Chapter 44
Some repetition and a few more tips to consider
Tip #1. Fall Garden Preparation: Preparing your garden in the fall for next year is really important for several reasons. To manage the various diseases that might affect your plants, prevention is always the first and most important thing you can do. This means removing all of the organic matter from the plants of the prior season from your garden, a total cleanup. Also any weeds should be gotten rid of to prevent their seeds from falling on your soil. After cleanup comes adding organic matter. I use compost that I make from leaves. If I did not have any composted leaves, I would go around collecting leaves and putting them in my garden, up to 6 inches worth. All of this needs to then be roto tilled in. After tilling, I close the gate to my garden and move on to the next phase, choosing seeds and obtaining them. I have not mentioned cover crops as I don't use them but that could be a mistake. I just don't want to till again in the spring
Tip #2 Choosing the right seed: From whence will the next big tomato come? It could be grown from one of the established heirloom seeds presently grown for size. Or maybe an as yet undiscovered heirloom or possibly a hybrid seed or a cross not yet made. Or it might be a known variety grafted onto a vigorous rootstock. Or the next world record will be the result of some new growing technique or an as yet undiscovered substance applied to the plant or the soil? For now we have to go with what we have.
What tomato variety should you grow? When I look at a variety I want one that produces a large single tomato and also has the tendency to produce fused blossoms. There are many varieties that grow big individual tomatoes but only a few that also produce fused blossoms. The variety we should be seeking must produce big tomatoes with at least two and three megablossoms on each plant. Tomatoes that meet this standard include the hybrid Big Zac, Domingo, Brutus Magnum, Delicious, and Megamarv. Slankards and Belgium Giant should also be given consideration. In my experience all of these varieties grow big and produce the necessary blossoms required to give you a shot at the big one. One thing for sure is that you will not get a big tomato if you do not have the seeds that give you a chance to do so. Also I believe it is worthwhile to grow several different varieties each year because some seem to behave differently from year to year depending on weather conditions and there is no way to predict what a growing season will be like.
Tip #3 Identifying and Marking Megablossoms: And so, why are some of us growing these varieties but not getting big tomatoes? This has to do with whether or not we have the good fortune to get fused blossoms and then how they are taken care of. Luck may play a role in getting the big blossom but knowing how to care for it and the resulting tomato is what gives us a winner. Keep your eyes open for big blossoms. Search for them and mark the plants that have them. (I use surveyors tape for this purpose.) Watch them grow and await their opening. Many growers are getting mega blossoms only to have them abort. They simply fall off. The care they receive may determine whether or not they get fertilized. We have some good seeds though we need to continue breeding to get better ones. The advantage to planting seeds from a 7 pound tomato is that the line is known to have produced megablossoms that survived and became big tomatoes. I think we have some good seeds. Now let's get the big tomato. Later we will talk about how to care for the mega blossom. However, if you are not looking for them and noting where they are, they will be on their own, which is not good. How many of you take the time to not only watch for big blossoms but then take the time to watch and nurture them?.
Tip #4 Preparing your planting hole. There are many things you can add to your planting hole but we have all probably been adding too much. If your soil has been taken care of, i.e. organic material tilled in etc, your actual planting hole should not need that much. I dig a hole about 12 inches deep and then throw a handful of bone meal, some gypsum, a tablespoon of Epsom salts, maybe some mycorrhizae and a handful of Tomato Tone in, mix it well and then put my plant in that spot and then finally water it in with Neptunes Harvest.
Tip #5 Pruning: As you begin pruning and making decisions early in the season about which suckers to leave on a plant consider this. The first and only sucker allowed to grow should be the one directly below the very first fruit cluster on the main vine. This sucker should grow to become your second main vine. Any other suckers should be removed after allowing them to form one or two leaves. These "extra" leaves will collect sunlight and produce sugar for tomato growth and will at the same time protect the vines and tomatoes from sunburn. The idea behind the second vine is to give the plant an opportunity to produce additional blossoms. And also to help shade the tomatoes you are growing, providing protection from sunburn. Whichever of the two vines has the largest tomato on it is terminated just above the tomato. The other vine is terminated at the same level. After that all new growth is removed, tomato blossoms and suckers.
