[Market-farming] broken tomato plants

Beth Spaugh lists at rhomestead.com
Sat May 9 06:50:57 EDT 2009


Advice please. I remember why I did not put down landscape cloth in the
hoophouse last year. I did this year to reduce disease, but the little
stakes didn't hold well in the hoophouse soil and I have a couple of dozen
plants broken off at the soil line. Of course most of these are expensive
greenhouse types, but a few Big Beef also broke. So, do I let them put out a
sucker and train it, or replant with the leftover plants that weren't as
nice? Bottom suckers tend to not have good attachment, but when they are the
only lead maybe they are better? The "good" plants, like those that broke,
are setting first flowers. In some cases I could just let a sucker (I think
I pruned most of the suckers off through the one below first flower already)
grow on a neighboring plant, where there is a neighboring plant (or move
plants around to spread them out) and go with two leaders, or plant the
leftovers that are not nearly as vigorous. Let's see that is 4 options so
far:

1.	let a sucker grow
2.	make a neighbor into a 2 leader plant
3.	move/spread plants out to make 2 leader plants
4.	replant with less vigorous plants

 

5th option, fill in with some absolutely phenomenal Rose heirloom plants,
but that will make data collection more difficult and I really want to keep
some records to base future planting decisions on.

 

Thank you.

 

Beth Spaugh

Rehoboth Homestead, Peru, NY

Farm Fresh Food Club CSA - http://rhomestead.com <http://rhomestead.com/> 

Garden fresh vegetables, organically grown, and pastured chicken, duck, and
geese

 

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." -
Wendell Berry

 

"Without power over our food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances
Moore Lappe

 

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