determining productivity

[TZ-OH6]

I have seen on posts people stating how many pounds of fruit they get from a given plant. How do you do it? Why do you do it?

I'm a scientist so I'm fully aware of the time and effort needed to gather the data, and it seems to be such a pain to do just for a garden (=relaxing past time?). 20-30 plants = 20-30 data sheets that have to be shuffled and filled in every time you walk out to get fruit. How do you know which fruits came from which plants (write on the fruits with markers as you pick them?).

Say you want a tomato to put in your lunch and you are running late, or are dog tired after work and want one for your dinner salad, you can't just go out and grab a couple of tomatoes. And, if you have a cogardener how do you convice them to go through the extra trouble?

[feldon30]

Using a Sharpie, I write shorthand of the name of the variety on top of each fruit I pick, unless it's a cherry or something. I do not intend to weigh each tomato, but pictures will be very helpful in helping me decide if it makes sense to grow it again next year.

This year I have given 3 slots to Paul Robeson, Gregori's Altai, and JD's Special C-Tex, and 2 slots to Indian Stripe, Hege German Pink, and Earl's Faux. If I don't get much production out of those, I will have to make some hard choices next year.

Last year I was out of town for a week during prime picking and a roommate picked a lot without labeling. I think as long as I am in Houston, I will not be able to go out of town from May 15-June 15.

[nctomatoman]

I think its a case of different strokes for different folks - some people (well, a very small niche) use a research approach to learn about their techniques, the varieties, and their garden space - so collecting data is a way to do this. The key, of course, is actually using it - looking back on it, leraning from it...I am also a scientist and a project/change manager, and have been in large pharma for years, and it is interesting to note how there is a much stronger preference for people to look ahead and NOT learn from the past (not invented here syndrome!).

Nice thing about gardening is that there is a multitude of ways of doing it and no need to have to do things any particular way - so everyone can be creative, learn, and teach!

[Hilde]

That's a good point, Craig!

As a novice gardener, the scientific approach really appeals to me, as I want to learn as much as possible as fast as possible. I am building raised beds this year, and one of the things I see discussed here is how many plants do you put in a bed, how much space do you give each plant etc. It would be interesting to test this out by putting plants close together in one bed and further apart in one bed. For instance put 16 plants in one 4x16 and 8 in another. The soil and sun conditions would have to be the same, and the varieties would have to be the same. Of course to be really scientific I would have to do this over many years and on larger areas, but it might give an indicator at least to see the crop I would get from each of those beds and the general health and size of the plants.

Also, I like the idea of recording DTM and productivity for each variety that I try out (in addition to taste, which is first priority), since I haven't tried that many yet, to get an idea on what to plant in the future.

Hilde

[PaulF]

I also use sharpie, but only after the fruit is in the garage. My garden is pretty close and I have a neat little four compartment gathering bag to carry two or three varieties in where I weigh each tomato and then mark it so we know what we are eating later.

My scale is a simple one that has a large bowl on top so I can weigh several at a time or just one at a time if I want. My records keeping is in a school notebook with a column for each variety. I mark down each weight, for example: 18 oz or 6 for 32 oz. The later I add up the total tomatoes and the total ounces. I can put dates, comments, etc intermingled with the other information.

At the end of the year the info is summarized as the last page of that year's growing period. I did all this because others asked how a certain variety performed where I was. It also helped me see exactly how my tomatoes did from year to year.

As for taste, I am on a ten point scale and haven't really got a handle on how to describe tastes that is satisfactory for my own records let alone to describe for someone else. Too many variables.

All this records keeping has become more an obsession in the past few years since retirement. I, too, have a scientific background along with economics and business administration; does that translate as "geeky"? Or does it mean I have the extra time for all that stuff that wasn't there when I was working away from the garden every day?

Who knows or cares. I enjoy my lists and records whether it helps raise bigger or better or tastier or healthier tomatoes or not. When the neighbors help themselves to a tomato or two, that may throw the whole year off, but it isn't the end of the world or even a blip on the radar. I love it they like the flavor of my "strange tomatoes". Most of them are growing their own now anyway.

