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How do I get two main stems per tomato plant?
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04-06-2010, 11:27 PM posted to rec.gardens
Bill who putters
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2009
Posts: 1,085
How do I get two main stems per tomato plant?
In article ,
Phisherman wrote:
On Sun, 30 May 2010 13:29:04 -0400,
(EVP MAN)
wrote:
My tomatoes this season will be tied to stakes and I'd like to prune
them to produce two main stems. I'm not sure if I allow the sucker to
grow above the first flower cluster OR is it the sucker below the
cluster? I tried to research this but get different answers. Some
sites say the sucker above the flower cluster while others say below.
Maybe it doesn't matter but I'm a bit confused. Last season it wasn't
an issue as I pinched off all suckers only allowing one main stem. I
want to try two stems this year to boost my harvest a bit.
Rich from PA
Tomatoes are vines, and that is their behavior. If you want to boost
production allow the tomato to vine on the ground protecting the fruit
with a straw mulch. Staking tomatoes is an ideal method for
restricted space areas. Remove the bottom or two clusters, that's all
you need. Most tomatoes will produce many branches--I do not prune
after removing the bottom two suckers. This is the second year I am
feeding my tomato plants (and 21 pepper plants) epsom salts (1 T per 2
gallon water) once a week. You can also increase yields using
companion planting, I suggest borage (bee plant).
In the past sugared borage was on our table but it fell in disuse.
Nice flowers blue if I remember this 30 years ago.
Still there are recipes for borage.
http://www.herb.co.za/herbal/borage-recipes.htm
--
Bill S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden
What use one more wake up call?
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