Dwarf Tomatoes in a GH
We plant only indeterminate tomato plants in our GH because our GH is tall at the ridge (16'). Determinate plants are a waste of our GH space and are not as prolific as indeterminate plants. But we noticed the last couple of years that as the indeterminate plant grows and produces from the bottom up - by the time tomatoes above approx 4' are ripening - the tomatoes below 4' have been harvested and the leaves begin to yellow.
The lower leaves no longer provide a service and are extra baggage - so we cut them off.
This also seems to be wasted GH space below 4' on the tomato stems. We talked about ideas to take advantage of the space. We came up with the idea of planting Dwarf determinate tomato plants between the indeterminate's and planting them later than the indeterminate plants so the Dwarf determinate would fill the gap. We did some research on determinate Dwarf tomato plants - looking for our criteria of great taste & large tomato size on a Dwarf plant. We think we found the right variety!
New Big Dwarf - this is a heirloom variety bred in 1914 with a Pondersa and Dwarf Champion cross. The plant is 2-4 tall and has great reviews for fruit size, taste and is prolific.
This year we spaced our indeterminate plants farther apart in anticipation of planting NBD in-between. We have never tried this method before - nor - have we tried NBD. This is an experiment - but if it works - it should increase the capacity of our GH to produce more tomatoes in the same space and over a longer period of time. We will see.
This is how the NBD looked on May 15th. We are planting them incrementally to see the best time to plant them for future years if this idea proves successful.
I am sure there are those who have a GH that have attempted similar if not the same idea in the past. Please let us know of your experience and varieties - success or failures. We will update our progress for those that may have an interest in this method.
Comments (21)
kudzu9
8 years agohudson___wy
8 years agoThis NBD may be as prolific as reviewed. This plant's 1st truss has 18 buds/blossoms on it so far !!
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when do most (who have a gh) move from under the lights to gh
Comments (7)I don't have that same view as Dave. My GH tomatoes have been getting plenty of natural light; after all we just had the vernal equinox. The main problem you will have by moving plants now is that daytime sun is hard on the house grown plants and they will need hardening-off at this point and not so much when they move to the garden. Mine are loving the GH environment, but I wanted to give you a few ideas as to the whens and whys in my situation: First, you need to figure what heat costs are going to be to keep plants warm in a GH. I guess I got less money to burn than most because I keep plants in my house until I run out of space- I still have over a thousand tomato plants waiting for a few overcast days to make their move. Plant size doesn't become as much of a factor as the weather moderates for me. Also what is your in-house setup like? Are the plants an inconvenience? Many people wouldn't want 12 shoplights in their living room as I have now. There also comes a time when there just isn't enough room. The 300+/- tomato plants in my GH are all in qt. pots and tomorrow they will go in the ground of another greenhouse because I'm running out of room even in my benchtop GH. I've been waiting too long for this cold spell to end. Those tomatoes are setting fruit. One big factor to consider is the time you have to provide the extra immediate care after moving plants to a potentially stressing environment. You'll need to monitor the temperatures more closely than in your house and probably water more often as the plants dry and wilt more quickly in full sun. For me the care extends into the night to tend for a woodburner. Often I could get by with one loading in the middle of the night but with temps in the teens lately I need to fire hotter and set my alarm for more trips. I wasn't making those trips three weeks ago when all plants were in my house. So my reasons for moving when are not as well defined as others but if you keep everything in balance you can usually end up with nice plants regardless of when you move them....See MoreGH Tomatoes - 2015
Comments (55)szut, I can give you my experiences from Z5 in the Rockies, but that at best might be a bit similar to your locale. The short answer is yes, I would get some tomatoes now (some larger plants from a nursery/store would get you going faster than starting seeds at this point). Assuming you picked up some decent sized plants, you might be getting ripe tomatoes in 5-6 weeks. However I say this from the POV of I manage summer temps in my GH and keep it going all winter, so if you have no plans along these lines, then maybe it would not make sense to start now. However if you put the tomatoes in large pots, then they could stay outside until fall and migrate into the GH, which should give you a few more weeks to a month of season extension, even without supplemental GH heat (at least I can get that here most years). I typically leave one or two tomato plants from my summer production in the GH over the winter. They typically produce well up to Thanksgiving, and sometimes longer, although everything slows down in Dec and Jan (I add heat but do not add light so the shorter days hurt). I do have a heat storage system which helps keep the temps up without outrageous fuel bills. And my climate is typically quite sunny, which helps too. It has been too many years since I lived in the NE for me to have a good feel for how much of my experience here would be applicable to you. As Hudson says, check with some local GH folks and see what they do. But I will say that conditioning a GH for the summer is relatively cheap and easy compared to doing the same for the winter. Some fans and vents, possibly shade cloth, and water misting will do quite a bit to keep summer temps down. Good luck....See More2016 Contest - Dwarf Project: New Big Dwarf
