Pounds per plant

[Labradors2]

Could someone please tell me how to put good posts in "favourites" or how to bookmark them?

Thanks,
Linda

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

Very informative. This one is worth the cost of a bookmark!

[Lee]

10 pounds is probably a good number to bank on for tomatoes.
A couple local farmers I've talked to look at 20~25 pounds per plant
as a great crop, but they are growing for a living and using high yield hybrids.

As others have mentioned, it all depends on growing conditions.
It has been my experience that growing tomatoes here in NC has so
many challenges that getting 10 pounds from a plant is great.

Lee

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by Hermitian

A couple years ago a farmer in California's central valley set a record of 92 tons per acre on a 5-acre parcel. These were determinate canning tomatoes grown under very exacting conditions. That works out to about 38 pounds per plant.

Too bad there are no pictures.

[OldHondaNut]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Could someone please tell me how to put good posts in "favourites" or how to bookmark them?

Thanks,
Linda

Linda, I just click Bookmarks at the top of the page (part of Firefox). Then I pick "Bookmark this page". It lets me organize the bookmarks so I add it to "gardens".

Is that what you meant or were you looking for something inside TV?

Lately I have also started using the "skydrive" feature inside Hotmail. It lets me add there. Since I live in Texas, I have used the "skydrive" to save Texas A&M webpages (PDF) of when to plant each veggie for Spring and Fall based on freeze dates.

[Hermitian]

Originally Posted by Lee

...
It has been my experience that growing tomatoes here in NC has so
many challenges that getting 10 pounds from a plant is great.

I have colleagues and relatives in NC in such places as Archdale, Raleigh, and Wilmington. They have been harvesting 20+ pounds / year per plant for over a decade on both heirloom and "standard" tomatoes. Some are using "organic" fertilizers and others are using water solubles. All of them are mindful to supply enough potash to achieve a robust harvest.

Originally Posted by Hermitian

A couple years ago a farmer in California's central valley set a record of 92 tons per acre on a 5-acre parcel. These were determinate canning tomatoes grown under very exacting conditions. That works out to about 38 pounds per plant.

Originally Posted by Durgan

Too bad there are no pictures.

Check the back issues of Western Farm Press.

[OldHondaNut]

Here is a good idea of tomato production:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/a...als/index.html

[linzelu100]

I am going to try a few things this year differently with my tomato plants to see if yields increase. I have quite an issue with fungus/molds in this wet area. SO this year I am planting out much later, to avoid the wet spring, I am going to prune to give the plants more room to breathe. Also I am retiring store bought tomato cages and trying wood posts with the florida weave for staking- my tomato cages always fall over and branches just get everywhere...spreading disease. Hopefully this will increase my yields and decrease disease. That's all I have planned.

I'll have to read up on Potash- that sounds promising.

Whatever I do end up growing, I will document in this post at the end of the season pounds per plant.

[Hermitian]

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

Here is a good idea of tomato production:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/a...als/index.html

That is interesting data on cultivars developed in Texas.

Nationwide in agricultural production, the modes are 40 tons/acre for certified organic production of fresh market tomatoes and 70 tons/acre for conventional production (typically canning tomatoes).

A "standard" commercial planting will have about 4800 tomato plants per acre. Doing the arithmetic on the above data works out to 16 pounds/plant for certified organic production and 29 pounds/plant for conventional agriculture.

[Labradors2]

OldHondaNut, Thanks!

In another thread, Carolyn mentioned something about saving posts in her "favourites" and I assumed it was something within TV that I hadn't discovered yet. I wasn't thinking about using Favourites in Outlook Express - which I could easily do, except that my list is so long that it takes ages to scroll through. I need to get organized!

Thanks again,
Linda

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

Linda, I just click Bookmarks at the top of the page (part of Firefox). Then I pick "Bookmark this page". It lets me organize the bookmarks so I add it to "gardens".

Is that what you meant or were you looking for something inside TV?

[linzelu100]

I planted 2# of red pontiac potatoes and harvested 13#.

Six and a half pounds of red potatoes for every pound planted.

I didn't keep track of these per plant, because some plants would look scrawney like a stick, but still have a few potatoes. Seems easier to keep track of yield per pound planted. Note that I had no pest problems/weather problems with these potatoes. (all the bugs kept going to the yukons.)

I used the method of cutting the seed potato in chunks and letting them "cure" before planting. One factor that prevented a higher yield was the heavy clay soil. It seemed quite compacted 4" down. I think I could increase our yields next year with loose soil/maybe raised beds.