tomato experiment Archives - The Desert Echo

TOMATO CUTTINGS

August 30, 2013 No Comments

easy guide to propagate tomatoes when it is too late to sow

A tomato plant wasn’t born to stand to attention on a tomato stake, pruned within an inch of it’s life to a singledelicate stem. It’s a rambler, and like pumpkins and herbs like thyme all it needs is to touch its stem to the earth for it to sprout roots. This delightful trick can be used to your advantage when it gets too late for any tomatoes you sow to mature in time to bear any significant fruit.

A tomato cutting will bear fruit in a matter of weeks after the cutting sprouts roots.

So I plant all my tomato seeds in True Spring (Southern Hemisphere: September-October, Northern: March-April), plant them out in the beginning of High Summer (Southern: November, Northern: May). Then once these grow multiple stems about 20-30cm long I take cuttings to make extra plants from High Summer -Deep Summer (Southern: December-Mid March).

And here’s the best part! Tomato cuttings don’t actually need to be cut off the parent plant until they have grown roots! “What?!?” you say, here’s how:

ingredients

plastic juice/soft drink bottle

knife

secateurs & methylated spirits for disinfecting

hessian/cloth

scissors

electrical tape

chock

seed raising mix & trowel

chamomile tea

cutting-plastic-soft-drink-bottle-reuse-recycle

step 1

Cut base and top off the bottle. As bottles are wider at the bottom than the top, the top should be cut off at the point where it is slightly smaller than the base.

step 2

Cut hole in base for tomato stem to pass through.

step 3

Chose a 20-30cm long stem and after disinfecting your secateurs with metho cut off all but 2-3 top leaf stems. Also remove any flowers so the tomato puts all its energy into producing roots.

how-to-make-tomato-cutting-plastic-bottle

step 4

Cut a piece of hessian to fit in the bottle base. Snip a cross in the centre for the tomato stem to be threaded through. You do not need to cut the stem from the parent tomato plant! Take the rest of the bottle and place the top end in the base.

step 5

Tape the base to the bottle with electrical tape.

step 6

Fill bottle with seed raising mixture being careful not tpo bruise or snap the tomato stem.

chamomile-tea-tomato-cutting-healthy-resilient

step 7

Chock up on a piece of wood. A brick and timber board work well. Label with name and date.

step 7

Water with diluted chamomile tea.

protect-tomato-seedlings-sun-roots-develop

the next few weeks

step 9

Keep your tomato “cutting” moist for the next few weeks, it’s very important that it doesn’t dry out.

Roots should start forming in the first week, but there is no need to cut in until you are ready to plant it in its new home. It should start developing new leaves as well.

step 10

By this stage you should clearly see a mass of roots through the plastic bottle. Cut the tomato cutting from its parent below the bottle, remove the bottle base cut the bottle along the side to slip it out before planting. A cut bottle can be reused by electrical taping the side back together.

why are bottle tomato cutting best?

Tomatoes are very prone to transplant stress. With an established root system before being snipped from itsparent your cuttings are more likely to survive.

It’s a great way to “clone” any particularly resilient, tasty tomatoes you have in your garden and extend its harvest beyond the life of its parent.

They transport well in their bottle pots.

As your cutting is already around 15cm tall out of the bottle your plant will grow tomatoes much sooner than a cutting taken the traditional way (only around 6cm) or a seedling grown from seed.

A great way of re-using plastic bottles that would otherwise go in the recycling bin. A clear bottle means you can see the roots growing.

step 8

Wrap the bottles in hessian to protect the growing roots from the sun and retain moisture.

Garden

PLANTING OUT TOMATOES

August 1, 2013 7 Comments

transplanting solanaceae and other warm weather crops
growing tomatoes in a temperate climate

garden-planting-out-plan-solanaceae-companions

After months of waiting, it’s finally here, that tiny window where you can plant out your hot weather crops! Blink and it’s gone, a month before it was too cool and a month later too hot, without enough time for the fruit to mature before autumns chill prevents fruit ripening. In Melbourne this magical month is November, when the minimum temperature doesn’t dip below 10C, but the rain has not yet dried up and those scorching 30C plus days are few and far between. In the Northern Hemisphere this would be May.

