permaculture

[David Muhl <dmuhl65@yahoo.com>]

Yes, I suppose there would be more truth to that in the central valley (CA) 
than where I was located at 6,900 ft elevation in the rockies, where the 
growing season is most certainly shorter.  I've never had to pay as much 
attention to incoming weather as much as someone whose livelihood depends on 
it.  But it seems to me that if, as a tomato grower (particularly one at 
higher elevations), your prediction is that your plants will be dead due to 
freezing temperatures somewhere in the next 7-14 days, a difference in yield 
is kind of a non-issue.  That is, unless you intend on doing something with a 
bunch of undersized and unripened fruit.  Green salsa perhaps?!

I was also thinking about what Tanya had to say about the "folklore" of 
end-season pinching, specifically about the sugars and sweetness.  If the 
shoots are just these little 2-3" growing tips, and you pinch them before 
they fill out, you would still have basically the same amount of vegetative 
mass actively photosynthesizing as before. And again, I'm taking about the 
last 7-14 days of the plants life here. Now, wouldn't other factors, such as 
soil quality, plant variety, and ripeness play a more dominant role in the 
brix content of the fruit?  I have heard of cutting back on water prior to 
final harvest, and I'm wondering if the trimming of roots idea may play into 
that.  There are no shortage of tasks or experiments that can be conducted on 
a farm, and like many endeavors, one has to prioritize what they want to take 
on...based on what the perceived benefit may or may not be.  

--- On Tue, 6/25/13, Alia Tsang <alia@dietrick.org> wrote:

> From: Alia Tsang <alia@dietrick.org>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] To Pinch or not to Pinch
> To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2013, 9:00 AM
> This was discussed on a garden show I
> listen to recently. Supposedly it
> will reduce the number of fruit you get, but the ones
> produced will be
> bigger and will mature faster. The guy on the show said that
> it's helpful
> in places with a shorter growing season, but here in
> California's Central
> Valley it just reduces yields.
> 
> On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 1:22 AM, tanya <tanyagarden@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > 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._
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