What is a good method for trialing a large number of varieties? - Page 2

Heritage · February 22, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeP

Steve,

What do you use for the overhead support?
How long are your rows?
By tomato clips, do you mean the plastic clips sold by Johnny's?

How many do you trial?

Thanks,
Joe

Joe,

Here are a couple of photos showing part of the overhead structure from our early season trial garden in Sacramento. I use a similar method in San Diego except I plant in the ground and in a single row. My setup isn't as pretty as my sister's - I use 8' t posts to support 20' long irrigation pipes. So, my rows are in increments of 20'. The plants are pruned as shown in the closeup, to a single stem. Between the two of us we grow about 1000 plants.

Steve

Dutch · February 22, 2012

Very nice Steve! Thanks for sharing some of your garden pictures.
Dutch

Fred Hempel · February 22, 2012

1000 plants? That is a labor of love.

JoeP · February 23, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarinaRussian

I've read that some people grow 2 plants per pot, single leader, of course. Works just fine, especially for wispy varieties. Anyone tried that?

Are there wispy varieties other than hearts?

I've only grown one hart in a cage and I am under the impression that they are best done in a cage. Does anyone prune hart varieties to 1 or 2 leaders? Hmm. Haven't thought of this before.

JoeP · February 23, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

1000 plants? That is a labor of love.

And I was worried about keeping 40 pruned and watered. 500 or 1000 seems a serious time commitment. Impressive.

This will help with explaining to my wife why 10 or 15 plants just isn't enough. Compared to 1,000 my 40 or 50 seems trivial. Thanks for the help defending this minor obsession.

dice · February 23, 2012

If you want to use your cages but use the close spacing that people use
growing single stem indeterminates, you could plant two to a cage and
maybe one on each side between cages, offset a little bit into the angle
that round cages make where they meet. I planted a couple of rows of
single-stem indeterminates of unstable generations last year with 16
inches between plants. They were kind of tight, but not unmanageable.
Since I did not care how many total fruit each plant produced, I was
merciless with pruning, which I think you have to be growing full size
tomato plants this close together.

Certainly they met the goal of comparing one plant to another within
a single F2 or F3 generation of the same cross. I simply saved seeds
from the most productive plant that was early enough and had good
enough flavor to carry on another generation, meaning that if I planted
seeds and got that exact same plant again I would not be dissatisfied.

(I grow on a woven trellis because I dislike fiddling with the posts and
strings every year. I simply plant under it and tuck stems in as they grow.)

For people using vertical strings and tomato clips, I have kept this vendor
bookmarked for a few years:
http://www.hydro-gardens.com/growsup1.htm#plantclips

edit:
A not-necessarily-a-heart with wispy, droopy foliage:
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...elikan_Rozovyi
(I got one non-wispy plant out of 4 that had almost the same fruit
with what seemed to me a little better flavor and the same dtm,
but I have not got around to growing out the seeds of it yet to
see what happens.)

JoeP · February 23, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by dice

A not-necessarily-a-heart with wispy, droopy foliage:
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...elikan_Rozovyi
(I got one non-wispy plant out of 4 that had almost the same fruit
with what seemed to me a little better flavor and the same dtm,
but I have not got around to growing out the seeds of it yet to
see what happens.)

This looks like a good one to try next year.

Iva · February 23, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarinaRussian

I've read that some people grow 2 plants per pot, single leader, of course. Works just fine, especially for wispy varieties. Anyone tried that?

I do it every year, just to trial a few extra varieties. I grow two plants in a four gallon pot, trimmed to mostly two leaders per plant (even more for cherries). Works great for me, I get a decent crop from those plants. Trying to dig out a photo...

Here is one of Angora Super Sweet (quite early in the season) and two more varieties next to it other pots:

And another one, this is AAA Sweet Solano, also in the same size pot, also two plants, nice production!

janezee · February 23, 2012

Oh, no! You mean I really do have room for 80 plants if I prune like crazy?

Iva · February 23, 2012

Yep, you do! No excuses now

bower · February 23, 2012

Wow.. this is great. I'm definitely going to try some of these techniques this summer.

MarinaRussian · February 24, 2012

Last year I had 5 plants of yellow cherries. But, I had room for only 1 cherry plant in my greenhouse, and the other 4 I just couldn't throw away. So, I stuck them at the end of the garden, very close to each other, literally 10 inches apart.

