Crazy way to grow tomatoes

Kazfam · May 31, 2013

Check this out y'all...this looks promising to me - here is the link:

Crazy way to grow a bumper tomato crop

lycomania · May 31, 2013

That's interesting. I'm in New England and I think using my clear plastic mulch put me ages ahead with the warm soil. It does seem like having a receptacle to water into would be handy, but I'm using soaker hoses under the plastic at the moment. AND I just remembered I forgot to shut it off, brb lol.

saltmarsh · May 31, 2013

Hope they aren't growing beefsteaks...

Redbaron · May 31, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltmarsh

Hope they aren't growing beefsteaks...

hahahahaha

linzelu100 · May 31, 2013

It looks like a neat idea, but do you think that is enough room for all of those tomato plants? I struggle with blight at a 2 1/2 foot spacing now as it is.

Lindsey

Durgan · May 31, 2013

Lots of vegetation. But the objective of growing is the production of a fruit or vegetable. Pretty but impractical. My opinion.

Kazfam · May 31, 2013

They are crowded but I like the seeping compost water concept. Wonder if this is in a less humid area.

And then there is trying to get to that receptacle if and when the plants get really tall.

Hmmmm...I still like the watering concept...I'm using soaker hoses too.

tlintx · May 31, 2013

i tried something similar in ground a few years ago, with the idea that the water would go straight to the roots and not be wasted. I didn't use quite so close a spacing, just square foot. The other goal would be to create a small reservoir.

If the cups are close enough to the plant to water it when it's small, you can't really reach them when the plant gets bigger. And mine were not robust by any stretch. I found a shallow trench directed water just as well.

I was toying with the idea of putting a small cup with holes with each potted tomato this year, but it just displaces too much soil since my pots are barely big enough anyway. I think if you were using large pots with a small number of plants, you could put a cup in the middle to make watering/fertilizing easier. Probably less mess for patio gardeners, too.

I've also seen something similar using buried clay pots ("ollas"). The clay weeps moisture slowly into the soil. You cover it with a tray so nothing falls in.

It just seemed like it wasn't worth the effort, unless your only alternative is a sprinkler. Although it was nice to just fill the cups and know exactly how much water the plant was getting.

Just occurred to me, but would the benefits of watering through a small amount of compost really be that great compared to just mixing the compost into the soil directly?

livinonfaith · May 31, 2013

I vaguely remember my grandfather putting half gallon plastic jugs beside some of his larger plants.

He would poke them with holes in the bottom side that faced the plant and then sink it a few inches into the ground. I can remember him going along the row, filling the jugs.

He always had a beautiful and productive garden and was always open to new ideas, even when he was in his eighties.

This might work very well if you don't have too many plants per bucket and take care to keep the access clear to the bucket. Maybe put it between two plants, kind of toward the front?

travis · May 31, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

I vaguely remember my grandfather putting half gallon plastic jugs beside some of his larger plants.

He would poke them with holes in the bottom side that faced the plant and then sink it a few inches into the ground. I can remember him going along the row, filling the jugs.

He always had a beautiful and productive garden and was always open to new ideas, even when he was in his eighties.

This might work very well if you don't have too many plants per bucket and take care to keep the access clear to the bucket. Maybe put it between two plants, kind of toward the front?

Yes, the milk jug thing is pretty much old hat nowadays. It works great. More practical and cheaper than the big bucket thing, I would think.

I grow two plants to a cage in my seed-and-breed tomato patch for higher utilization of space and resources. That's in the larger diameter (36-inch, more or less) cages. Single vines in the smaller diameter cages. Yes, it can get crowded. But then I prune the vines as I'm more concerned about crossing and seed production rather than fruit production.

Fact of matter, I rarely irrigate at all, so the irrigation methods are completely secondary to me. That's because over the past 10 years, I've built up the soil in that patch with multi-annual applications of organic matter (OG) which has resulted in a deep layer of rich, black earth that retains plenty of moisture and encourages the roots to penetrate deeply into the moist strata of humus-rich earth.

Last year, during what NOAA classified as an "exceptional drought," and during which daytime temps stayed 95 - 108*F for weeks on end, I only had to stretch the garden hose out a couple times per month and give the vines a ten-count dousing per cage per watering. That got me planted out in April, and then again it got me thru July and August's highest heat waves. The rest of the season ... no irrigation needed. The OG retained enough moisture, that and a good, thick layer of wheat straw.

