September 15: A Little Help From Mother Nature



So...I had too many tomatoes. Well, Mother Nature felt sorry for me and took matters into her own hands.


Remember this beauty that grew clear up to the roof?




One strong gust and down it came.



It had a really strong root system, right through the hole in the bucket and into the ground.



I had to cut it back by half, to free the upper tomato cage and to get it to stand upright. It lost a lot of green tomatoes. If I were going to cook or can them I'd add the weight to my harvest total, but I think I'll pass this time.


I lashed it to a fence post. It's touch and go whether it will survive.


12 comments:

  1. Wow, what a tomato plant! That's got to be 7 or 8 feet tall. I can't imagine how many pounds of tomatoes that you've harvested just from that one plant alone.

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  2. Let it go, Granny, lol.....it appears Mother Nature has staged her own "Intervention" for you! :)

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  3. That was s very happy tomato plant. I bet it coninues to produce despite the set back of the wind accident induced hard pruning.

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  4. I know you have too many tomatoes but I can't help but feel bad for the poor plant. It tried so hard. My tomatoes in buckets also grew strong roots though the holes. I was surprised by how strong they were when I tried to move the pails.

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  5. Too bad, what a nice looking tomato. I can't beleive how well your tomatoes do in pots...what is your secret?

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  6. Judy, it actually hasn't given me a lot of tomatoes. I've been diligently pruning three of my bucket tomatoes, and just giving the other two an occasional snip to keep them somewhat in bounds. So it grew really tall, but just recently became loaded with green tomatoes. The other two pruned ones aren't heavily loaded, but the unpruned ones are.

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    Erin, you called for that intervention, didn't you? C'mon, fess up!

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    KitsapFG, it's not looking very happy this morning, and we're expecting temps in the 90s again today. Between ripping out the roots, drastically pruning and hot weather....well, good luck, tom plant.

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    Daphne, that's how I felt. It was my prettiest plant, and it looks so bare next to the shed now. I have the other bucket tomatoes secured to 1x2s that are pushed all the way down into the buckets with the tops nailed securely to the eaves of the patio. They are even taller than that one was, but not as bushy and full of tomatoes. Next year my tomatoes will probably all be in buckets, but secured against toppling.

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    Mr H. (it seems odd calling you that, as I'm married to Mr. H.!) I have a large hole cut in the bottom of the bucket, as well as a ring of drainage holes drilled around the center hole (they were made to be self watering containers, but that didn't work out). They all sit on good soil, so the roots can go right on down, down, down. The buckets are filled with potting mix (not potting soil) from Ace Hardware. I worked a few ground up calcium tablets or ground up eggshells in each planting hole. Four of the five that are in buckets sit just out of reach of the lawn sprinklers, so they get a good soaking from the hose as needed. The fifth gets hit with sprinklers and shows a bit of blight as a result. The four that are hand watered are really healthy. Oh, I have given them a double dose of fish emulsion two or three times through the season.

    I might also note my indeterminates that are planted 7 to a 4x8 foot box, unpruned and watered strictly by overhead sprinkling, are healthy and disease free. They are planted in straight dairy compost, with a handful of pelleted slow release fertilizer and eggshell or calcium tablets in the planting holes. Being disease free is probably because they are so overgrown the sprinklers can't splatter soil on the leaves.

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  7. That is one tall tom. Even chopped down it is still pretty big.

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  8. Dan, most of my indeterminates are about 8' tall. That one was the prettiest of the bunch, though. It looked so nice against the shed. Next year I'll secure them to the eaves like I did the two by the patio.

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  9. i was like wait a minute, mr. h has a blog too!?! ha!

    poor tomato plant. so how are you feeling granny?

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  10. LOL Kelli Ann, Mr. H gets around, doesn't he?

    I'm feeling pretty lousy. Coughing, runny nose, exploding head. It's almost 9 PM, and I'm still sitting here looking at the dirty dinner dishes, wishing they would go away.

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  11. AG - Hope you feel better soon. It's the start of flu season so take care of yourself.

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