Hard work

[b54red]

I am now lowering my plants which are supported on strings or drop lines from a seven foot high horizontal bar and kept to one stem. It is amazing how heavy these plants are by the time they reach this size even with a single stem. If I am not careful when I untie the line to move it to the side and lower the plant the whole thing will drop through my hands which are plagued with arthritis. I just came in after lowering only one fourth of the plants in one bed to give my hands a break. It is also quite a strain holding up the line with the weight of the plant so I can tie it off above my head. Luckily I only have to do this about every 10 days or so. It is quite a site to see those plants standing seven to eight feet tall after they are lowered to the point where they are only four or five feet tall.

It is a lot of trouble to do but so much less than trying to control the massive plants by tying them to stakes or other supports. By the end of the season the past few years I have had plants well in excess of twenty feet long and still producing tomatoes despite most of the plant resting on the mulch covered ground while only the top six or seven feet is vertical. Oh well I better get back out there before it gets too hot. I'll try to post some pics as soon as I can.

Bill