The gallon milk jug thing would've worked just fine for me last summer, but then with all the sweat in my eyes, I would really have to concentrate to aim at the narrow jug openings, and probably had to fill the jugs more frequently than giving each vine a ten-count watering from the end of a garden hose.

NorthTom · May 31, 2013

I do something similar with 1 liter water bottles, I bury them in between the tomatoes in the rows in my beds, about 6- 8 inches deep. Once I put down an inch or 2 of straw for mulch, all I see is the cap. They have a hole on the bottom of each side, facing towards the plants. At the end of the row I just put 1 hole in the bottle, facing towards the plant. Since I water completely by hand, I like to think this helps me get water deep in the root zone with minimum wastage, but who knows

.

Putting compost in the container to leach out nutrients is a new one to me.

May 31, 2013	#1
Kazfam Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Upstate South Carolina Posts: 113	Crazy way to grow tomatoes Check this out y'all...this looks promising to me - here is the link: Crazy way to grow a bumper tomato crop __________________ God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment of the spirit of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross handiwork. Francis Bacon

May 31, 2013	#7
Kazfam Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Upstate South Carolina Posts: 113	They are crowded but I like the seeping compost water concept. Wonder if this is in a less humid area. And then there is trying to get to that receptacle if and when the plants get really tall. Hmmmm...I still like the watering concept...I'm using soaker hoses too. __________________ God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment of the spirit of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross handiwork. Francis Bacon

May 31, 2013	#8
tlintx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: SeTx Posts: 881	i tried something similar in ground a few years ago, with the idea that the water would go straight to the roots and not be wasted. I didn't use quite so close a spacing, just square foot. The other goal would be to create a small reservoir. If the cups are close enough to the plant to water it when it's small, you can't really reach them when the plant gets bigger. And mine were not robust by any stretch. I found a shallow trench directed water just as well. I was toying with the idea of putting a small cup with holes with each potted tomato this year, but it just displaces too much soil since my pots are barely big enough anyway. I think if you were using large pots with a small number of plants, you could put a cup in the middle to make watering/fertilizing easier. Probably less mess for patio gardeners, too. I've also seen something similar using buried clay pots ("ollas"). The clay weeps moisture slowly into the soil. You cover it with a tray so nothing falls in. It just seemed like it wasn't worth the effort, unless your only alternative is a sprinkler. Although it was nice to just fill the cups and know exactly how much water the plant was getting. Just occurred to me, but would the benefits of watering through a small amount of compost really be that great compared to just mixing the compost into the soil directly? Last edited by tlintx; May 31, 2013 at 11:05 AM.

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May 31, 2013	#2
lycomania Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Zone 5b Posts: 179	That's interesting. I'm in New England and I think using my clear plastic mulch put me ages ahead with the warm soil. It does seem like having a receptacle to water into would be handy, but I'm using soaker hoses under the plastic at the moment. AND I just remembered I forgot to shut it off, brb lol.

May 31, 2013	#3
saltmarsh Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: 2 miles south of Yoknapatawpha Zone 7b Posts: 662	Hope they aren't growing beefsteaks...

May 31, 2013	#5
linzelu100 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Virginia Posts: 447	It looks like a neat idea, but do you think that is enough room for all of those tomato plants? I struggle with blight at a 2 1/2 foot spacing now as it is. Lindsey

May 31, 2013	#6
Durgan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Brantford, ON, Canada Posts: 1,341	Lots of vegetation. But the objective of growing is the production of a fruit or vegetable. Pretty but impractical. My opinion.

May 31, 2013	#9
livinonfaith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina Posts: 1,332	I vaguely remember my grandfather putting half gallon plastic jugs beside some of his larger plants. He would poke them with holes in the bottom side that faced the plant and then sink it a few inches into the ground. I can remember him going along the row, filling the jugs. He always had a beautiful and productive garden and was always open to new ideas, even when he was in his eighties. This might work very well if you don't have too many plants per bucket and take care to keep the access clear to the bucket. Maybe put it between two plants, kind of toward the front?

May 31, 2013	#11
NorthTom Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Alberta Canada 3a Posts: 24	I do something similar with 1 liter water bottles, I bury them in between the tomatoes in the rows in my beds, about 6- 8 inches deep. Once I put down an inch or 2 of straw for mulch, all I see is the cap. They have a hole on the bottom of each side, facing towards the plants. At the end of the row I just put 1 hole in the bottle, facing towards the plant. Since I water completely by hand, I like to think this helps me get water deep in the root zone with minimum wastage, but who knows . Putting compost in the container to leach out nutrients is a new one to me.