage weeds, but used for a limited time in early spring this would not be much of a problem and the clear mulch could in any case be replaced by a coloured type if one wished when the plants were actually set out.

The idea was to put the clear plastic over the bed several weeks before
the traditional planting date for the particular area. In my district we usually put out our plants at Labour weekend, which is celebrated on the third weekend of October, as this is about the first date which, in all but exceptional years, marks the end of frosts and this also more or less coincides with the soil becoming warm enough for root growth, which is usually presumed to be when the temp in the upper ten inches or so of topsoil reaches (IIRC0) 13°C (55°F). Because we had plenty of sunshine that spring I put my plastic cover in position early in September (think March for the northern hemisphere) and the desired temp. was achieved by very early in October when I removed the clear plastic and replaced it with an insulating organic mulch to preserve the warmth of the soil, planted out my tomatoes and covered up the bed with a protective rowcover to keep out any stray frosts.

By the end of October when the plants got big enough to need staking it was safe to remove the rowcover. The plants grow with vigour and had ripe fruit nearly three weeks earlier than usual, so I considered the experiment to have been successful. I did repeat it for a couple more years after that and got similar results, so I am prepared to agree the method works.

I duly reported it in my column and the next autumn got an appreciative letter from one of my southern readers who had also tried it and wrote enthusiastically to say this was the first time she had successfully achieved ripe tomatoes outdoors. (People in the coldest parts of the South Island mostly grow their tomatoes under glass)

Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
NEW PICTURES ADDED 4/Feb/2004


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