Cuostralee is impressive on "A" trellis

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JRinPA
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Cuostralee is impressive on "A" trellis

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Post: # 53674Unread post JRinPA
Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:01 pm

I have grown some tomatoes that do not perform well with a lot of sun, but Cuostralee is not one of them. These things love the sun and grew to 7+ feet, setting tomatoes practically the whole way. They saw the morning sun. The evening sun side had hybrids and they did well too. In the center, SOO did well for the first few trusses with large and tasty tomatoes, Stump put out some nice pretty pinks, and Costoluto Genovese set a nice number of mostly smaller tomatoes. Black Krim...might be the last time growing that! But I have to say Cuostralee, given the opportunity, was spectacular.

Around 5pm I turned off the canner. Another easy batch of sauce. It is 2nd week of Sept and the tomatoes, some of them, are still ripening away. We had no rain in July, but a lot in August and that huge dump a week back, and twice since then. Much of the ground is saturated. I took the mill to the garden yesterday and picked what was ready...I figured it would be easier than transporting subpar tomatoes, and I prefer to work outside when I can. So it went well. They were not too bad, in fact, most were near perfect. I kept a bunch of nice ones for sandwiches, sprayed with peroxide spray. But I definitely got some use from some tomatoes that I would not have transported. I filled 11qt, 11qt, and 9 qt for 31 qt, left it outside overnight, and today it was cooked down to 8qts of amazing sauce, nothing added. So far this year we have eaten our fill of tomatoes and canned...20 qts of straight tomato sauce and 65 pints of salsa. And there are a bunch more to go.

Yesterday I had first picked the interior rows, then cleaned up the drops. Before I started picking the Cuostralees, I decided I needed to takes some pics to remember them, just in case... This was a great tomato year, I thought. Dry is good, if you can give a little water when needed. It was late though. I started picking tomatoes, for the most part, right at the end of July, but we have had as many as wanted since then. There are still plenty of green ones left that I fully expect to ripen. Most of the big ones are on the upright portion of the stems. Once they hit 6ft the vines were unsupported on the trellis. Once they fold like that, I think it is saying goodbye to further big ones due to the stem kink. Hopefully next year I can fully realize my plan of tomatoes on the sunny side, peppers on the other side of the double row, and grow the tomatoes up and over and down the other side for full support the entire season. With the peppers coming up to kiss the tomato tops. But, I can't complain about this year.

Look at those Sept 9th Cuostralees! Some of them took two hands to manage through 6" square holes! And very, very few had fallen off to hit the ground.
♪ ♫ Put me in, Coach!
♪ ♫ I'm ready to play
♪ ♫ Today!

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@goodloe that I promised build info
This "A" trellis is formed by
1 Rebar, 1/2" 5 ft, set at an angle inward for strength. In each 20 ft double row there are 10 sticks.
2 CRW off a 150 ft roll from lowes/hd. I had 80+ ft on a roll, outside for 3-4 years. I cut it to 11' = 22 squares. I bent those into a 5 x 1 x 5 U shape. Eight of those in this setup. Some were less than 22 squares, but I kept the 1 ft up top.
3 Zip ties to connect the CRW to the rebars. Each CRW butts to the next and is attached to the rebar. I put the top of the A at 6ft, so there is a gap of 1 to 2 ft underneath before the tomato vines can tie up with clips.
4 Those tomato clips are great for tying each stem to the upright wires. It really makes a solid form that stands up to the wind. I bought them by the 1000 ct for about $15. I planted every hole in my existing ground cover, and either single or double stemmed each plant so that there was one stem for each upright, 6" of space for each. Some of the weaker plants in the more shady middle did not fare as well, but the outside rows are still going strong.

The trellis is set up over a broadforked and raised compost bed, covered in dewitt woven ground cover. One line of drip tape down the middle. Fertilizer was April/May double digged and buried carp, and some top compost. There is no smell from fresh fish buried a foot down in this good ground. Not a hint. I can't promise the same for sandy soil!

This is not a permanent tomato bed, so I planned to disassemble and stack it at end of season. That part, NOT FUN AT ALL. At least working solo like I usually do. Last year I stored right in the garden, using the rebar to sort of box the two, 4x wire stacks in place. I am very tempted to leave it in place and grow in the same spot next year. I should have plenty of nutrition left over for a few years. That would, however, prohibit a low tunnel over the tomatoes in May. These first two years with it, I have been erecting this "A" trellis a month after planting.

Alternate "A" just thought up: It would be simpler and easier to be able to use the 5ft wide CRW right off the roll for this shape, but I don't see how it could be made to stay this stiff and strong. Maybe bend ONE square and have a 4-1/2' high by 6" L. You could run 5 ft 8 ft 10 ft of length, whatever you want, off the roll. Mount one side, then the opposing side, then ziptie the center every foot like a top seam. That seam would be susceptible to rotation, though, so not quite as solid.

Second Alternate "A" - Same bend, but overlap one 6" with the opposing 6" would to make it stiff and solid, but top would be 6" wide instead of 12" wide.

Either way, it could be installed much easier that way, one side at a time, and could be formed with a minimum of cutting. Easy to stack in a mostly flat shape.

I think that overlap top 6" would be a great way to do it. Might also be an easy way to repurpose CRW cages and use them that way. I really like the relatively flat storage it would be for sections of CRW, 4-1/2' x6" L shapes x whatever long, nestled together. These U shapes are a bear to store and move. I have a couple half moon stacks of cages taking up space in the shed. I think this might be the way to use them. I could have FOUR tomato/pepper double rows...oh boy...


♪ ♫ Look at me!
♪ ♫ I can be
♪ ♫ Cuostralee!
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