My 2017 tomato grow list

[pmcgrady]

Well I narrowed it down to 140 plants this year, 7- 10'x 50' beds with 20 plants in each.
Bed 1
(10) Big Beef, (10) Cosmonaut Volkov
Bed 2
(4) Red Barn, (4) Rebel Yell, (4) Cole, (4) Chapman, (4) Coustralee
Bed 3
(4) Church, (4) Mexico, (4) George Detsikas, (4) Wes, (4) Japanese Oxheart
Bed 4
(4) Costoluto Genovese, (4) Goldman's I/A, (4) Mushroom Basket, (4) Zapotec, (4) Beauty Lottringa
Bed 5
(4) KBX, (4) Orange Slice F2&F3, (4) Northern Lights, (4) Lucid Gem, (4) Marianna's Peace
Bed 6
(4) New Big Dwarf, (2) Pink Berkely Tye Dye, (2) Green Berkely Tye Dye, (2) Pineapple Pig, (2) Juane Flamme, (4) Olpalka, (4) Big Mama
Bed 7
(4) Brad's Atomic Grape, (2) Barry's Crazy Cherry, (2) Dancing with Smurf's, (2) Pink Bumble Bee, (2) Snow White, (2) Chocolate Cherry, (2) Rosalita, (4) Riesentraube

[Cole_Robbie]

Beds are 10 feet wide?

[AlittleSalt]

Wow, lots of big ones, little ones, different varieties, colors and shapes.

[pmcgrady]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Beds are 10 feet wide?

Yeah 2 rows of 10 plants with 5 foot spacing. I'm going to use 10' wide plastic mulch, the 2 rows will be 2 1/2' from edge of plastic.

[pmcgrady]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Wow, lots of big ones, little ones, different varieties, colors and shapes.

You should have seen the list when I started... I axed a bunch of them.

[AlittleSalt]

That's what I'm doing today. Might need two axes

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by pmcgrady

Yeah 2 rows of 10 plants with 5 foot spacing. I'm going to use 10' wide plastic mulch, the 2 rows will be 2 1/2' from edge of plastic.

Are you overlapping rolls of plastic? I have never seen it be that wide. Do you think it will be ok to walk on? I would think you would need to, in order to access the middle. Also, is rain water going to pool on the plastic? I have that problem when it lays flat.

I'm not trying to rip on your plan, just trying to visualize.

[pmcgrady]

I going to use drip tape to water, and the tomato cage will be about 2' from edge of plastic after its covered with dirt to hold down, I should be able to reach most tomatoes. If need be I will make a couple 2'x2' chunks of plywood to lay down and step on. I was planning on crowning the center of bed so water runs off. This will be my first time growing under plastic, I'm open for suggestions

[pmcgrady]

I can get 6mil plastic in about any width at the lumber yard

[pmcgrady]

[Cole_Robbie]

That's UV-stabilized plastic, right? I'm not sure it will last a season if it isn't.

A lot can be learned from the way the layer machine puts down plastic. It uses a 4' roll, makes a raised bed, burying about 6" on either side, and stretches it tightly. There's nowhere for water to pool, and the plastic doesn't flop up and down in the wind, which can kill young plants in an afternoon if they slip below it.

Having more narrow rows also helps accommodate water runoff. In a heavy rain, even with a raised bed, water wicks up to wet the soil under the plastic, which is actually good because it saves water. Although I have had good results with no-till, when I build my next beds, I am going to till at least just a few inches before making the raised beds. That will give me a low spot to hold some water in very dry conditions. Last June was totally without rain for me. It was hard to keep the soil moist under the plastic even with drip irrigation. All my oblong cherries got BER.

Then in July it rained 12" in about four days. If that happens over a 10x50 bed, 500 square feet will get 500 cubic feet of water, which is 3,740 gallons. All that water has to go somewhere, and you want it to run away from your plants, so the plastic does not become a big rain funnel, drowning the plants.

Once again, I'm not trying to shoot down your idea, but just point out the issues you'll need to overcome.

[pmcgrady]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

That's UV-stabilized plastic, right? I'm not sure it will last a season if it isn't.

A lot can be learned from the way the layer machine puts down plastic. It uses a 4' roll, makes a raised bed, burying about 6" on either side, and stretches it tightly. There's nowhere for water to pool, and the plastic doesn't flop up and down in the wind, which can kill young plants in an afternoon if they slip below it.

Having more narrow rows also helps accommodate water runoff. In a heavy rain, even with a raised bed, water wicks up to wet the soil under the plastic, which is actually good because it saves water. Although I have had good results with no-till, when I build my next beds, I am going to till at least just a few inches before making the raised beds. That will give me a low spot to hold some water in very dry conditions. Last June was totally without rain for me. It was hard to keep the soil moist under the plastic even with drip irrigation. All my oblong cherries got BER.

Then in July it rained 12" in about four days. If that happens over a 10x50 bed, 500 square feet will get 500 cubic feet of water, which is 3,740 gallons. All that water has to go somewhere, and you want it to run away from your plants, so the plastic does not become a big rain funnel, drowning the plants.

Once again, I'm not trying to shoot down your idea, but just point out the issues you'll need to overcome.

Good points! Well taken! I may need to rethink this... 3,740 gallons of water... Wow.
Never thought about UV plastic... I left out contractor bags of sweet gum balls out all summer and the bags fell apart. 4' rows does sound like the way to go.

[Barb_FL]

Do you sell your tomatoes?

Anyway, I'm using this in 4' for Brocolli; it is water permeable. I'm using way less water now. I put runways of it down for walk ways too. It really works well with the weeds and gets walked on all the time.

http://www.amleo.com/groundcover-3oz-woven/p/VP-GC3/

[pmcgrady]

I attended my first farmers market last season, sold a grand total of $65 worth of tomatoes at $1.50/lb then gave up. I made more money selling squash, zucchini and cucumbers. This year I have a high end meat market interested in buying my tomatoes and reselling them in their store.
I also setup a fresh produce for sale page on Facebook which is generating some interest.

[Cole_Robbie]

If it were me, for each bed, I would push the two rows into a ridge, cover each one with drip tape and black plastic, and then run weed cloth down the middle. You can use the expensive UV-treated cloth and you don't have to cover it. It will last several seasons, and it takes foot traffic just fine. Don't put it over areas low enough to become puddles, or it will slip and trip you when you walk. Alternatively, you can buy the cheap weed cloth and cover it somehow to keep the sun from hitting it, like with a layer of straw. You'll want some fabric staples to hold down the cloth. I like the 6" ones a lot better than the 4".