Tomato Placement

Starlight · April 2, 2015

After reading PA_Julia's thread about the tallest tomato she and other folks have grown, I am now wondering what I should do.

I've never grown a tomato as tall as what folks have posted they have and I am growing some of those tomatoes mentioned this year for the first time.

With having tomato sizes all over the place this year, something I didn't even think about, I am wondering will it be better to place the ones going to get tall (hopefully) to the back, or let them shade the dwarfs or intermingle. How should I go about placing them?

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how tall some of these tomatoes can get.

FarmerShawn · April 2, 2015

As with almost everything about tomato growing, there is a clear and definite answer, and that is "Depends." What support will you use? Will you prune? Is your garden in full sun, or partly shaded? In what direction is what you call "back" - north, south, east, or west? How close will they be to each other?
In general, I'd say that you do want to plan the arrangement so that each plant gets the maximum amount of both sunshine and airflow possible, keeping in mind the expected size, height and breadth, of each adult plant.

**carolyn137** · April 2, 2015

I didn't worry at all how tall ANY tomato variety got when I was growing my own tomatoes. The reason being that 95% of them were grown by sprawling, no support at all, and the other 5% were caged and I'd just let the vines flop over.

Now I do know that many folks don't have the room to do as I did and I also know that there are those who say they would never sprawl plants b/c they think that there's too much fruit loss from fruits touching the soil. But in my experience the fruits would nestle mostly in the foliage and all was good.

Perhaps I should also mention that my rows were 250ft long, plants within a row 3-4 ft apart, and 5 ft between rows.

That was then, and now I have a few plants, someone raises them for me from seeds I give them, and they are planted in large containers in the backyard and each one has one of those stupid 3 ft tall 3 ring supports in the containers, so yes, they do flop over and go where they want to, but it wroks for me, not so much for my old cat who doesn't like tomatoes, poor thing.

Carolyn

shelleybean · April 2, 2015

Good points stated above. My raised beds are run north-south, so in general, I always put tall things at the north end and as I go south, things can get shorter. I rotate the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers together because they're the same family. So indeterminate caged tomatoes start on the north side, then eggplant because it's a bit shorter, then peppers because they are shorter still. I do the same with other vegetable families. Trellised cucumbers will be tall so they go at the north end of that bed. Bush summer squash at the south end, for example.

b54red · April 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starlight

After reading PA_Julia's thread about the tallest tomato she and other folks have grown, I am now wondering what I should do.

I've never grown a tomato as tall as what folks have posted they have and I am growing some of those tomatoes mentioned this year for the first time.

With having tomato sizes all over the place this year, something I didn't even think about, I am wondering will it be better to place the ones going to get tall (hopefully) to the back, or let them shade the dwarfs or intermingle. How should I go about placing them?

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how tall some of these tomatoes can get.

You will be surprised at how big they can get if your soil is good and the plants don't suffer one of the many maladies that can hit them down here. If you use some type of trellis and limit the number of stems so you have decent air flow you should be able to manage them quite easily. If you have little short cages or stakes then you are in for some trouble if you are growing any of the larger indeterminates.

I do not recommend you try sprawling tomatoes here in the deep south due to the high disease pressure brought on by our very high humidity. The closer to the ground the foliage is the more likely it will be affected by diseases. I won't even mention the loses from pests.

Bill

Gardeneer · April 3, 2015

I find those huge plants INEFFICIENT. They grow too little fruits relative to the huge amount of foliage they grow and the big space that they take if you let them.
I plant them for more fruits not for how BIIG they can get.
I give every plant no more than 2.8 sqr-ft area.
So in a 3ft x 6 ft raised bed I plant 7 tomato plants.
Having said that, I have to support them, prune and trim them systematically

Also, I am trying to switch more and more to determinants and dwarfs.
I love Dwarf Project.

April 2, 2015	#1
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Tomato Placement After reading PA_Julia's thread about the tallest tomato she and other folks have grown, I am now wondering what I should do. I've never grown a tomato as tall as what folks have posted they have and I am growing some of those tomatoes mentioned this year for the first time. With having tomato sizes all over the place this year, something I didn't even think about, I am wondering will it be better to place the ones going to get tall (hopefully) to the back, or let them shade the dwarfs or intermingle. How should I go about placing them? I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how tall some of these tomatoes can get.

April 2, 2015	#2
FarmerShawn Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Vermont Posts: 1,001	As with almost everything about tomato growing, there is a clear and definite answer, and that is "Depends." What support will you use? Will you prune? Is your garden in full sun, or partly shaded? In what direction is what you call "back" - north, south, east, or west? How close will they be to each other? In general, I'd say that you do want to plan the arrangement so that each plant gets the maximum amount of both sunshine and airflow possible, keeping in mind the expected size, height and breadth, of each adult plant. __________________ "Red meat is NOT bad for you. Now blue-green meat, THAT'S bad for you!" -- Tommy Smothers

April 2, 2015	#3
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	I didn't worry at all how tall ANY tomato variety got when I was growing my own tomatoes. The reason being that 95% of them were grown by sprawling, no support at all, and the other 5% were caged and I'd just let the vines flop over. Now I do know that many folks don't have the room to do as I did and I also know that there are those who say they would never sprawl plants b/c they think that there's too much fruit loss from fruits touching the soil. But in my experience the fruits would nestle mostly in the foliage and all was good. Perhaps I should also mention that my rows were 250ft long, plants within a row 3-4 ft apart, and 5 ft between rows. That was then, and now I have a few plants, someone raises them for me from seeds I give them, and they are planted in large containers in the backyard and each one has one of those stupid 3 ft tall 3 ring supports in the containers, so yes, they do flop over and go where they want to, but it wroks for me, not so much for my old cat who doesn't like tomatoes, poor thing. Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

April 2, 2015	#4
shelleybean Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 2,648	Good points stated above. My raised beds are run north-south, so in general, I always put tall things at the north end and as I go south, things can get shorter. I rotate the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers together because they're the same family. So indeterminate caged tomatoes start on the north side, then eggplant because it's a bit shorter, then peppers because they are shorter still. I do the same with other vegetable families. Trellised cucumbers will be tall so they go at the north end of that bed. Bush summer squash at the south end, for example. __________________ Michele

April 3, 2015	#6
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,916	I find those huge plants INEFFICIENT. They grow too little fruits relative to the huge amount of foliage they grow and the big space that they take if you let them. I plant them for more fruits not for how BIIG they can get. I give every plant no more than 2.8 sqr-ft area. So in a 3ft x 6 ft raised bed I plant 7 tomato plants. Having said that, I have to support them, prune and trim them systematically Also, I am trying to switch more and more to determinants and dwarfs. I love Dwarf Project.