Indeterminate pairs

[bower]

I'm growing my tomatoes in old fish tubs, two to a container works well when they are both the same variety and equally greedy for the resources therein! But when growing two new to me varieties side by side, I have sometimes mismatched them, and the less vigorous variety suffers a bit as a result.

So I'm seeking your advice about these new to me varieties... if you were pairing them by the equal size of the plant, how would you line them up?

Amazon Chocolate PL
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
Indian Stripe PL
Tsindao
Prudens Purple
Missouri Pink Love Apple
Siberian Giant Pink = Siberskiy Velikan Rozoviy
Tarasenko 6
Northern Lights
Malachite Box = Malachitovaya Schkatulka

[amideutch]

Are you going to prune them as they grow or let them grow?

Ami

[bower]

Hmmm, I must admit I'm not much of a pruner. I like to see the natural shape of the plant. But I have to deal with the space constraints, so for sure I will pinch out any suckers above chest height, and top the plant and its sucker/leaders when it gets too tall to reach (over 5-6 ft).

Sometimes I have to vary that plan, especially if plants don't produce much fruit lower down. (This is my least favourite growth habit for a tomato plant!) In that case I sometimes rope down the tall suckers instead of topping, and train them horizontally along the trellis.

[parah]

I like the idea of matching plants in the same container.

I think I would put Amazon Chocolate & Tarasenko6 together.
And maybe Pink Berkeley Tie Dye & Indian Stripe PL together.

How about a picture of your Fish tubs?

[bower]

Originally Posted by parah

I like the idea of matching plants in the same container.

I think I would put Amazon Chocolate & Tarasenko6 together.
And maybe Pink Berkeley Tie Dye & Indian Stripe PL together.

How about a picture of your Fish tubs?

Aha, looks like those tubs are in every pic, but disappear so fast under the big tomatoes... here's a snap from April last year, the tubs are all clumped together so I could cover the plants on a cold night. In the foreground are grow bags made from compost bags.

[amideutch]

If those are the tubs with the hoops attached no way would I grow Amazon Chocolate and Tarasenko 6 in one tub. Especially if you don't prune the plants as I don't prune mine either.
But Tarasenko 6 and Amazon Chocolate are in my top 10.

Ami

[bower]

Ami, are you saying they are both big plants and need more space..

Maybe I should put (well matched) pairs of more compact plants in the tubs, put the more demanding large plant in a tub of its own?

[FaithHopeLove]

I have Berekely Tie-Dye heart in my garden right now, It's a huge plant!

[NarnianGarden]

I'm having the same challenge - not enough balcony space for as many containers as I'd like to have plants. So the plan is to put two of them in a larger one -Black Pear and Black Plum. BPlum is supposed to be a smaller and a more compact one that BPear, so they might go together - hopefully. Both will be ruthlessly pruned..

[parah]

Originally Posted by amideutch

Tarasenko 6 and Amazon Chocolate are in my top 10.

Ami

Ok you got my full attention, but you can't tease us like that and leave us wondering until next season! What are the other 8 in your top 10.

[bower]

Just to be clear about the fish tub size, they are a foot deep and 2 1/2 long by 1 1/2 feet wide. Grown two to a tub, most tomato plants produce a reasonable yield of 10-12 lb each in those conditions.

But if one plant is much more vigorous than the other, it will tend to take over and the smaller plant suffers. I just want to know which plants are similar in size, so that they are evenly matched.

[amideutch]

bower, you fish tank has a volume of 28 Gals. All of the tomato varieties you listed are Indeterminate, medium to large beefsteaks. Besides the two already listed PL (potato Leaf) Prudens Purple and Missouri Pink Love Apple are PL and the rest being RL (Regular Leaf).
The reason I point this out is the PL's will shade adjoining plants due to there leaf size so it is better to grow them in individual containers.

That being said Pink Berkeley Tie Die is a Indeterminate compact and you could probably double it up with Northern Lights. That leaves Tsinado, Tarasenko 6, Malachite and Siberian Giant Pink. Tsinado I'm not familiar with and Tarasenko 6 need it's own container as does Siberian giant so that leaves Malachite Box and Tsindao. You might be able to double those two up in one container but would probably have to prune both to a single stem and remove the suckers as they appear.

The container size is sufficient to support two plants but you will have to add ferts periodically especially when they start having fruit set. Hope this helps.

Ami

[bower]

Ami, many thanks for your sage advice! I will consider if I can get or use some other containers, I'm wondering what would be the adequate volume for a large plant like Tarasenko 6 or Siberian Giant Pink. I have a lot to learn before my growing is optimized, that's for sure. Don't have anything in the cash budget so my flexibility is a bit limited by what is available, or I can obtain for the effort.

For fertilizer my present practice is to recondition the container soil with 1/3 fresh compost, chopped kelp and a little dolomite lime, then dig in a full cup of bone meal in the hole for each plant. I fed with diluted fish emulsion/molasses when fruit began to ripen last year, and a few weeks later with a commercial product 'Green Earth' balanced tomato food. There was time for one more feeding before the season was basically over. The plants definitely benefitted from the extra ferts, there was far less stress and decline associated with the work of ripening and the end of season, so healthier overall and less sanitation pruning work.

Last year I also dug in a little dry chicken manure at the conditioning stage, it didn't harm the plants as it was not too heavily applied. This year I have some leached wood ashes to work in for conditioning as well, for the potassium. Since I mostly work with raw materials instead of commercially formulated ferts it's a bit of a guessing game and depends on available materials.

[amideutch]

I'm wondering what would be the adequate volume for a large plant like Tarasenko 6 or Siberian Giant Pink

Your fish tanks are more than enough to support and Indeterminate tomato variety. I grew my Tarasenko 6 last year in a 20 gal GeoPot and that was more than adequate. 10 Gal pots are more than adequate at your your location as your weather is very similar to mine. The smaller the container the more often you have to add ferts as they are exhausted more quickly in the smaller pots. I to use organic ferts as supplements to my containers during the growing season and have excellent results. Just remember to add Myco's and if available Actinovate to your seedlings as a dip when planting out to your containers.

Ami

[bower]

Thank you, Ami.

You know, afaik myco products including Actinovate aren't available for sale in Canada yet. Crazy stuff (the regulators I mean!).

I know from my study and reading in mycology, that certain plants are obligate hosts for the VAM and other field mycos, so I sometimes use companion planting to ensure that the tomatoes get a good inoculum that way. Carrots are one example of a crop that is very dependant on the mycos and must have them. One year we planted early carrots among the tomatoes on one side of the farm's greenhouse, to see if there was any benefit. The plants near carrots were noticeably larger about a month after planting, but the others caught up entirely by fruiting time. Still it seemed to help them to get established.

I would like to get a small lab set up, as I'm certain that beneficial mycos are around in the environment, if one could test or examine the species present. We have healthy organic soils here and at the farm, with nothing present to harm the good guys.