Blossom pruning is another issue. Essentially, I prune off all small blossoms before they open. I leave the big ones on. Once I see that a tomato has set, I remove all blossoms unless I see a really huge one. I will watch it until I can decide which tomato will be allowed to go forward. Sometimes I watch these until they are about baseball size. Sometimes there may be several left on as I decide which to prune. I try to make a decision about which one looks healthiest and which one is growing the fastest. Sometimes I probably let both tomatoes stay on longer than they should. It is really hard to cut off a growing tomato that has promise. The longest I would allow more than one tomato to be on the vine is up to one month before you believe you will be harvesting. Do not prune off more than one big tomato a day from any one plant as there will be an effect on the remaining tomatoes.
Tip #6 More about mega blossoms: Most of the megablossoms on your tomato plants will be among the first blossoms to appear and will be 24 to 36 inches from the ground. The majority of these will be on the plant by the time it is 24 inches tall and almost all by the time it is 36 inches tall. If no mega blossoms are present on your tomato plant by the time it is 36 inches tall, then you should consider allowing that plant to grow tomatoes for consumption. Mega blossoms tend to appear below the 36 inch level but occasionally are seen toward the top of the plant. Those coming on the top don't usually have the time required to grow a big tomato. The frost gets them. Minnie has had only one big tomato higher than 3 feet on a plant in all the years she has grown and that apparently was at about 4 feet. If early on in the season you remove all of the lower clusters, you reduce your chances of getting the big tomato you desire but I would assume you are looking at these blossoms before you cut them off and are not removing any mega blossoms. If your plant produces no megablossom then it doesn't matter a lot what you do with the top of the plant as you will be eating any tomatoes you get from that plant since they will be smaller.
Tip #7: Mega blossom Care: Megablossoms need special attention if you want them to develop into big tomatoes. Consider protecting your plants with a promising blossom with a plastic wrap on cold nights during the period of pollination/fertilization. Big tomatoes need lots of pollen. Most pollen is shed between 10 AM and 3 PM and so it is helpful if you shake or vibrate (some use an electric toothbrush to do this) your tomato plants during this time period when blossoms are open. This results in more pollen landing on the stigma. Also it is a good idea to give your blossom extra pollen from other plants if it is available. You may obtain pollen from any tomato plant, preferably the same variety if you save seeds. If not, you will not get the seeds you want from that tomato. You will get a hybrid. Pollination/fertilization is less likely to occur if the humidity is high or it is raining. You might want to protect the newly opened blossom from rain. You could also protect it if weather is too hot by shading. High nitrogen levels in the soil inhibit pollination/fertilization and so do not use fertilizer products around the time of pollination/fertilization. Very dry weather decreases fertilization and so be certain your plants are adequately watered.
Start timing the appearance of open megablossoms so that they are on the vine when the air temperature is less than 80 degrees during the day and no lower than 65 degrees at night. If temperatures at night are less than 55 degrees or over 90 degrees in the daytime, the pollen granules stick together and pollllination/fertilization fails. If your megablossoms are coming too early (cold nights) consider starting your plants later next year.
Tip #8 Beware Nitrogen: Want huge tomato plants with luscious foliage? Pour on the nitrogen. You won't get many tomatoes though and those you do get will be smaller than usual. Nitrogen stimulates the growth of foliage and seems to retard the development of tomatoes. Fewer tomatoes will appear on the plant. Those that do will be small as they will have been robbed of the sugars they need to grow by all of the suckers. What to do? Prune. And lay low on the nitrogen.
Tip #9 Fertilizing: If your soil was well prepared and you added the bone meal and Tomato Tone to your planting hole then you really will not need a lot of fertilizer. I add some fertilizer once a week, 1 tablespoon of All Purpose Miracle- Gro dissolved in a gallon of water for each plat and applied to the base of the plant. About once a month I put 2 tablespoons of Neptune's Harvest dissolved in a gallon of water and applied to the base of each plant.
Tip #10 Watering: How much water you apply to each plant depends a lot on your soil, how well it drains. If your soil is sandy you will need more and if it is clay you will need less. I aim for one gallon of water at the base of each plant every day unless it rains. I often use a water wand to check the moisture around the base of my plant. If the meter goes over less than half way, I water. If it goes past half way, I don't. Try to keep the water level in your soil steady, not too wet and not too dry. If a tomato is on the vine and the conditions in the garden are dry, the plant will remove water from the tomato and the tomato will lose weight. This is why the amount of water in your garden should be held as stable as possible though you cannot control the weather.