Well, the plant in the greenhouse was pruned and taken care of and the ones in the open ground (is that what you call it???) were pruned a little bit, and then I just stopped paying attention to them. (Same story with Black Pears and Mandarinka's). You should have seen those outside plants. They were so loaded with tomatoes, that the clusters were laying on the ground. I only got a bowl of cherries from the plant which was grown "properly" in the greenhouse and had buckets of cherries from the other plants, believe it or not.

My conclusion, no more cherries or small fruited plants in the greenhouse for me and I will grow them as close as possible to each other, again. I will also try this method in the greenhouse with some really wispy hearts, like Eagle's Beak and Siberian Pink Honey. That way I'll have a lot more room for so many new wonderful varieties, that I just HAVE TO GROW!!!

MarinaRussian · February 24, 2012

Iva, very nice plants!!! I haven't grown in containers before. Do you have to water them often?

janezee · February 24, 2012

Iva, you are an inspiration! I truly will try some of these pots, and double up on several varieties. How exciting!
Do you top the plants when they reach the tops of those bendy wire posts you're using?

casserole · February 24, 2012

With 2 plants per container you need to water 2 or more times a day .Miss a watering and your plants maybe toast

February 23, 2012	#21
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	If you want to use your cages but use the close spacing that people use growing single stem indeterminates, you could plant two to a cage and maybe one on each side between cages, offset a little bit into the angle that round cages make where they meet. I planted a couple of rows of single-stem indeterminates of unstable generations last year with 16 inches between plants. They were kind of tight, but not unmanageable. Since I did not care how many total fruit each plant produced, I was merciless with pruning, which I think you have to be growing full size tomato plants this close together. Certainly they met the goal of comparing one plant to another within a single F2 or F3 generation of the same cross. I simply saved seeds from the most productive plant that was early enough and had good enough flavor to carry on another generation, meaning that if I planted seeds and got that exact same plant again I would not be dissatisfied. (I grow on a woven trellis because I dislike fiddling with the posts and strings every year. I simply plant under it and tuck stems in as they grow.) For people using vertical strings and tomato clips, I have kept this vendor bookmarked for a few years: http://www.hydro-gardens.com/growsup1.htm#plantclips edit: A not-necessarily-a-heart with wispy, droopy foliage: http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...elikan_Rozovyi (I got one non-wispy plant out of 4 that had almost the same fruit with what seemed to me a little better flavor and the same dtm, but I have not got around to growing out the seeds of it yet to see what happens.) __________________ -- alias Last edited by dice; February 23, 2012 at 05:09 AM. Reason: SVR

February 22, 2012	#17
Dutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: S.E. Wisconsin Zone 5b Posts: 1,831	Very nice Steve! Thanks for sharing some of your garden pictures. Dutch

February 22, 2012	#18
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	1000 plants? That is a labor of love.

February 23, 2012	#24
janezee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5 Posts: 931	Oh, no! You mean I really do have room for 80 plants if I prune like crazy?

February 23, 2012	#25
Iva Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Slovenia, EU Posts: 249	Yep, you do! No excuses now

February 23, 2012	#26
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Wow.. this is great. I'm definitely going to try some of these techniques this summer.

February 24, 2012	#27
MarinaRussian Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Russia Posts: 176	Last year I had 5 plants of yellow cherries. But, I had room for only 1 cherry plant in my greenhouse, and the other 4 I just couldn't throw away. So, I stuck them at the end of the garden, very close to each other, literally 10 inches apart. Well, the plant in the greenhouse was pruned and taken care of and the ones in the open ground (is that what you call it???) were pruned a little bit, and then I just stopped paying attention to them. (Same story with Black Pears and Mandarinka's). You should have seen those outside plants. They were so loaded with tomatoes, that the clusters were laying on the ground. I only got a bowl of cherries from the plant which was grown "properly" in the greenhouse and had buckets of cherries from the other plants, believe it or not. My conclusion, no more cherries or small fruited plants in the greenhouse for me and I will grow them as close as possible to each other, again. I will also try this method in the greenhouse with some really wispy hearts, like Eagle's Beak and Siberian Pink Honey. That way I'll have a lot more room for so many new wonderful varieties, that I just HAVE TO GROW!!!

February 24, 2012	#30
casserole Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Dousman, WI Z5 Posts: 95	With 2 plants per container you need to water 2 or more times a day .Miss a watering and your plants maybe toast