At home:After pinching my tomatoes back twice, I found they were still looking a little lean and I finally asked my grower what I could do to keep my tomatoes short and strong. A good word was passed along, two actually. One, to keep them cool in the mornings, that will keep them short and to add egg shells to the top of the soil, so that when I water them, calcium goes into the plants and helps them get strong.
5 comments:
My god girl ! I can SEE you here on Blotanical finally again ? hehehe .. hey if I grow any tomatoes I will be sure to follow your advice : ) if I EVER get in my garden again ???????
you can see me now!?! YES!!! IT WORKED! Joy. What the... are you doing with your landscaping over there?!?! I demand yard pictures to see !
hey Andrea! The little one is getting big! Good tip about the crushed egg shells.
That's a lot of tomatoes- Yum! I'm wondering, when you say 'pinching' you don't mean the top growth, right? Your taking the side growth out? I've never pinched my tomatoes, other things, but not tomatoes. Except to take the side branches to end up with one lead (easier in greenhouse). I make sure they get plenty of light and the space between each leaf set along the stem ends up close together, meaning they are stocky. Mine also have always done well with bottom heat when they are young. I've never heard to keep them cool in the mornings- I'll have to try that next time and see what happens! I also spray the blooms with Yield Booster which is just calcium- they get 3 doses of this when they start to bloom. This calcium helps with fruit set and also stop blossom end rot. I can't wait to see what your tomatoes look like after pinching them- happy gardening to you!
Wicked - muwah. Yes! He's big. He's my little man, adorably devilish in every possible way!
Tessa - my tomatoes were getting really big and lanky (long and tall) with little leaf growth on them and it was tooo hot too soon (my den is like a sauna when the sun is out). So long plants means weaker but when you pinch them back, it forces them to grow another set of leaves and push out new growth, making them short and stalky as opposed tolong and lanky. Plus, I want thick stems on mine and the cold has more to do with keeping them short, rather than being overgrown in the pot come the end of may when I have to put them out. Already Im on my fourth or third pinching session and it seems to be doing them well! I know its a lot of tomatoes and I havn't actually thought about how much garden im going to need for these, but im guessing a lot! I'm jealous you have a greenhouse. We're not there yet. Mentally I mean. There's so much to do, plus, I'm worried about the greenhouse at work that building the greenhouse at home will be an august project (maybe). When I have the energy to dig down five feet to put poles into the ground.
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