Tip #11 Disease Prevention and Treatment: The very first step in managing disease in your patch, in my opinion, is having made certain you removed all organic matter from it in the fall. I have room outside my garden area and so I pile all of the old tomato plants etc in a place far away from where I will be growing my tomatoes next year. Perhaps, at some time in the distant future, after the stuff composts, several seasons later, I will use it elsewhere than in my tomato garden.
You will notice I am talking here about Disease Prevention and Treatment. This is because for many diseases by the time you see them it is too late. If I see some bugs crawling around in my garden I consider spraying everything with Triazacide. I probably will end up spraying this stuff maybe once or not at all in a season. I really fear tomato russet mites as they wiped me out one year. Also starting right after planting, I do spray everything with daconil. I like this because I have used it for years on pumpkins and so I feel comfortable with it. It puts a white film on some of the leaves and so I can tell it is still on the plant. I spray after every big rain because the rain drops are inoculating my tomato plants with late blight spores which are carried down from the atmosphere in the water droplets and onto my plants. If I see any signs of fungus such as powdery mildew on my plants I go into heavy mode and spray with other antifungal agents readily available in stores such as Immunox or Mancozeb. Usually daconil is all I need. I know there will be disagreement with what I do here and I realize everyone would like to be totally "organic." In my garden I would love to be totally organic but this is just not possible for me. Prevention is the lesser of the evils but doesn't always work.
Tip #12 Tomato Support: I like using tomato cages. The ones made of concrete reinforcement wire are really good. Texas Tomato Cages, though more expensive, are even better. They last forever. They fold up for storage and have bigger openings than CRW. My big tomatoes have trouble going through the smaller holes of CRW and some won't even fit through the Texas cages. I put a 7 foot long rebar pipe in the center of the cages to help support them so they won't later fall over in the wind. The rebar is forced down into the ground at least one and up to 2 feet. I tie the vines onto the rebar and cages as they grow, using surveyors tape which is soft and flexible and cheap and easy for me to tear off. The tomatoes must be watched carefully and supported before they ever even think of pulling off the vine, probably at the one pound or more stage. More recently I have been using rebar, twine and tomato clips.
Tip #14 Tomato Protection: A small white plastic bag can be used to protect a large tomato from the sun. The tomato should not be placed in the bag. The bag can be positioned over the tomato to protect it. This is especially important if you prune your plants vigorously. Sunburn kills tomatoes.
Tip #15 Tomato plants should ideally be planted at least 4 feet apart. This allows easier access for pruning, better plant observation and good air circulation for disease prevention. This means rows of plants should also be at least 4 feet apart. My rows are 5 feet apart. The less pruning you do the further apart the tomato plants should be.
Tip #16 When to pick your big tomato and what to do near the end is a consideration. Some growers I know measure the circumference of their tomato to see if it is growing or slowing down. Another way to decide is by detecting a change in the color of the tomato. If I had a 7 pound tomato on my vine I would be doing everything I could to increase its weight. Tomatoes stop growing when they begin to ripen. If they are ripe, I pick them. Tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator to hold their weight for at least a month. If you freeze them it is over. They will break down as they thaw. If you put them in the refrigerator make certain they are not sitting on anything sharp etc. Put a cloth or something under them so the weight of the tomato is shared. Early picking does not affect taste.
Tip #17 Starting Time: I believe many giant tomato growers are starting their plants too early in the season. The biggest tomatoes are the result of a megablossom which has been properly fertilized. Air temperatures ideally should be between below 80 degrees in the daytime and above 65 degrees at night to assure successful fertilization will occur. Most tomato growers have been aiming toward getting their plants into the ground after the chance of a frost has passed. This is fine for those wanting early tomatoes but is not so good for those aiming for "big." Megablossoms have a better chance of not being aborted if fertilization occurs when evening temperatures are above 65. Megablossoms, because of their size, need optimal fertilization conditions with temperature being one of them. All of this would suggest that you start your tomatoes later than most of you have been accustomed to. Last season I started my plants way too soon. The starting date was April 15 which aimed toward having them in the ground on June 1, my last frost date. As a result many of the megablossoms were on the plants when the nights were too cool for fertilization and, as a result, I lost them. Now I believe my tomato plants should be in the garden more toward the end of June or early July. The warmer days and nights would provide better weather conditions for fertilization. Try to time your plants so that your first blossoms, which will include most of the megablossoms, are present when weather conditions are more optimal. We are not going for the first tomato but rather the biggest.
