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4. Tending the Tomato Patch
- Texas A&M University Press
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47 t e n D I n G t H e t o M A t o P A t c H Tending theTomato Patch PLANTING AND PROTECTING NEW TRANSPLANTS Always buy the healthiest plants you can find. Plants that are a bit tall can be used by laying the stem down in a trench. However, plants that look sick with a mosaic pattern to the foliage or shoestringlike tips may have been infected with a virus and are not a bargain even if they are free. Plants don’t grow out of a virus, and it can spread to your other tomatoes. Medium-sized plants, 4 to 6 inches tall, are usually the best size for the garden. Tomato transplants in gallon cans are tempting if you’re getting a late start, but they generally cost too much. Look for dark green stocky plants with good fertility and that have been grown with plenty of sun—in other words, not crowded. Sometimes we compromise on these parameters to get a particular variety, but never compromise by buying a sickly looking plant. Dig the planting hole about 4 inches deeper than necessary to set the plant about 2 inches deeper than it grew in the starter pot. This gives you room to place a couple of slow-release plant fertilizer tablets in the bottom of the hole along with any beneficial microorganism stimulants—like t e X A s t o M A t o L o V e R ’ s H A n D B o o K 48 Greenhouse tomato transplants. [3.145.130.31] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 19:42 GMT) 49 t e n D I n G t H e t o M A t o P A t c H mycorrhizae. A couple of tablespoons of organic fertilizer would be even better if you’re using inoculants. Almost all enthusiastic tomato growers have some special formula they like to place under the root system. Experiment with 1 or 2 tablespoons of superphosphate, encapsulated fertilizers, Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate, 1 level tablespoon in the bottom of the hole), or a handful of cottonseed meal or kelp meal under the roots. Then cover the cache with several inches of soil, set the transplant, fill in the soil, and water thoroughly. As the plant roots grow in the next few weeks, they will have this nutrient reservoir readily available. Tomato plants have the ability to send out roots from the stem, so if they are a bit tall, don’t worry about planting them a few inches deep. Remove any lower leaves that would be covered with soil, and wrap a cardboard or aluminum foil collar around the stem that extends 1 inch below and 2 inches above the soil surface after the plant is set and the soil pulled up to the stem. If the plants are, for example, 12 inches tall, you will need to lay the stem down in a trench and carefully tip the upper 5 to 6 inches out of the trench. Pull off any leaves that will be covered by the soil, and use a small bamboo stake to support the top. Don’t insist on a 90-degree bend or you may break the stem. The reason for laying the stem in a trench is to avoid losing the existing roots buried deep in a hole since they will suddenly have been thrust into a lower-oxygen environment. You can still pack some fertilizer/microbes under roots and stem, but you will just have to do a bit more digging. Setting a stocky, healthy tomato plant is easy. Dig the planting hole 3 to 4 inches deeper than necessary to set the plant 2 inches deeper than it grew in the pot. First, however, add some slowrelease fertilizer to the bottom of the hole and cover it with 2 inches of soil before setting the transplant. t e X A s t o M A t o L o V e R ’ s H A n D B o o K 50 Nothing is more frustrating than to set out your precious transplants and then find them chewed off at soil level the next day. Cutworms are usually the culprit; the collar of cardboard or aluminum foil added when transplanting should eliminate the problem. Several years ago, however, tomato plants with foil collars were chewed off above the collar in my garden . No self-respecting cutworm (even the...