Tomato Help in the early spring

[Garden Addict]

I remembered something i did years ago to get my plants started off early and i tried it again this year. My neighbor who is a veteran gardener questioned me about this method as he had never seen this before. His plants were still in the 6 packs as he had bought them and mine were in the ground. The difference being, mine were in my home made cages (30" round and 5' tall) with black plastic 2' tall at the base and mulched with 4" of grass inside of the cage. His plants and mine were the same size when purchased, the same big boy plants, yet mine had a big head start, 3 weeks to be exact. Mine actually grew faster, had more fruits and matured earlier than his. I took off the plastic when the night temperatures stayed above 45. If i thought a frost was on its way i covered the plants with a tent i made out of heavy plastic inside of the cage. I only used it once. I hope this may help if you want to try a few to see the difference. I always liked to try to push the early plantings. I would try with a few but not all of my plants.

[shebear]

That's a pretty common way of growing tomatoes in the South Texas valley. I plan to try something like that up here in the Dallas area in 2009 but I plan to use a light frost proofing as a first wrap and then the plastic. My theory is that since we have strange springs with sudden cold spells and high winds as late as mid April and unfortunately we also have freak hot spells during the same time, if I use two different protections I hope I can remove the plastic but still provide wind protection as well as some cold protection for the plants. I also hope that will make it a little harder for the bugs to find the plants. I especially hope to protect the tomato plants from mites since they spread blights so badly.

Unfortunately I'll have to really stake the cages since spring is high wind season and the wraps will create a wall like structure.

[Sinfonian]

Great idea GA. My brother always gets great growth and eary maturation by starting early and "betting" on the lack of frosts that would be disasterous.

As I grow all my tomatoes in Self Watering Containers, it should be easy to wrap plastic around the cages until the normal planting time in May. I had planned on starting early anyway. This will help. Thanks.

[maricybele]

do you have a pictures of your set up? Would love to see it. Love pushing the envelope

[Kevin]

Actually That Is exactly how we protect and grow our adult fall tomatoes here in Tampa . WE use the same tarps to get a start on the spring planting also. It very rarely freezes here but when it does , you better have your tomatoes covered. Good luck , Kevin

[plantoneonme]

I too wrapped my plants in plastic but was more afraid of overheating if I fell asleep too early in the morning and didn't take off the plastic (midnight shifter). Instead of covering the top with plastic, I clothespinned some row cover on the top which would allow for the heat to escape but frost not to enter. The tomatoes did great and I ate my first one on July 7. It is said you do good in Michigan if you eat your first tomato by July 4th. I am going to push the envelope next spring and plant a couple out in late April to see if they ripen a week or 2 earlier.

Kim

[new500]

Since I am new to this I have so many questions. I seen the video on the heirloom tomatoes. I want to branch out of going a different variety of tomatoes. Where do I get them heirloom tomatoes and expecially the different color ones?

[plantoneonme]

Since I am new to this I have so many questions. I seen the video on the heirloom tomatoes. I want to branch out of going a different variety of tomatoes. Where do I get them heirloom tomatoes and expecially the different color ones?

Go to Trudi's website at wintersown.org and send her an email. She lists at least 50 varities and she will send you out 6-10 of them for the cost of 2 postage stamps.

[Kevin]

Since I am new to this I have so many questions. I seen the video on the heirloom tomatoes. I want to branch out of going a different variety of tomatoes. Where do I get them heirloom tomatoes and expecially the different color ones?

I buy my heirloom tomato seed from Tomato growers supply co. in Miami They have a huge selection. www.tomatogrowers.com

[plantoneonme]

Go to Trudi's website at wintersown.org and send her an email. She lists at least 50 varities and she will send you out 6-10 of them for the cost of 2 postage stamps.

Here is the link to her extensive tomato list:

http://wintersown.org/wseo1/YourChoiceTomatoSASE.html

You won't be sorry you looked! Trudi is wonderful! For the cost of 2 stamps she sent me 10 varieties and they all grew wonderfully.

Kim

[gardengirl72]

Don't forget to check out http://www.rareseeds.com.

[ecogirl]

So is this where you get your seeds from?
_________________________________
Ecogirl
www.ecogirleco.blogspot.com