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Index : Vegetable Gardening
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- 12. Tomatoes Need Support for Best Results - Top
- There are three cultural systems for growing garden tomatoes. They include; untrained and sprawling, staked and tied, and caged. Each system has it's advantages and disadvantages. Choose the system that works best in your garden situation.
Tomatoes can be allowed to sprawl on the ground. The advantage to this method is that the tomatoes are more productive. Yields can be as high as 25 pounds of tomatoes per bush. The fruit are not particularly large, but they are numerous.
When tomatoes are allowed to sprawl, a mulch must be placed over the soil underneath plants. This prevents the fruit from laying directly on the soil where it is exposed to insects and soil fungi. Straw mulch is best for tomatoes. It is soft, light and airy; keeping the fruit cushioned and dry. Straw bales can be purchased at local feed stores. A bale goes a long way, so if you have just a few tomato plants most feed stores will sell you a smaller amount of loose straw. Bring your own bag(s) to fill up. Straw is great for mulching other summer vegetables too.
Letting your tomatoes sprawl has it's drawbacks. For instance, they take up lots of garden space; maybe more than you have to spare. Also, here in the desert, tomatoes grown in a sprawling fashion are more directly exposed to mid-day sun. This can cause tomatoes to become sunburnt. The fruit most exposed to direct sunlight will develop a large, buff-colored blotch. A rot may then develop in this damaged portion of the fruit.
Tomatoes can also be trained by staking and tying. Place the stake in the ground at the time of planting or shortly after so as not to do damage the roots. The stake should be located within a few inches of the main stem. Use a stake large enough and tall enough to support the weight and height of your plants. Tomatoes can grow up to five feet tall and three feet wide. Large wooden poles of the kind used for staking young trees also work very well for supporting tomatoes.
Tie the main stem of the tomato to the stake using soft cord or stretchable plastic plant ties. The Velcro Company has come out with convenient and reusable velcro plant ties that also work very well. To prevent the stem from being held tightly against the stake, loop the tie around the stem. Then tie it on the stake providing some slack in the line.
Staked tomatoes grown in milder climates are often pruned by removing the suckers. This should not be done here! Removing the suckers will reduce the number of shade providing leaves, exposing the fruit to sunburn.
The great advantage to staking tomatoes is conservation of space. Fruits are larger and easier to pick, however, the number of fruit and total yield is smaller than with sprawling or caging. Staking works best on vining types of tomatoes.
Growing tomatoes in cages may be the best compromise between letting your plants run free or staking them tightly. Most varieties are suitable for caging. Yields are nearly as great as if plants are allowed to sprawl and fruit ripens the best in hot weather, a distinct advantage in desert gardening.
Tomato cages can be purchased at local garden and home supply stores. I prefer the straight-sided type with wide openings for easy picking. The cone-shaped cages just aren't very sturdy and the openings are too small to get the tomatoes out. You can make your own tomato cage by forming a piece of concrete reinforcing wire or wide-mesh fencing into a cylinder about 3 feet wide. Taller cages will require a stakes or a post for support.
Regardless of the type of growing system you incorporate, always mulch under your tomato plants. Mulching keeps the soil cooler and helps hold in moisture. This helps to prevent fruit cracking and blossom-end-rot by keeping soil moisture levels even. Organic mulches such as straw and bagged or home compost work best.
Written by John Begeman, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona,
520-626-5161. - Updated: April 18, 2004
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