150 toms, 4 beds, one key performance variable

[ScottinAtlanta]

Folks, for 2013, I planted 150 toms in four beds with different soil mixtures. The four are pictured below. The results are clear by now. Here are the four beds:

1. Acidic flower bed with pine bark mulch, no supplements before planting toms
2. Horse manure and potting soil mix with wheat straw mulch
3. Pure horse manure (6 inches composted 6 months) over red clay
4. Horse manure/composted oak leaves mix, 10 inches

Fertilizer same for all four: one handful of Tomato Tone in planting out, and weekly Jacks Bloom Buster starting in week four.


Results: toms in all four beds are doing similarly - very well - with the differences due to a single performance variable:

Hours of sunlight.

Yep, soil seemed to make little difference in growth, foliage, height, speed of flowering or anything else. All differences were clearly due to differences in hours of sunlight, which is having a very noticeable effect. This has been a wet spring in Georgia - if we had had a very sunny spring, I guess that sun hours would have had less effect.

Good lesson for me -- placement of toms is just as important as soil.