permaculture

[tanya <tanyagarden@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 11:05 PM, David Muhl <dmuhl65@yahoo.com> wrote:

> ​...
> One farmer I worked with in Colorado would pinch the shoots on his
> unprotected field grown plants near the end of the growing season.  This I
> was told would cause the plant put all of its energy into "finishing" the
> tomatoes that were already getting close, rather than putting on additional
> leaves, or new flowers that wouldn't have time to produce decent fruits
> before the first frost arrived.
> ​
>


> >>​
>

I asked tomato experts about that a couple years ago, because it's been
part of tomato folklore for a long time. They said pinching the foliage
does not make any sense at the end of the season, because the fruits need
all the sugars (that the leaves produce by photosynthesis). Instead, to
signal to the plant that it's "done" producing new fruits, they take a
shovel and cut a circle around the plant, a foot or so out, to cut the
feeder roots._​​