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Growing Tomatoes

How many toms can I fit in my bed

15 years ago

So, I have two 4 x 10 beds for tomatoes. The long side of the two beds are about 2 feet apart. I cage my tomatoes like the beasts they are. I use black landscape fabric and use a 2" strip on two sides of each bed for onions and marigolds. The ground beneath the beds is well-dug and amended about 2 feet deep, the ground around them is scraggly lawn. The site gets full sun.

My question is, how many tomato plants can I fit? If I plant about 6 inches in from the sides of the bed, it leaves a good 2+ feet between plants and I think I could maybe put in 8 per bed. I could stagger them slightly and put 7 per bed. Or is that too many? My varieties range from plants that should get pretty big, like better boy and brandy boy, to some smaller plants like black sea man.

Any suggestions?

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Comments (8)

jwr6404
15 years ago
I usually grow in pots but I'm growing in a raised garden for the first time,thanks to the Mrs. i have 12 plants in a 10x16 ft space and it appears crowded to me.
anney
15 years ago
sillius

My tomato beds are roughly 4' x 8', and this year I've put six plants in each, three on each side of a cattle panel to which I'll tie them. The ones on the ends will have more branching room, and they look pretty far apart to me right now, maybe because the plants aren't full sized. In reality they're about 2 1/2 feet apart from one perspective, and closer when separated by the cattle panel. But I think they'll have plenty of root-room.

I've planted eight in that size bed and they did fine except for an August fungus that did them in last summer -- though they were certainly a jungle and I found it impossible to know which variety of tomato I'd picked sometimes. I did fertilize and mulch heavily. I suspect they'll do better with the roomier spacing I've set them in this year. Not in the bed where there was fungus.
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sherryk
15 years ago
I think you would be fine with 8 per bed. We have a 3.5 x 9 bed - we just don't have the room for two feet between the tomatoes. We set six on each side (also using the black landscape material) of an A-frame trellis. We have had good luck with this arrangement and the plants have produced well. Growing up (in OH as well)my grandma's beds were huge - we had a local farmer come in to till them with his tractor (those were the days). There was only a foot or so between the plants. We used garden stakes and cotton sheet strips to tie them. It seemed we put up a ton of tomato products.

Sounds like your soil & garden lay out is super! Good Luck - now I am ready for home-grown tomatoes!
wcthomas
15 years ago
"How many toms can I fit in my bed"

Hmmmmm.....

Tom
wcthomas
15 years ago
Sorry - couldn't resist ;-)

Tom
bluemater
15 years ago
I have a 3' X 5' bed and I plant 6 plants but I also (Missouri) prune a lot of the suckers (it seems I just can never get them all)...at the end of the season it always seems out of control but I get a ton of tomatoes!

Just make sure that you feed them regularly and prophylactly spray for fungii...these last two wet years have encouraged Early Blight and the like...
solanaceae
15 years ago
It really depends. It depends on the variety, culture determinate or indeterminate, even zone, etc. I packed in VF Romas a foot apart and was very productive. If you have disease problems growing a sensitive heirloom you may not have this option. You can grow the indeterminate about a foot apart as well if you prune and single vine. The reason you would do this is for variety in limited space.Make sure the soil is up to it. If you don't want to fuss with pruning then you need to think about up to 36 inches apart for indeterminate.

Toms are pretty flexible. I had a double 6 foot vine black cherry in a 3 gallon last year. It was one of the healthiest plants I had with not a spot of yellow all year and a nice supply of a dozen tomatoes a week. I dragged it in a green house in October it continued to fruit in November and ate the last of them during Christmas in zone 5a. I don't just do it for yucks, I have a limited space.
raisemybeds
15 years ago
The 7 or 8 you have indicated sounds about maximum to me. I think you could do that, but not more.

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