I think it must be referring to what we always called "pinching off the suckers". If you don't pinch them out, you will have more fruit but it will be smaller. The suckers are the the small limbs that form in the fork of an already established limb and the main stalk of the plant. I pinch them but I'm not religious about it.
As I understand it, there is more to it than that, but I haven't even done that much, so it would definitely be an improvement. I should look up the info before I need it.
Star
I grew my tomatoes, squash, peppers and eggplants in hay bales for 2 years. Last year I broke up what was left of the bales, covered it with 6" of composted horse manure and sawdust and grew in that. I had more and better tomatoes than I have ever grown. The bales are so easy. All you have to do is turn the bales on their sides with the strings off the ground. That will keep them from rotting as fast. Wet the bales down and let them sit a few days. Insert a long cooking thermometer into the bales. When the temp goes over 100 degrees and then starts to fall, it is time to plant. You can plant 2 plants in each bale. Just stick something long and flat in between the stems of hay and wallow out a slit. Put in a little bit of dirt and plant in the dirt. Give the bales a good watering every few days and you will be good to go. The nitrogen that is created as the bales break down will act like fertilizer to the plants. If you need to do any additional fertilizing I suggest making a "paste" of manure and spreading it on top of the bale and then watering through it. I used rabbit manure but other manure will do. Not fresh chicken manure. It is too hot and will burn your plants. If you plant anything that needs support, like tomatoes, you can't anchor the supports, ie cages or stakes, in the bales because as the bales decompose the cages or stakes will lose their footing and the whole thing will topple over. You can drive T posts at either end of your bale or at intervals in your row of bales and attach fence wire to the posts. Then tie the tomatoes or other plants to your fence wire. If you have any more questions just ask. I'm sure I have forgotten something. I always do. LOL
Mary, I am still not clear on how to trim them back... I haven't been over to DG in a long time... I miss the folks over there and I should go check out that tomato forum, too.
Cajun, What kind of bales do you use? I think it would not matter too much if they were straw or grass, but I am curious what you use. It sounds like an idea that I could really use as we have such poor soil here.
The only place I have to do a veggie garden is a small area between the barns. It has red clay. I have tried to amend it and have not been very successful. The past two years I have planted in blue tubs. I am still falling short of providing something the veggies want... The bell peppers did pretty well, but did not put out a lot. At least they grew to maturity and were good... I grew the squash in an old horse trough and they did well.
I appreciate all of your input.
Have a good day, Starr _________________ www.fallingstarr.com ... Happiness is a journey, not a destination, and life is what happens while we are busy making other plans...so we smile and travel on ...
Star
Lots of people use straw. I tried both and the grass hay won hands down. My straw bale wouldn't break down even though it was a year older than the hay. The people who use straw have to go through a 10 day prep period where they put all kinds of stuff on the bales to get them to start "cooking". No need for any of that with the grass bales.
That's good to know because I read about straw bale gardening and having to add all that chemical fertilizer. I do have ancient straw bales available, or partial bales, at my neighbors, and an occasional bale of moldy hay (often alfalfa), plus all that nice sheep barn pile from cleaning out the lambing pens. I was looking at it today as we drove by, they are adding to it already, but the back side has last year's stuff on it so I should be hauling some more of it home soon.
Mary
Do you have anything spouting in the GH yet? I finally got my light hung and I have 12 broccoli, 21 blueberry, 21 red wonder strawberry and 21 yellow wonder strawberry sprouts under it. I have the broccoli and 8 of the blueberry sprouts in small cups. Have to get the rest into cups soon. I need to get another light as it will be time to sprout other veggies soon. I'm going to do lots of different tomatoes this year. I'm doing 6 different colors of cherry tomatoes.
Star
Have you got any bales cooking? I'm anxious to see how you enjoy bale gardening and if it helps with your tomatoes. Let us know and please take pics.
Here is a pic from a week or so ago. My light is hanging under a table. It has worked well so far and it's out of the way.
So far it's only tomaotes, but I need to start some brocolli, cabbage, and other spring crops soon.
Yesterday I hauled some manure off an old pile and put it down where I will make rows in the vegie garden. I don't fertilize all the ground, just strips where the rows will go. The rows are never in exactly the same place every year so it all gets done, plus, I use grass clippings for mulch and that gets rototilled into the soil in the fall. After I rototill the ground in the spring, going in the direction of the rows, I can still see the pulverized manure, so I plant there. It was beautiful and sunny yesterday, but the wind got colder and stronger all day and I ended up bundled up like winter. Today we have had sun interspersed with heavy snow showers. Then more sun which causes the ground to steam. Somehow it looks prehistoric.
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