Derivable Statistics on Commercial Tomato Gardening
Daniel Ogolo
7 years ago
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Daniel Ogolo
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Tomatoes in Southern California: Feb-2014
Comments (24)Have you any familiarity with the Kheulavator? Agri Supply carries them. It takes some doing to get a variety of widths on raised beds and so I really can't recommend one. However, I've dealt with one for about 10 years now. I have a Kubota L4400 with a Lands Pride rototiller. After I rototill the garden I use the k'vator to hill the row/bed. I then rake it by hand to level it and establish the width and height. Usually my beds are about 10-14" above grade. The width can be anywheres from 8" to 36" wide. Wider than that isn't really practical and it's actually easier to just use the rototiller. I recently decided to design and build a bed shaper to fit on the tiller. I typically will ask the community at 'tractorbynet.com' to assist me with the design, under the appropriate forum(s). You can't cross-list so I try to ask specific design questions rather than one general question. I've been doing raised beds with a drip irrigation line arrangement for a long time. If you'd like to share info on them we could start another thread here or share on tractorbynet. I need to start taking pictures of the garden and progress anyway. I'm not the best a) housecleaner or b) photographer. I get a little shy of taking pictures of my garden as there is always some level of chaos i.e., tools scattered around along with drip fittings, pvc, implements, dying vegetation etc. Inhibits me from shooting pics. However I am sort of computer literate and can handle the upload side of stuff usually. This year I decided to put into use my jang jp3 seeder. I just did leeks and bulb/bunching onions. CAn't comment on singulation or skips as they're just starting to germinate after 2 weeks. I have a good assortment of rollers and look to use the seeder this season in order to get familiar with it. I have had it sitting unused for the last 10 years. The reason is the raised beds aren't really accepting of a multi row hand seeder. It also was binding on the rollers to the extent that you could not push it down the row cause the driving wheels would stick! Pretty lousy for a 1k USD machine. This year I hand sanded the rollers and their receivers until enough movement was created to allow the seeder's use. Johnny's seeds has been goofing around with them. They have a good cross referenced EXCEL sheet with their suggestions for type of seed/roller correspondence. Makes roller selection better than guessing although the top of the seed hopper has indentations for seed/roller identification. If setting up a thread for discussion sounds amenable to ya let me know ok? Is there a way to PM on garden web? psient Psient...See MoreOrganic Tomato Magic trial redone
Comments (51)I don't think your going to proove anything with one plant. The beauty of the system is that I can keep 4 tomato plants in the space normally occupied by 1, so even if I get 9 less fruit per plant, I'm still up overall due to extra plants in the same space. It's how greenhouse growers grow tomatoes regularly. Two plants are grown side by side, one trained to the right and one trained to the left. Everything below the fruit clusters is removed. You can remove up to three branches a day for most fruit without any setback to the plant. Once that cluster is removed, the branches up to the next flowers are removed, so on and so forth. Usually in a long season, the tomato vine can grow around 150 ft in length. I did this last year in my SWCs and had great results all season long. I will try to document my procedures and results this year for you, but I cannot guarantee anything....See MoreTomatoes Forming but not ripening
Comments (7)Another point is that, tomatoes can stay in green/growth stage for a LONG time(40 day ?). with large fruits it can even take longer. So, if there have bee new sets(late comers) , it will take them a while to grow and ripen. And yet another point: In zone 5, CO, if the wether has been cooling off, it will slow down both growth and ripening. The other point, already mentioned, is that if you fertilized with nitrogen rich stuff, the plant will concentrate on foiliage growth. JMO....See MoreWhat's in YOUR tomato?: soil and foliage amendments
Comments (14)After a day of shoveling composted cow manure from the back of my truck that so over-loaded it that I almost left my own contribution inside the cab when it was so light in the front end as to be virtually unsteerable for a 30 mile drive, I came inside for a well needed break and found some excellent, well thought out contributions and then the previous one. WELLLL...EXCUUUUUUUUUse ME!!! So much for a sense of humor. Truth be told, I would LOVE to import some of the two feet of beautiful, black topsoil I saw when I attended a seminar among the Amish up in Illinois. Some of you might want to try to garden in this lovely red clay. They don't make bricks out of it for nothing. Exactly why after many years of tilling, I am finally going to above ground raised beds and also a few hay bale cold frames. Too, I think it a shame that where there are alternatives and good soil, some "respectable" retailers, rather than offering constructive cosultation and suggestions are NOT above selling miracle dust and pseudo science...as in the one seminar I attended where "scientists" were trying to set up a sales network for granite dust that may in a few thousand years be broken down and usable...for sale at a huge price but totally unwilling to say what it really was. Just because something is organic or natural doesn't mean it is viable or even helpful. Elsewhere, I HAVE had others say that most flavor comes from the life in the soil or the amendments, but like others here, I think that flavor, life in the soil, soil composition and amendments all work together as there is a LOT that we still don't know. Exactly why I was interested in finding what you have done and used that DOES work whether for disease, flavor or just healthy plants. FORTUNATELY, in just one week I have had some exchanges, sharing, and swaps here that have netted many a friend already....See Morefungus
7 years agoDaniel Ogolo
7 years agodigdirt2
7 years agofungus
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoDaniel Ogolo
7 years agoBarrie, (Central PA, zone 6a)
7 years agofungus
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoLabradors
7 years ago
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