Tomato Lessons Learned - Early Summer

The fruit is setting and the indeterminates are growing out of control. A couple of more lessons learned.

1. The Early Girls are happy to set fruit even when there is a large swing between day and night temps. Don't get me wrong - they set better once the temps stabilize, but it's sure is nice to see some small fruit in mid-June.
   
2. The Early Girls are significantly earlier than the Big Boy and Celebrity varieties. The Early Girls are loaded up with nice medium sized fruit. The others are playing catching up.
3. The Early Girl fruits start to grow very quickly once the flowers are pollinated. Maybe this is why they are earlier than the other varieties.
   
4. It's a completely unscientific experiment, but the Celebrities seem to be just as happy in a 4 gallon SWC as in a 5 gallon SWC. This doesn't say anything about whether they would be happier in an 18 gallon SWC. Here happiness is defined as producing lots of flowers, setting fruit and growing that fruit without catfacing/BER problems.
   
5. In a similarly unscientific experiment, the Celebrity in the regular 5 gallon bucket (not an SWC) is not unhappy, but is not as happy as the ones in the SWCs.
6. I said it last time, but it bears repeating: If your seedling has more than one main stem, trim it back to one. It will only lead to trouble.
   
7. Don't buy the last three crappy looking tomatillos and transplant them at the end of June. It's just too late.

Miracle Grow with Moisture Control holds too much water

I noticed that the potting mix had settled and was no longer mounded at the top. Since the monsoons will be starting a couple of weeks, I thought now would be a good time to add some more potting mix. If the potting mix isn't mounded, then water can collect on top of the plastic mulch and effectively top water. This can cause too much of the fertilizer strip to dissolve and over fertilize. I have also noticed that the Big Boys have symptoms of Leaf Roll (not Leaf Curl) and the lower leaves are yellowing/browning. This isn't much of a problem with the Early Girls (same 18gal EarthTainer) or the Celebrities (5gal SWC). One possible cause is too little water or too much water, so while I had the boxes open I checked the moisture levels. The potting mix was more than moist or damp, but not wet. It was the same in all the 18 gallon SWCs and the buckets. I can't know for sure, but I blame the Moisture Control. I'm using 50% Miracle Grow Potting Mix with Moisture Control and 50% regular Miracle Grow Potting Mix. I have read other reports that the Moisture Control formula wicks and holds too much water for SWCs. I'll phase it out over time by mixing in more regular potting mix at the beginning of each season.

EarthTainer Lessons Learned - Part 1

I like the DIY EarthTainer. I like it a lot. It does a very good job of maintaining consistent moisture levels even on hot, dry, windy Albuquerque Spring days. I hope it continues to satisfy as we go into the blazing hot summer. There are a couple of things I've learned.

1. The screen that separates the soil from the water reservoir needs to be supported as close to the edge as possible. Otherwise, the weight of the moist soil will cause the edges to sag and possibly block the overflow hole.
2. The potting mix will settle as it moistens. Keep extra on hand to top-off.
3. Before you plant or place the fertilizer strip, mix a small amount of fertilizer, epsom salts and garden lime into the top third of the potting mix.
   
4. Planet-Friendly Totes from Lowes are 99% post consumer product. Great for the environment, great for holding solids, not so great for holding liquids. One of mine leaks. So I lined all of mine with large contractor trash bags. I also put a folded up trash bag on the bottom before I put the screen in. I don't know how puncture resistant the trash bags are, but I figure the extra layers will keep the screen supports or fill tube from wearing a hole in the liner. The downside is figuring out the overflows. I pushed the liner through the overflow holes and trimmed off a little bit of liner. The hard part is keeping the liner from pulling back inside the tote. Still working on this.
5. I pulled out the 54" cages from Lowes in favor of stakes. In retrospect, I don't think it was such a great idea. The cages were pretty solidly anchored in the screen. I don't think they will tip that easily. Next season, I'll use cages and recycle the 1/2" EMT as stakes to secure the EarthTainers.
6. If you want to use stakes that are driven into the ground, don't center the plant in the EarthTainer. Put the plant near the edge, so it is easy to train up the stake.
7. I might try to build an internal staking system from 1" PVC. Or I might try a PVC cage like the one pictured here. Or I could create a trellis like this with clips like this. Or the trellis could be used to do a Florida Weave. Or I could just use the cages :)
8. Plant deep! Solid root development is critical!
   

Tomato Lessons Learned - The Early Season

After last year's disaster with the Bush Goliath, I decided that this year I would grow tomatoes in containers where I can control the soil, fertilizer and water. After hours of reading, I still didn't get it all right. Here's what I learned about the early part of the season.

1. Keep better track of expenditures. I do it for fun and great tasting, Salmonella-free tomatoes, but I like to know how much I paid for all the gear.
   
2. Keep better track of dates. Seedling purchase, pot up, transplant, etc.
   
3. After the seedlings have made it passed the cell pack stage, put each seedling in its own pot. This seems obvious now, but I didn't realize how fast the roots would grow. I put 27 seedlings in an 18 gallon EarthTainer. In 4 weeks when it was time to transplant, the roots had spread through the entire container. More importantly, the root had gotten intertwined and it was a pain separate them. In the process of separating them, there was lots of root damage. Probably set back growth significantly.
4. When the seedling goes in the pot, only fill the pot 1/3 full of potting mix. As the seedling grows, add more potting mix. This encourages a strong root system.
   
5. Indeterminates with multiple stems are bad in two ways. First, the plant spends lots of energy maintaining multiple stems. Second and probably more important, it makes managing the growth way more difficult. Each stem should have it's own stake or the cage is much more dense. They are basically suckers that grow right out of the ground. If the seedlings show multiple stems, prune back to a single stem.
   

Check back later for Mid-Season and Late-Season Lessons.