Spring’s warm weather companions have been flourishing, beans twisting around stakes and lettuces feathering over the earth to protect your delicate young seedlings from the worst of sun and wind. The rest of your hot weather lovers such as basil can go in now with your tomatoes, capsicums, chillis and eggplants. There was room for a cucumber too in the corner of my garden bed, to twirl up and over an arbour.

A month of work paves the way for two months of rest

After you slog this month out you will have earned that beach vacation and the garden should be fairly self sufficient. Remember don’t spoil your plants and they won’t throw a tantrum when you’re not there.

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My garden bed plan for the warmer months. Tomatoes in the centre of each triangle, supported by string thread around stakes. Lettuces suceeded by basil, marigolds, amaranth
Stage 1: September – November
Stage 2: December – March

Grow plants densely in hot weather to protect them form sunburn, otherwise put up a shadecloth.

plastic-bottle-greenhouse-tomato-seedling-propagation

Tips for planting out tomatoes

In warmer months plant in the evening to allow transplants to recover overnight. The opposite is true in cold weather, where the plants need the warm day to prepare for the cold night, to reduce the likelihood of rot.

Tomatoes are nutrient hungry, but if your soil is too rich they will produce a lot of leaves an no fruit. Dig a hole twice as deep as your seedling’s pot and place poultry manure in the bottom, cover this with soil and plant seedling on top. The plant will grow deeps roots, and reach the manure when it need the extra boost, when covered in fruit.

Avoid overhead watering as this can contribute to sun spot and fungal spores can be splashed onto foliage from other plants.

Plant hot weather crops when the minimum temperature is consistently over 10C

Plant tomato seedlings deeper than they were in their pot so the roots are nice and deep to protect them from drying out. Like cucurbits and some herbs, tomatoes form roots on their stems when in contact with soil.

There is no need to prune. Studies have shown yield is actually reduced when plants are pruned.Wounds on plants increase their risk of disease. If you need to cut them, use secateurs disinfected with mentholated spirits.

Plants can get stressed because they don’t get enough moisture. Water your seedling thoroughly an hour before transplanting and for added benefit use seaweed tea. This helps soil cling to the roots and minimises shock. If it is really dry fill the hole with water and wait for it to drain into the soil before planting.

Mulch thickly around plant to keep soil damp.

watercolour-plastic-bottle-greenhouse-tomato-roots

Tomatoes have delicate stems, be careful when handling not to bruise of bend them. The same goes for the roots, be gentle!

mychorrizal-fungi-roots-seedling-propagation

Add mycorrhiza fungi to the roots of the seedling before transplant. Whilst natural ecosystem such as the forest floor have millions of fungi in the soil, garden beds often require the addition of beneficial fungi to act as agents for nutrient exchange, making nutrients otherwise locked up available.

transplant-tomato-polywicking-bed-chamomile-tea

Water deeply to saturate the soil and make sure it stays moist for the first few days after transplant. Try a chamomile herb tea After that water only once a week, but very deeply. This encourages deep roots, watering too often, and too shallowly causes roots to form near the surface and these are vulnerable to drying out on a hot day. Plants watered too become soft and delicate.

Garden

double-decker poly wicking bed.

May 7, 2013 4 Comments

tomato experiment preparation

recycle-reuse-rubbish-plastic-bottles-polystyrene-boxes

Whenever I passed the Queen Victoria Market there was always a mound of polystyrene broccoli boxes so impressively high that it reassembled a hot weather igloo palace. It was kind of sickening and ever the innovator the powers that be came up with a solution to this spectacle pointless waste – hide them out the back and crush them out of sight and out of mind.

I could only reduce those insatiable mountains of foam by 20 boxes, but if you feel inspired to make a double-decker wicking bed too too dear reader, perhaps we can get something started! I have a concrete driveway beginning to be filled with poly wicking beds for my tomato experiment.

Tomorrow we’ll work our way up to lofty heights of Everest, today let’s start local!

WHY A WICKING BED?

On those exhaustingly hot weeks you just don’t want to find yourself hose in hand every night after a long day in the office with mosquitoes buzzing around your ankles.

Wicking beds have a water reservoir at the bottom so you have to water less often – about every two weeks. The water is down deep so it encourages deep roots, so stronger plants, more resilient to a bit of sunburn. They offer a more constant water source too, so in theory it should be perfect for things like tomatoes that split and carry on if their water supply is erratic.

