Quote:
Originally Posted by pete092775
carolyn that is why i ask why trellis a vine when his was on the ground and if you read alot of gardening books they all say that caging and staking will reduce the yield.
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And if you read a lot of gardening books they will tell you many other things that aren't so here in Texas.
The authors of these books are many times from zone 5 or so and have no idea of the growing conditions here.
Here are a few things I can think of just from the top of my head that are wrong for here and some that is wrong anywhere.
Start seeds in April. (wrong for any place in Texas).
Only plant hybrids because they are disease resistant. (gives people the idea they wont get diseases from them and Heirlooms are inferior.) Wrong.
Use a spray to prevent blossom drop. (Total BS for bloom drop from heat)
Heirlooms are less productive. (they haven't seen my plants for sure).
And if I may I will enlighten folks about my ideas on sprawling tomatoes.
yes tomatoes will put out roots and yes in nature they sprawl.
BUT if I,m right the first tomatoes were small and they didn't weight much.
I wouldn't bother supporting wild cherry as the things are like a bush and just dont need it.
Man in the last few thousand years through breeding and so forth have developed tomatoes that have huge fruits and aren't anything like the first wild tomatoes.
This has been done with just about every domesticated plant we have.
The first wheat and other grains naturaly shattered their seeds, the wheat we have today doesn't so we can harvest it.
The first apples were small and the tree could support the fruit. we have to thin and prune today with our apples and other fruits.
Corn has been developed to the point it cant reproduce on its own do to the husk.
No way could a modern corn plant (modern as in the last few thousand years) reproduce its self on its own ans survive many years it would die out in a short time.
It took thousands of years to develop corn that would grow in north America.
The growing season was too short for Nebraska for sure.
So when a person thinks they can let a so called modern food crop just go naturally it just isn't so.
They aren't natural.
So in short, well not so short.
Any book that said caging tomatoes reduces yield I would burn or give to my enemy.
PS if you can find it you should get Carolyn's book, "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden".
Sadly it is out of print at this time.
Worth