Installment Number Three


It should have been noted in the second article that before planting
your new plants out that they should be fertilized every 10 to 14 days
with a mild fish fertilizer about one third strength. This should
continue through the hardening off process. For the hardening off
process you should lower the temperature from these 70° to 90°
spouting temperature to a hardening off temperature of 60° to 70°.
This can help prevent 'leggy' tomatoes.

Now lets see what your requirements are. Do you have a lot of room or
do you want an early harvest or a continual harvest over a longer
time. Do you want (OP) open pollinated or hybrid , plants that self
pollinate (parthenocarpic) or that need insects to pollinate,
determinate or indeterminate, and then there are those that will just
let loose of the tomato when its ripe. And do want to save seeds from
your favorites?

Alright, how much room do you have for your tomatoes? If you have a
lot of room, you might think of growing mostly determinant tomatoes as
they spread horizontally instead of vertically. If your room is
rather restricted, you might want to use pots and grow them that way.
Determinant tomatoes, usually spread 2 ½ feet wide by two to 3 feet
tall. Indeterminate tomatoes are usually 18 inches wide by up to 20
feet tall. It is advisable to provide something for tomato plants to
climb. If you're growing tomatoes in a greenhouse you can place a poll
on both ends of a row of tomatoes, and place a metal bar across the
top. From this metal bar, you can dangle a fiber string that has a
neutral pH that is strong enough to hold several pounds of tomatoes.
You can train tomatoes to climb by gently starting the tomato up the
desired path. It should also be noted that you should allow a maximum
of two main stems on a tomato plant. Also it might be noted here that
a convenient way to pollinate the blossoms is to gently strike the bar
to get the plants to shake. The gentle shaking of the flowers will
pollinate most of them. It might be noted here that determinant
plants will usually ripen all of their fruit within a three week to a
month period of time. Indeterminate plants will continue to grow
until they get nipped by frost. They will continue to produce
tomatoes, the entire time. Okay, now you know the difference between
determinant and indeterminate. Just remember that with the
indeterminate plants, when they get nipped by Frost, you can pull them
from the ground and hang them upside down and some of your tomatoes
will continue to ripen.

Now we need to determine what your growing season is and what your
needs are in the way of types of tomatoes that you want to harvest.

Those tomatoes that ripen the earliest are called ultra early
tomatoes. All tomatoes ripen with the accumulation of heat units
expressed as growing degree days (GDD). These are figured by the
following computation. For tomatoes, the computation is based on 50°F
per day average. Why 50°F? Tomatoes do not grow at a temperature
less than 50° F. To figure this you take the minimum degrees per day,
and the maximum degrees per day add them together and divide by two
and subtract 50 from that. Now you continue to add these numbers that
you have together until you come up with about 1100 heat units. Let us
set up an example: Monday low temperature 48°, high temperature 60°,
combine the two, you have 108°. Now divide by two and you have 54°,
now subtract 50° from that which gives you 4°. So for Monday, you
have a total of 4° GDD. Now on Tuesday, you have a low temperature of
60°, and a high temperature of 75°, add those together and you have
115° divided by two gives you 57°, -50° and you have 7° to add to the
4° from Monday giving a total of 11°. All right, so now you know how
to calculate the total AHU, (Accumulated Heat Units.) It might be of
interest to note here that I will be referring to the accumulated heat
units in some future posts.

The following is a list of the various classes of tomatoes.

Ultra early requires approximately 1100 units.
Extra early requires approximately 1300 units.
Early requires approximately 1500 units.
Standard season tomatoes, require 1700 or better units.

Cherry tomatoes are a unique and special tomato. The plants come in
most all sizes, many different flavors from sweet to tart, from juicy
to meaty, fruity to tomatoey. You're bound to find one that suits
your taste.

Sauce and slicing tomatoes. Sauce varieties are very low in juice and
hi in pulp. These are sure to draw the favor of the cook in the
house. They have a lower percentage of water, therefore, it is easier
to cook them down. It might also be interesting to note that these
same qualities make them ideal candidates for drying. Some of these
varieties are early maturing and productive, yet the yields may vary
according to your individual micro-climate. Slicing tomatoes are
tomatoes in the class of the beefsteak, where one slice is enough to
cover a hamburger. There are several varieties of these on the market.

Italian sauce tomatoes. These are characterized by their shape. It
is normally elongated and have a greater proportion of meaty flesh and
lessor in juice amounts.

Heirloom tomatoes: Do you remember when your grandmother used to
bring in tomatoes, fresh from the Garden? They were always a treat to
look forward to. The flavor was so rich and the odor was something
else. Many seed companies offer some good heirloom types. They are
truly a joy when it comes to eating. If you save seeds, these can be
passed on to your children.

You might wonder what is parthenocarpic? If you translate that
literally it means virgin fruit. Flowers on these plants are self
pollinating. Those that self pollinate will not have seeds. Later
fruit that is pollinated by the insects will have seeds.

Let's get into the trimming of tomatoes. You should never allow more
than two main stem's. Also, always remember that the plants need to
breathe, therefore removing some of the foliage can be beneficial. I
read somewhere that trimming off all of the leaves except the top
three would increase your crop, but I think that is a little harsh.
You should always remember that fruit is created on every third leaf
joint. (usually).

Now it is time to start our seed saving section.

Seeds should be saved from ripe tomatoes only. Overly ripe tomatoes
can spoil in the process of saving its seeds. The seeds should be
squeezed out into individual cups for each breed. If you have several
breeds that you want to save at the same time, it might be good idea
to label a cups. Make a mush out of the pulp around the seeds in the
cups. Now add water, and let it ferment overnight. You may want to
do this in a well ventilated area as it is quite odiferous. Now skim
the scum off the top of the cup and add freshwater. You should do
this until there is no scum forming. The viable seeds will settle to
the bottom of the cup with the seeds that are not viable floating.
Those that float you may discard now. Place the remaining on
newspapers or paper towels, and spread them one layer thick and allow
them to sun dry. When they are dry you may either cut the towels into
little squares and store them in jars that are labeled or you may want
to rub the seeds gently to get them free of the towel or newspaper.
They should be stored in airtight containers, with tight seals at a
temperature of 15 to 20°C or 60 to 68°F. You might want to include
packets of silicate gel (these can be gotten from pharmacies) to help
absorb any moisture that may be left in the jars. Your seeds should
keep from four to six years.

That should do it for this issue on tomatoes.

Jaber