[carolyn137]

I'm also a scientist, now retired, and I'll be darned if I'll ever fool around with weighing fruits. If there's some big ones out there I'll maybe weigh those so I can brag a bit, but that's it.

For most of my tomato growing career I was growing from 500-1000 plants each season with up to maybe 250 varieties/season.

No way was I going to weigh the fruits/plant with all those plants. I do keep detailed data about all aspects of any new variety I grow, but not poundage/plant.

After growing about 2000 + varieties I'm pretty good at estimating if a variety is a high producer or not, and I let it go at that.

Besides, there are so many variables inherent in total fruit weight that I can see differences from one season to the next using the same seeds.

No two seasons are the same with respect to weather, and the efficacy of adding amendments is also tied up with that.

So no, this retired scientist never did weigh fruits and won't be doing so in the future either.

After all, in any given season, where's the controls, the backbone of almost any scientist's mantra?

[tomatoguy]

I am an ontologist, so I usually just let it be. Seriously, though, if I am trying to check productivity on a certain variety (as opposed to an uncertain variety), I weigh several tomatoes over a period of time after the size has stabilized. I take an average and multiply that by the number of tomatoes the plant produced. Not truly scientific, of course, but you get a pretty good ballpark estimate. I, too, use a sharpie to mark the tomatoes as I harvest, with the exception of cherries and the ones that don't make it to the house intact.

mater

[Suze]

While I am somewhat precise in some aspects of my tomato gardening and documentation, weighing/measuring/counting fruits has never been a particular interest of mine.

For one, I don't care about growing large tomatoes per se -- my main interest is how they taste. A very large tomato, while "cool" and interesting to pick, is just that to me -- nothing more than a large tomato unless it also tastes good. I also feel pretty much the same way about productive, but so-so tasting tomatoes.

I do occasionally weigh fruits out of general interest/amusement, and have a good scale that is accurate to the gram. But I don't and can't weigh every single one.

I also don't have the time and interest in keeping track of fruit count for any particular variety , but do note general productivity (which is admittedly mostly kept in my head). For example, I could tell you which varieties tended to be the most productive in X year, and/or which ones tend to be the most productive year after year for me. That is "good enough" to satisfy my personal need to keep track of things, I suppose.

Hats off to those that can keep up with that sort of thing and wish to do so, though.

[dice]

People actually eat Sharpie ink?

[akgardengirl]

I think Sharpie ink is toxic so I won't be eating it.l
Sue

[feldon30]

It is rare that the very top shoulders of the fruit have the same awesome texture and flavor as the rest of the tomato, at least the varieties I grow. I've never been tempted to eat the part of the tomato that I write its name on.

[duajones]

I keep a record of each plant and write down what I harvest each day. With only 21 plants last year it didnt require a ton of time.

[barkeater]

It is hardly any extra work for me. I have an electronic scale left from my farm market days, and next to it is a legal pad, on which I record the weights.

Everything is on one sheet of paper where the name is recorded, then the first picking date, then the weight at each picking. So, a typical line looks like this:

Supersonic=8-19/4.07/10.71/.66/2.27/.89/6.8/3.51/.48

As you see, every tomato isn't individually weighed. When I go out to pick, I bring a bunch of plastic grocery bags and a sharpie with me. I write the name of the variety I'm picking on the bags. Most are reused many times. Then they are brought in and each bag is weighed and recorded.

[Granny]

Originally Posted by dice

People actually eat Sharpie ink?

You know, I was thinking that myself and wondering whether the Sharpie-using folks peel all their 'maters before they eat them. You can take Sharpie off with rubbing alcohol of course, but I wouldn't want to eat that either.

I'm with Carolyn on this. I spend plenty of time just picking the tomatoes and canning the tomatoes. Darned if I'm going to weigh them too.

[Worth1]

I cant remember the last time I weighed a tomato it must have been at the store.

And as far as records are concerned I keep them all in my head.

Its simple good tomato bad tomato the same goes with productivity.

If a tomato does or doesn't produce well in three years in three different types of growing conditions then I wont or will waste my time with it anymore.

I have several on death row right now, they have run out appeals.