tomato plant spacing

[robert banhidi]

I have three rows of heirloom tomatoes four feet apart, there seems to be a need to increase spacing?

The west row is doing better than the other two, using north south orientation. Could it be lack of air circulation?

The plants are healthy and the yield in center and east rows produce less.

Any suggestions?

[dcarch]

I wish I could have the luxury of wide spacing.

I only space mine 18" apart.

dcarch

[Suze]

Four feet apart should be sufficient between rows, and I doubt your problem is related to air circulation.

Could it be that your less productive rows are getting shaded part of the day by trees or a structure? Also, have you made observations/notes on how many hours of sun a day your various rows are getting? Doing so might shed some light (no pun intended) on the problem.

[QAGuy]

Could just be the quality of the dirt in each row. My plants in
the 'older' areas did better than some other plants in a 'newer'
section of the garden. I expanded the garden this year and noticed
a difference.

There's two 'newer' sections and one 'newer' section did better
than the other. I used a slightly different amending mix between
the two 'newer' sections and I can see the difference.

Or watering. Does the west row get more water somehow?

[bcday]

Agree with Suze, four feet is plenty of room between rows. The west row shouldn't be casting enough shade to affect the other two. Something else is causing the difference.

Are all three rows getting the same amount of water and fertilizer? If your garden slopes downhill toward the west a little bit, the west row could be getting a little more water and fertilizer due to runoff. Or maybe there was something different about the way the west row was prepared for planting.

[robert banhidi]

Thanks for your remedies! Bob