WHY POLY BOXES?

There is so much embodied energy and money that goes into making a regular wicking bed, what with the pond liner, the brand new poly pipe, agi pipe, shadecloth, etc, it doesn’t seem the right fit for the home garden. A poly wicking bed however is entirely made of unwanted materials, so you can feel smug while you make it! Ha!

WHY DOUBLE-DECKER?

I’ve seen single poly wicking beds before, but I wanted to make them for deep rooted plants like tomatoes, so why not simply make them stackable?

INGREDIENTS & METHOD:

1LEVEL GROUND – a level surface allows water to be evenly distributed. Concrete driveways and paved areas often have a slight fall to them which could lead to water pooling down one end. Cans and pots of varying height can be used to elevate the boxes off the ground and create a more level base. A builder’s level is accurate but unnecessary, you can simply fill the container with a little water and see if evenly covers the bottom or pools at one end.

2SEALED CONTAINER – no plastic pond liner or staple guns required, a broccoli box has no holes and is well insulated against temperature extremes. I simply snap the top lip off and place it on the can/pot base.

3WATER DISTRIBUTION – another chance to raid the recycle bin. 7x600mL bottles with their bottoms cut off instead of the usual PVC and agi pipes. Wide mouthed ones are best because a standard hose can fit in the top, but otherwise just cut the tops off. On such a small scale, the gaps between the three bottles laid on the bottom will be enough to ensure even water throughout the reservoir. The remaining four stacked will allow you to deliver water right to the bottom of the wicking bed.

4WATER RESERVOIR – no more than 30cm deep to avoid stagnant water. Can be filled with scoria, gravel, broken terracotta pots…anything that allows big pockets of water between and can become saturated to encourage the wicking/capillary action up into the soil above. Nothing too fine as it will clog the plastic bottles. Fill with water to level out the scoria, then use a sharp stick to make 1 or 2 holes at the opposite end to the filling end. These act as overflows to prevent flooding when it rains.

5SOIL SEPARATION – something to prevent the soil from getting into the resevoir, but that allows water to wick through. Hessian or old sheets can be used, they will eventually need to be replaced, but in such a small wicking bed that’s no big deal. Use shadecloth if you are looking for something more permanent. Fold the hessian up the edges of the bed so no dirt gets through and so it is easy to remove should you want to take the wicking bed apart.

6NUTRIENT STORE* – high nitrogen poultry manure mixed with high carbon straw or dried leaves will make a most delightful reward for plants that grows nice deep roots. Then fill this to the brim with homemade potting mix.

72ND STOREY – cut the bottom out of the second broccoli box leaving a lip for it to sit on the one below. Fun fact: in a moment of despondency when my scissors broke in two I found that a half scissor works a treat at sawing through polystyrene, don’t throw them away!

8PLANT POCKET/SUPPORTS – As I have mentioned before it is best to prepare any garden bed at least 2 week to a month before you plant out plants that hate transplant to avoid soil settling crushing delicate roots . That is why I made a cardboard mould the size of my plastic bottle greenhouse so I can fill the wicking bed with soil and get the companion plants established before the tomatoes are ready to plant out. It is then as simple as pulling out the mould and slipping the tomato in the hole. Add stakes/supports now to avoid disturbing roots later.

8POTTING MIX – fill in the gaps with potting mix, plant some companions plants and mulch thickly. Voila, now it’s ready to plant out your tomatoes when the temperature reaches a consistent 10C+.

TOMATO FACTS
Although tomatoes love nutrient rich soil do not spoil your tomatoes by over fertilising the soil with high nitrogen manures! They will become brattish – soft and lazy, shallow rooted plants that appear* green and lush but require constant watering and attention susceptible to disease with thin skinned tomatoes prone to rot.
Additional nutrients should be delivered in the form of compost/seaweed teas ONLY once a plant has already started fruiting to extend cropping and overall yield. An even better idea is to bury poultry manure out of reach 20-30cm nearby or under your plants so their roots will access it only when they have grown deep and their fruit is ripening.

Garden

tomato experiment.

April 23, 2013 3 Comments

is there really a right time and a right place?

