Underwater Tomato Plants

[Jeannine Anne]

I can offer some info re plants under water.

I was still working in the UK 3 years ago in Hull when there was tremendous floods, wiped out the school I worked in and many houses around me, my house was on a road that was on higher ground so we and my neighbours were OK . We had some more growing space at a community garden about three miles from the house, I had 5 greenhouses there filled with tomatoes, The roads were closed for 2 days till the water started to go down, once the road was clear we managed to get to the edge where the plots started . The gardens sloped into a dip so I knew my greenhouses were partially underwater I managed to wade in from the higher part for about 500 yards as I had a couple of tomato plants in big pots that I dearly wanted to save, I got in on the 3nd day, the plants were under water apart from the top few inches, water got deeper the closer I got so when I reached them I was up to my mid thigh. I managed to lug the two water logged pots back to the high ground, let them drain a bit and take them home with the help of a very nice fireman who thought I was quite mad. They were pretty miserable looking and filthy dirty , we put them to drain on their sides for a few hours and put them in the home greenhouse, they bucked up and grew on just fine. We lost everything else including all the soft fruit bushes,and all the other tomatoes of course, only the 30 year old grape vine survived. The tomatoes would have been under water for proably 2 days completely and then the third day partially.

We never expected them to bounce back but they did and they grew very well, probably because the sewers had overflowed!!

Bit of a rambling story but thought I would share it.

XX Jeannine

[dice]

Hey, that is an idea. One could dig out around the rootball
with a spading fork and then lever it up out of there. Leave
the plant sitting on top of the dirt, rootball and all, so that
the water can drain away from the roots.

The dirt is going to stay sticky mud underneath for awhile
in that red clay, so one might want to pile mulch, compost,
sandy loam, etc around the rootballs instead of reburying
them (I hate to recommend horse manure after all of the
recent aminopyralid debacles, but if it were tested already
and known good, one could add that to the mix; ditto for
rabbit, llama, etc).

Just keep filling in with grass clippings or shredded yard debris
or whatever all summer, until the soil level is raised up to
however tall the rootballs were when you dug them out of
there. De facto new raised beds.

[Red Dirt Farmer]

Jason,
Sorry, a root feeder is a 3-foot hollow spike with a small container at the top for a fertilizer pellet. you would hook it to a hose and inject the fertilizer/water mix at the root zone. I use it for many things other then it's intended use. Looking for septic lines, seeding, and aerating.
Good luck and let us know if you saved some plants.

Ken

[OkieJason]

Ken..... you are the MAN!!! have a little life in a few growing tips! Will post some pics when battery charges on the other thread.

[OkieJason]

Ken, posted some pics, some plants are gonna make it

Pete! don;t pull your plants!

[Red Dirt Farmer]

Jason,
Any improvement?
Ken

[OkieJason]

Ken,
A lot of improvement! Poking holes around the root ball has helped a lot. I took some pics you can tell me what you think here at this thread. http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=14890

Some plants will only have 50% or so their leaves left but still much better than a dead plant. On inspection this morning a few are showing new dark green growth so they should be off to the races. Your advice has helped tremendously. Thank you!

I'm hoping Pete will report back similar improvements with his plants in low areas. " fingers crossed"

Jason