How many plants in a 4x16 raised bed?

[Hilde]

I am building four 4x16 (1' deep) raised beds for tomatoes this year, and I want to put 16 plants in each bed. I will stake or cage them, they will not sprawl. I don't plan to prune, and I don't spray. Most of the plants will have approximately 6 hours of sun a day, some will have 8 or so. The soil will be a mixture of pro-mix and compost and some of the natural soil that I have (heavy clay with lots of worms). I will put mulch over a layer of wet newspapers and use a soaker hose to water.

Does 16 plants per bed sound about right? Could I put even more in or is 16 too many? What experiences do you have?


Thanks!

Hilde

[TomatoDon]

In my view, 16 indets will be over crowded. I put 6 in a 4X12 raised bed. I am guessing your could get 8 comfortably, maybe 10, but I believe 16 is going to really push it.

Just my opinion.

Don

[robin303]

Hi Hilde, I have been growing tomatoes in my raised beds for years. I learned one thing they really like being 32” to 36” apart. You might and which I do is stagger one row kind of diagonally If that makes sense. I design and build for a living and I can draw you a pic if need be.

[lightt]

Hilde,
In my opinion a four foot wide bed is just not wide enough to plant a double row of indeterminate tomatoes.

When a similar question was asked a couple of years ago I suggested three foot beds and said I'd love to tear out my existing four foot beds and replace them with three footers. I was soundly shot down but I'll say again, I strongly recommend three foot wide beds to grow indeterminate tomatoes -- planted in a single row. In the same space you plan on constructing four beds, I'd build 6 (or 7) three foot beds.

Most indeterminate varieties are just too vigorous to grow stacked in a four foot bed but borderline overkill to plant a single row in them. For sure, you'll need more soil and more expense for what ever material you're using for construction but I feel the dividends (production) are worth the effort and expense.

Just my opinion and I'm sure others will again tout the virtues of 4' beds but I sure wish I'd originally made mine 3' and eliminated the annual hassle I go through shoe-horning more plants than can be healthily grown in them.

This obviously doesn't answer your question but it's certainly something you might consider.

Terry Light

[feldon30]

Suze puts 9 plants in her 3 x 12 beds.

I put 16 plants in my 4 x 16 bed. We'll see how it goes. The hard part is knowing if the spacing is affecting productivity. Presumably if I provide the same amount of nutrients and care to the 4 x 16 plants, shouldn't they produce just as well? Or is it a situation of the leaves touching each other and the plant determines it should not produce as much?

[robin303]

I like 4' beds due to you can reach from both sides. If I do a single row it is 32". The biggest expense in my beds is the soil.

[tomatoguy]

Well, I'm a little outside the box when it comes to garden design since my raised bed is round but I would say go for it. If it were me, I would make sure I had large enough cages so that the plants are well contained. (7' high by 1.5' diameter works here.) Then I would put in the 16 plants not in two rows of 8 but staggered. I know a lot of folks give a lot of weight to air circulation but by season's end mine looks like a jungle and so far it has done just fine. I actually had more disease problems when I spread my plants out on trellises and pruned. Of course, your mileage may vary, close cover before striking, some settling of contents may have occurred during shipping, all the standard disclaimers apply.

mater

[RonnyWil]

I have 3'x16' beds and put 8 plants in a staggered pattern. This is almost too many. My plants are usually very big and grow into each other at that spacing. My biggest worry is about enough ventilation to help prevent diseases. I did plant a bed with 12 determinate plants last year and they would have done better if I had limited them to 8.

[ddsack]

I grow 7 plants along one side of 12x4 beds and plant a low crop like bush beans along the other edge. While you can in theory grow 16 plants in your bed without harming production, if you don't plan to prune them as you say, I think you'll find it hard to get back behind the interlacing suckers and branches in the center strip of the bed for retrieving fruit when they bush out and grow together if you're growing large indeterminates. Since you don't spray, lack of good air circulation in the double row dense mass of leaves might also make them more prone to disease. I know it's mighty tempting to plant seedlings close together when they are small, all that bare space looks like it's going to waste. But try to visualize what they will look like at mid-summer at 6ft high and 3ft wide.

Dee

[bryanccfshr]

I put 9 in one of my 4x14' beds and it is getting pretty crowded.

[huntoften]

I tried putting 18 determinates in a 16 footer last year and lost 1/3 of them to wilt. Productiion was VERY low in the whole bed compared to the beds where I spead them out. This year, I'm going to put in half the plants in the same sized beds...lesson learned...more plants doesn't necessarily mean more fruit...it means less!

[Hilde]

Wow, thank you all so much for your responses!

I think that if there is a conclusion to draw it is that there are many opinions on the matter and that 8-16 plants is the max that anyone will put in a 4x16.

The reason I wanted the 4' width instead of 3', is that I can reach in from both sides. I am tall (for a woman) and have long arms. It is a good size for other crops also (I want to make three more raised beds next year, and hopefully do some crop rotation with peppers and other vegetables)

Terry, I am already done with the majority of the frames for the beds! Thanks for your opinion and advise!

Hi Robin, it did make sense! I see that a lot of people like to put the tomatoes diagonally or offset to increase the space they get. So perhaps going from side by side to 14 offset would give them a lot more space?

Feldon (Morgan), do you and Suze spray? Of course growing conditions in Texas are different from up north here, and I don't know how weather will affect how you can space the tomato plants.

Yes Dee, it IS tempting to plant them close together. I am a novice grower, and there are so many varieties that I want to grow for the first time and I want more than one or two of the varieties that I like the best (Like Stump of the world, Brandywine (pink) and dr Lyle), and I have 26 varieties growing in my little green house right now!

I will grow both compact and large ind. and one variety of determinates.

Thanks a lot guys!

Hilde

[PaulF]

I grew tomatoes in 4'x16' raised beds for several years and limited the plants to 6 after a couple of years of having 8 in the row. I agree with those who would be concerned with the air movement argument for keeping the number down. With eight plants I had a tomato hedge with a lot of growth intermingling. With 6 per bed the plants were a bit more separated and there was much less blight I think because of air movement. Production seemed to be better as well.

I finally went to 4x24 and made three beds with a two foot space between the beds. That took up a major part of my lawn. Increased tomato production and cut down on mowing; I couldn't have been more pleased.

My advise is to try whatever you want; there is always next year to change things if it doesn't work this year.

[cottonpicker]

I plant 8 indet. tomato plants in a 4' X 12' raised bed & I do prune.

[feldon30]

Suze and I do not prune, and we spray. She sprays Daconil once a week. I sprayed for the first time this week because of the potential for thunderstorms this weekend.