My First Trellis

[MelonHed]

This is my 4th summer growing tomatoes, but it's the first year I got serious about it. I have alot to learn from y'all here on the forum, but I thought you might want to see my first try at the Florida weave system.

Last year I tried some Italian Tree tomatoes they had at our local nursery, and although they got really tall (12') they were way too unmanageable with the simple pole-and-tie system I was using. So I wanted to try to discipline them a little this year...

These plants were actually sprouted from "Old Italian" seeds I got from Baker Creek, but I suspect they're the same thing as "Italian Tree," a.k.a. "Burgess Trip-L Crop." Also this year I've been pruning pretty severely, because I want just one main stalk for each plant, rather than the tangled mass of vegetation I got last year.

The soil is the native alluvial sand of Louisiana's Red River valley, amended with Shultz's Tomato & Vegetable Food. I've been watering deeply once every 2 weeks.

I picked 8 large tomatoes today. They have a real nice, rich flavor, and lots and lots of juice.

[Sherry_AK]

They look very well-behaved. Good job! And welcome to Tomatoville.

Sherry

[Tormato]

MelonHed, ( )

Is the 4x4 pressure treated?

Tormato

[MelonHed]

Thanks, Sherry! Like your avatar. I grew Purple Calabash last year, and people loved them.

Tormato--Yes, treated 4x4s. They are 16' long, set 4' in the ground, 2 bags of Sakrete to each post. So there's 12' of post above ground.

[COgarden]

4 feet into the ground!? 12 feet above ground!? With concrete!? I guess you've gotten serious about it! Looks great. That should handle anything mother nature or anything else can throw at it. What exactly is an Italian Tree tomato? I can't picture any true tomato plant reaching 12 feet tall.

Kurt

[MelonHed]

Hi Kurt! I do tend to get kind of OCD around my hobbies, but last year's vines did get rather heavy with the large amounts of large fruit. My aim is to produce even more fruit this time.

After my original post I went back and read Baker Creek's description of these seeds, and they are apparently not the Burgess seeds, but a true heirloom from Italy, which they have tagged "Old Italian."

However, these Old Italian plants are behaving very much the same and tasting very much alike the Italian Trees I grew last year. There's a thread on this forum where the community gives them a somewhat less than glowing characterization. I am a mere newbie here, and there are probably other factors I am not considering, but these tomatoes seem to have more flavor than the one Cherokee Purple I have picked so far...

[Tormato]

MelonHed,

Would you know if the pressure treatment contained chromated copper arsenate?

Tormato

[MelonHed]

Tormato--That sounds like some nasty stuff. I'll check with the manufacturer. Thanks for the heads-up.

[squibT]

MelonHed,

That's the way to tie up a tomato plant!....you should call it the LouisiannaLash...best job I have ever seen...8)

Squibt

[MelonHed]

Thanks, Squibt!

[Crone]

My 2nd post. Could someone here please direct me to the area where they discuss Pruning, and nothing but? I am not sure how or where to start. Thanks. - Crone.

[levad]

do a search for "pruning".........but there are many opinions on the subject.....very many.....

[MelonHed]

Hi Crone—

It seems that there are as many different ways to prune as there are tomato growers. I learned a lot about pruning from this excellent article.

The way I see it, there are 3 principal reasons to prune: 1) Tomato vines are pretty uncivilized plants, and tend to sprout way too many extra branches for their own good. 2) Pruning forces the plant to devote energy to producing fruit rather than foliage. 3) That same "refocusing of energy" results in far larger, sweeter fruit.

In the short time I have been growing tomatoes, I have seen that final point proven out in my own garden. This year, although the nematodes have drastically cut down my yield, my tomatoes are noticeably sweeter than any I've had before. I attribute this to cutting way back on my watering schedule and pruning all suckers, lower branches, and branch ends to an almost painful degree...

MelonHed

[ChuckBartok]

I also use the Trellis method and Florida Weave for the past 25 years.

I use a 2' Pressure treated round and pointed Tree stake 8'.
Put in ground 18"

They cost $2.18 at local Lumber yard

This year could use more height for my Stupice and Eearly Girls.

Check out the Video series

Growing Tomatoes for Health and Wealth

Week thirteen show plants at the top.