Dry Farming aka Lazy Farming

[Solanum315]

So my market plot in upstate NY has never been watered and despite the heat, seems to be doing fine. Blossoms have set on almost all the plants so I have no plans of watering them unless the weather gets significantly more extreme than it has already been this week. Just wondering if anyone else does this? I am exploring an ultra minimalist approach this year. I threw in a handful of coffee grounds with each seedling and I am doing a modified Florida weave for support but besides that, I am not watering, not fertilizing and not using pesticides.

[Kierkegaard]

I read an article the other day that farmers in Sicily and Israel watered their tomatoes with saltwater. The saltwater basically had the same effect as not watering them for a while, and it stressed them into flowering and also supposedly made the fruit taste better. It also said something about a technique where commercial growers flooded their fields twice a season and didn't water other than that.

I hate to see my things wilting. I don't want to water, but the sun is so intense right now.

[kath]

Watering inground tomatoes is something I don't do unless the plants get that look that tells you they're about to wilt which rarely seems to happen unless there's an extended heat wave and drought. The reason is that I don't have time and it's one of the things they seem to be able to do without. Last year I did start to add a dry fertilizer at plant out and began spraying for disease. It's too soon to say if there has been a significant difference. Next year when I've decided on the few favorites and plant multiples of them, I hope to do some experimentation with watering, feeding and spraying for disease to see what's necessary.

[zabby17]

Solanum,

I believe in giving everyone a good start, then letting 'em do their thing. So I water new seedlings two or three times (every other day for the first week or so, unless it rains). And I fertilize everyone once early in the season.

I don't water otherwise unless it gets pretty extreme. (This week doesn't count---I'm talking more like three weeks with no rain, and/or a week-long heat wave.) (Here in Southern Ontario my climate is probably much like yours.) When it's hot my plants wilt, and when it cools they perk back up again.

My toms do much better overall in hot summers than cool, wet ones (like last year's), suggesting too much water or too little sun is more of a problem than too little---at least in this temperate clime. I imagine in Arizona or Texas, the idea of "a heat wave" would be different!

I don't do any pesticide or disease control---I take off lower branches when they get yellow, which happens on most plants by late summer but doesn't seem to stop me from having excellent harvests.

But I think I'm lucky in the particular collection of bugs in my area not being big tomoto enemies. My OTHER (non-tomato) crops have much more uneven success. I've lost all my cuke seedlings, 3/4 of my squashes, all my sunflowers, and a lot of greens to insects. If they were my main focus, I'd be much more pro-active in insect control!

I do wonder if my once-a-season fertilizing is necessary.

You seem to do well without it, getting enough produce to sell.... how big is your plot?

Z

[NGGrant]

I water every three days for 4 hours, we have not had a single decent rain here since I planted out.

My plants grow more when I water them, they look better and I have an irrigation well so why not. Once the monsoon rains come I usually get a 3-4 week break from watering.

I watch the weather in upstate NY and you guys get 100x more rain than I do. We don't have rainy days here just rainy minutes.

I just don't think it will work here.

[sprtsguy76]

I think it works better in northern areas. Forget trying it in the south, it gets too hot. It also depends on how deep your good soil runs and what the ground water table is like. I do have one small area in my yard thats at the edge of my house thats about 3'x2' and the soil is good to about 3 feet deep. I dont water there at all and what ever plant I decide to put there does flourish.

Damon

[Orang3]

Sounds like a wonder care free way of growing tomatoes. In addition, dry farming is suppose to produce better tasting fruits too. How much rainfall have you been getting? Here in So Cal it hasn't rained at all since April.

I am very interested to see how withholding water affects the taste of tomatoes. I wish i had more plants to do a extensive experiment. A small test I am doing, using Sungold , is reducing the water by 1/2. So far, they look fairly similar in terms of plant size. As expected, the fruit size of the plant with reduced water is about 20-30% smaller. Still waiting for them to ripen.

[kurt]

I myself think if you grow maters you should do what you can to make it a healthy,vigirous plant.The only time I do not water is around picking time when if too much water is added you get "diluted taste"What sense does it make to see how far you can ignore a plant to where it is suffering.Seems kinda cruel.Why grow them in the first place if you cannot take care of them.

[Solanum315]

Zabby,
I have two 100 foot rows with 50 plants in each row. We have been getting a whole lot of rain here in upstate NY for the past 3-4 years. I set up a rain barrel for the past three years but it became a nuisance because it just overflowed; I never seemed to need the water. I guess I should have set one up with an overflow spout. I basically just tilled two rows into the lawn. The soil is a fairly heavy clay mix and has never been improved. This is my first year with a market plot so I will have to see how many tomatoes I actually end up getting but I am pretty sure I will have more than my family can consume. The last few days have been on the hot side but rain is forecast within a few days so I am just gonna let them wilt a little bit. I have also found that overwatered tomatoes taste bland, especially the varieties with a less assertive flavor.

[lakelady]

Solanum, I was wondering how your plants made out in the heat wave the past 2 days? Mine wilted so badly on day one I got scared and gave them lots of water, and they recovered. Now I'll go back to my weekly watering. I want to withhold some water, but honestly, they do grow bigger and look healthier with the water to me. The only ones I'm trying to water as little as possible are the hearts as I've heard they do not like a lot of water.

[Solanum315]

Lakelady,
I had a very few blossoms drop off but besides that they are fine. In fact I didn't even see any signs of stress. Mine are in the ground and started life as VERY leggy seedlings. I buried them up to their necks and I can't help but think that this has been an advantage to them throughout their lives.
See link for just how leggy they were: http://worldtomatoes.blogspot.com/20...ing-day-1.html

[zabby17]

Solanum, Agreed about the blandness of overwatered tomatoes---Too much water (and not enough sunshine/warmth) definitely seems to be a more common problem than too little in our climate.

But I can sure see how in hotter, drier climes, not watering would not be a good option. In New Mexico and Arizona, you can't "dry farm" even grass, after all. ;-p

Lotsa different ways to garden...

Z

Originally Posted by Solanum315

Zabby,
I have two 100 foot rows with 50 plants in each row. We have been getting a whole lot of rain here in upstate NY for the past 3-4 years. I set up a rain barrel for the past three years but it became a nuisance because it just overflowed; I never seemed to need the water. I guess I should have set one up with an overflow spout. I basically just tilled two rows into the lawn. The soil is a fairly heavy clay mix and has never been improved. This is my first year with a market plot so I will have to see how many tomatoes I actually end up getting but I am pretty sure I will have more than my family can consume. The last few days have been on the hot side but rain is forecast within a few days so I am just gonna let them wilt a little bit. I have also found that overwatered tomatoes taste bland, especially the varieties with a less assertive flavor.

[lakelady]

I'd love to try your approach for its simplicity, but now that I have fruitset on my toms, they seem to really need more water and wilt very easily. Not that I want to overwater, but with the heat and dryness, it almost seems a necessity...at least to me right now. I could be wrong though!

[Solanum315]

I also tend to water plants when they are wilting. About half the time I give them some water and half the time I let them wilt and they always recover when it cools down in the evening. That goes for the plot at my house. My market plot still has never been watered and is doing fine.