Planting Leggy/Tall Tomato Plants

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

What's the best approach; A) a deeper hole, B) lay them down horizontally and curve/train them skyward, or C) otherwise?

And what are the downsides, if any to A) & B)?

The Gotch

[Setec Astronomy]

I always use the deeper hole. One time I had a really leggy seedling that I up-potted doing an S-bend (or something like that--your method B) and it seemed to work out alright.

[jmsieglaff]

One year I had a couple fairly tall plants. I did a combo of A+B, one of the plants I got a little over zealous with my angle and kinked the stem, but it was all buried and didn't seem to bother the plant, so I'd say just be careful with the angle. Part of the answer might depend on just how deep you'd need to go and how the soil quality is at depth (maybe soil temp too?).

[slugworth]

Trench, but if you weed you have to remember how you planted or tragedy will strike.
If you start weeding too close you rip them up.
Or the serpentine method of in and out and back in the ground again for more foliage effect on the exposed stem.
In my zone a deep hole would be to cold for the plant if at the regular planting time.
A deep hole would be better if you anticipate drought conditions.

[pepperhead212]

I always use the deeper hole, and something else that I do, related to this, is add a small amount of silicate to the water (only takes 1/4-1/2 tsp of the solution/gal), every time I water my seedlings. I learned about this with my hydroponics - something used to strengthen the stems. It definitely works with tomatoes, and where I saw it did the most was with tomatillos - something notorious for having weak stems (at least for me!), and I'd have to stake them up all the time, until I started this.

I always stake the tomatoes when I plant them - just a small, bamboo stake, with one of those plastic clips, or a piece of velcro, to hold it on near the top. Despite the horrible wind I had in the first week after planting, there were no problems with any of the plants.

[slugworth]

I have to stake or cute little furry creatures eat what they can reach.
One bit a plant in 1/2 already while still in the tray outdoors.

[Vanman]

Deep works for me.

[bower]

As slugworth said, deep hole is a disadvantage if your soil is too cold, but a big advantage if you are dry farming and/or expect a hot dry season.

For a cold soil, and a cool short season, method B works best, because your roots are in the warmest zone.
One year I had some really leggy seedlings, laid them in a shallow trench with the tip curving out the end, and I let them sprout from leaf nodes along the buried stem. So you end up with a tight little row of your same plant (if you lay them straight!).

[zeuspaul]

I either plant deep or cut the top off and root in water.

[Tormahto]

If one has plenty of plants (and the room to plant them), both methods would likely be the best option.

For me, I never know how much rain is coming each season. Planting horizonlal produces a more wide-spread root system. With fairly heavy rains, that root system will soak up more rain than with a more compact vertical root system. That can mean the difference between great tasting tomatoes and bland tomatoes, perhaps once every 10 years. The flavor of SunGold has never been effected by too much rain, here. So, I have no problem planting it horizontal.

This thread gets me thinking about planting something at a 45 degree angle, halfway between vertical and horizontal.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@Bower; "For a cold soil, and a cool short season"

With the last four (4) days record/near record highs (>90°F/>32°C) and record/near record overnight high lows (>70/>21°C), cold soil is a distant memory.

It was 74°F/>23°C when I got up ~ 05:10 a.m. Thursday morning...and the humidity; Oy!

Glass half full?

The starts are positively LUVin' the saunaesque back porch, where they were recently moved in order to...um...mature.

Sweet Success Cuke leaves are bigger'n pie plates!

The Gotch

[Toomanymatoes]

Never done it, but I believe if you leave them lying horizontally for a day or so they will naturally start to bend toward the sun.

[Tormahto]

Never done it, but I believe if you leave them lying horizontally for a day or so they will naturally start to bend toward the sun.

I don't know if the plant will bend, but the new growth will go upward.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@Toomanytomatoes; "I believe if you leave them lying horizontally for a day or so they will naturally start to bend toward the sun."

The near death Namio Heirloom plant I got from my Main Man Abdullah @Felly's West was a très leggy (~ 24 inches/.61 meters), and I done trenched it; if it makes it, it's beaten all the odds.

Glass half full?

Attached were one ripened and one quasi-ripened fruit...in May!

Any seeds harvested will be bequeathed to my Tomato Ranching compadres!

The Gotch

[MissS]

I agree with Bower but I have planted them both ways and had good results and really did not have much of a difference other that the deeper planted ones may have had slightly less production.
I think that your soil temperature makes a big difference on what to do with your plants.

[Toomanymatoes]

Never done it, but I believe if you leave them lying horizontally for a day or so they will naturally start to bend toward the sun.

I don't know if the plant will bend, but the new growth will go upward.

What? You don't have tomatoes from the Matrix universe?


You could be correct. I have never tried it, so no idea if it works. Just something I saw on Youtube and it seemed plausible.

[rxkeith]

i trench leggy plants due to soil temp, and shorter growing season.
plant roots will grow better, and faster in warmer soil is my thinking.
soil will be less compacted shallow vs deeper.
it is easier to dig a shallow trench vs deep hole. try it.
my first year in da U.P. i had leggy plants because i started seeds way too early.
metro detroit weather is a whole lot different than the keweenaw. i had plants
that were about three feet tall. only way to plant them was by trenching.
thats what works for me.


keith

[slugworth]

At the seedling stage you can hill them up or re-pot deeper.
Nobody mentioned ripping the leaves off first,let us debate that.

[slugworth]

I just saw a plant on my shelf that fell over about 3 days ago and it was doing the limbo to try to get at the lights.
So to avoid breaking a stem, you can just lay a plant down flat for days and encase it once it reaches the proper angle to the sun.

[slugworth]

Twisted sister corrected her posture just over the course of 4 hours and is back to normal height.