Comments (193)I like to get my seeds from vendors that grew their plants in areas similar to mine, if possible (however, most places are pretty different). The reason I like to do this is acclimatization. If a plant gets used to growing in a greenhouse, or a vastly different region, it might take a few years of growing in your climate to get it acclimatized sufficiently. I think acclimatization to your own personal soil and water is as important as acclimatization to the climate, however. Seeds from my friend a couple miles away just don't grow the same in my soil. Even my neighbor's yard is different with seeds from the same seed packet. When I say they don't grow the same, I mean the production and taste is different. The plants can still seem healthy....See MoreGrowing Tomatoes in a Heated GH
Comments (100)Barrie --- if I recall correctly you have a greenhouse the size of a football field. We have small footage with enough sunlight (too many shade trees in our backyard) where we can grow about 20 tomato plants. So our experience is limited only for the 1 plant of each variety. This year we nixed eggplants and pole beans to fit in 30 varieties --- so, we can choose the most tasty AND disease resistant with great production for next year. As a home grower I can only comment on the ones that will work for us. High humidly (nearly every night it's 99% in the summer), high temps, lots of rain bring in lots of diseases (early blight, gray mold and the worst -- Leaf Spot later on...we are expecting any day for the thrips to arrive, bringing in Septoria, with copper spray ready in hand...LOL) forces us to make hard choices. So far we tasted the following similar to Brandy Boy (still awaiting Brandywine Sudduth, Mrs. Maxwell's Big Italian and Prudence Purple to ripen) in order of best tasting: Rose --- soft, nice flavor, juicy, on the sweet side. Stump of the World --- soft, good overall taste on the sweet side. Chapman --- soft, juicy, not an impressionable taste. Brandy Boy beats them all in taste (love the tangy flavor) !!! Tony p.s. Think Pink actually tastes better (although on the sweet side) than Rose, Stump, Chapman --- and has incredible disease resistance (VFFNT) and is very productive for us. http://www.tomatogrowers.com/THINK-PINK-VFFNT-HYBRID/productinfo/5192/...See Morehudson___wy
8 years agoOur New Big Dwarf set its first fruit - it appears to be doing fine between the other tomato plants - so far.
hudson___wy
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
NBD progress update - good size and quantity of fruit developing !
Grow Your Heirlooms
8 years agohudson___wy
8 years agoThe concept may be successful - here is a progress report. We are harvesting the lower indeterminate tomatoes now and clipping leaves as they expire and become baggage to the plant. The New Big Dwarf are setting fruit and getting more breathing room and sun as we prune. They have several trusses and have grown to about 3-4' in height now. They are not as bushy on the bottom as I thought they were going to be - but do have room to grow behind our indeterminate Brandy Boys.
hudson___wy
8 years agoThe biggest tomato on the truss is blushing - taste test won't be long now. The tomato size on this plant is impressive - for a Dwarf!
hudson___wy
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoUpdate: We discovered a couple of things by planting New Big Dwarf Tomato Plants between our Brandy Boy plants.
1) New Big Dwarf is not a Determinate Variety as advertised by our seed source - it is definitely an Indeterminate Variety and competed with the Brandy Boys for space - NBD grew over 8' in height and needed support. I would not recommend planting NBD between indeterminate plants for the purpose explained in this thread. There must be a determinate variety that would work though - if we can find one that produces a medium to large good tasting fruit - like NBD?
and
2) We found out that New Big Dwarf is an excellent variety to plant!! NBD produces a good sized fruit, good taste and very prolific. We will plant it again - but not between our Brandy Boys - haha.
karin_mt
8 years agohudson___wy
8 years agokarin_mt
8 years agohudson___wy
8 years agohudson___wy
8 years agoThe last harvest before frost. Temperatures will drop into single digits this week and stay there or colder. I decided to pull all the plants today - try some "Green Fried Tomatoes" and also try ripening some of the green ones (that haven't blushed) in newspaper - I have never tried that before.
plantmanagerkaren
8 years agohudson___wy
8 years agoplantmanagerkaren
8 years agozzackey
8 years agoplantmanagerkaren
8 years agodandyrandylou
7 years agof150dude1
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
hudson___wyOriginal Author