Staking Tomatoes
The final question (and I do appreciate your time as I am brand new to gardening but am eager to learn) is about my roma tomatoes.
(It's about staking tomatoes.)I just read on your site that they need a cage. I have one stake in each pot right now but was thinking I could put 3 more to create a kind of box with cross pieces sort of as a make-shift "ladder" like you described you use for your Roma's.
Is this sufficient or do you have another suggestion. I know Roma's aren't ideal for small space container gardening, but I'm an avid cook and wanted to be able to dry and can many of these as well as make my tomatoe sauces for the winter months.
I appreciate any advice you can provide, and I apprecaite the time you take the answer the many questions you obviously get. Oh, I guess I should also mention I used a high grade potting soil (recommended to me by the staff at the gardening center) and have used natural store bought food (one for the veggies and another type for the tomatoes - a different ration of nutrients).
I would like to make my own compost, however I've only just started and have not had the time to get one going yet (hopefully by next season).
Doug says:
Roma tomatoes are a branching determinate style of plant. This means the fruit all ripens very closely together (timewise). Putting them in a cage or letting them grow on the ground allows them to set a maximum amount of fruit because they grow a lot of leaves/stems/flowers. Staking them reduces the amount of fruit you'll get (staking produces a single stem) because once they set their crop, there typically isn't a second or third fruit set. What you get is what you get.
So in this case, staking with a single stake will reduce your yield drastically and it will be below what you could get if you used the right tomato for staking purposes. Having said that, a ladder type of staking might work if you don't have to prune any of the leaders. It will be tricky with this kind of staking but it might work.
As for potting soil. I've seen many recommendations for "high quality potting soil" from garden centers. I never use this stuff but use an artificial peat/perlite soil mix such as Pro-Mix for all my growing. Too many years in the trenches to trust what "high quality potting soil" contains. I never met a salesguy who didn't sell "high quality" even when it was junk. ;-)
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