Seasons accelerate by and before we know it, summer’s ripening fruit is just a memory. If we don’t take the time to consciously observe our actions in the garden and learn from them we can end up in a rut. Year after year speeding by with the same failures and our successes remaining a mysterious shrugs of fate. Books and charts can be useful, but if we blindly follow what works for that person in that location we might never find that a banana plant can flourish in that sunny corner of our Mebournian garden.

Little experiments can be fun (if not entirely scientific) ways of discovering what works for you.

My first garden experiment was in year 8 when I tried growing silverbeet with different levels of fertiliser for science class, are the foolishness of youth. As I remember I wasn’t really keen on eating the silverbeet either. This Tomato Experiment on the other hand involves no pesticides or chemical fertilisers. It’s a step-by-step way to test when to sow and plant out tomatoes in your local area for optimum results.

Won’t you join me in a little investigating? What experiments have you tried in your garden?

THE QUESTION?

If my little daliance in silverbeet trials taught me anything, it’s that the first step is working out what you want to find out.

When should I plant my tomatoes for optimum yields and minimum fuss?

This is my main burning question, staring daggers at a miserable winter’s day I looked to my sow what when chart. I was desperate to start planting the warm weather beauties and it suggested as early as August. But the gardening gurus (Jackie French and Co.) shook their heads sagely from the gardening pages, they warned with furrowed brows: don’t get too hasty child! Don’t sow seeds too early at the first whiff of spring, you’ll end up with inferior plants, more susceptible to disease and pests, weak and sappy with lower yields and lesser fruit. Bah hum bug I replied, I’ll see it when I believe it! So the experiment was born.

I would also like to know:
Does sowing seeds early equal earlier fruit or do later sowing catch up?
When is too late to plant out?
Do tomatoes sown in my Plastic Juice Bottle Greenhouses grow better than those planted in pots/trays?
Can polystyrene wicking beds work for tomatoes or are raised no dig beds better?

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Thinning the tomato seedlings and mulching around them with coco coir.

Burying stems to encourage roots
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THE TOMATO

I’d like to tell you that I chose the Periforme tomato because it is the most delicious cooked tomato I have ever had and that it was to challenge myself as I find larger tomatoes more difficult to grow than cherry tomatoes. But the truth… I accidentally ordered two packets of these and wanted an excuse to use them. The above are a happy coincidence. This is a late season tomato and ideally I would have preferred to try a mid season variety, but when the internet shopping gods send you a sign, you have to go with it.

What: Tomato Periforme Abruzzo
Why: Good slicing or cooking tomato
Where: Diggers Club Heirloom Seeds
When: Each month 3 seeds per container, 12 total (germination rate 86%). Once the first set of mature leaves appear I can then choose the strongest from each container thinning out the straglers. I then mulch around the remaining seedlings with coconut coir to retain moisture.
How: 4 Plastic Juice Bottle Greenhouses, placed in polystyrene boxes on north facing verandah. The polystyrene box helps insulate the seedlings against weather extremes. The mini juice bottle greenhouse provides enough room for the seedlings to grow until they are ready to plant out without requiring transplanting, which tomatoes really don’t enjoy.

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When they reach 20cm they are ready to plant out, but as I started sowing early it will still be too cold so I add another juice bottle layer and fill it with homemade potting mix up the first set of mature leaves, burying the baby leaves. Roots will form along the the buried stem.

TRUE SPRING RESULTS

Bottle greenhouse Germination:
August Periforme – 14-17 days
September Periforme – 12 days
October Periforme – 11 days

As the days got warmer the Periforme tomatoes germinated much faster.

Comparison Germination:
August Purple Russian – 19 days
September Beam’s Yellow Pear – 13 days
October Valentine – 14 days

These tomatoes were sown in trays then transplanted into newspaper pots/milk cartons 7cm wide and 12cm deep. They were left uncovered on a north facing verandah. The August tomato was much slower to germinate, the others only a day behind.

Although it would have been much more accurate to compare Periforme with Periforme, a girl’s got to have some variety!

End of October
August Periforme already 20cm tall and ready to plant out but the weather is still too cold. Built the soil up around the stem. I wondered if I should have attempted to plant out the August tomatoes now instead of waiting, by next month their stems will be so long it will be difficult to plant them out without damaging them. September Periforme quickly catching up to the height of the Augusts and look like they will be ready to plant out in November as well. I wondered if I should have bothered with the August planting at all. We shall see what the yields reveal.