Tomato: Larger Yields

[bill22]

I found a tip for getting larger yields of tomatoes and tested it this year.

The idea is that once you have pricked out your seedlings say in a 3-5" pot you then grow on untill the plant is virtually potbound before planting in its final position.
The thinking behind this is that because the plant finds resources are short it makes an excess of flowers as a survival technique.

Once potted up the plant continues in the same vein creating far more flowers/fruit than if treated normally.

Having done the opposite of this in previous years ( ie potting up earlier than later) and finding that the plant puts on masses of green growth seemingly @ the expense of fruit I thought this idea deserved a try.

I tried it on just one plant ( a costalacutto).

After finally planting it up it looked as if the plant would die but it did recover with extra new growth and as predicted produced absolutely masses of fruit.

It produced twice as much as the other costalacutto plants I grew in the normal way

The downside I guess is that you could lose the plant

I definitely recommend to give it a try though

[bill22]

[Barnowl]

Blimey, so the fact I 'm always late getting round to potting on my seedlings means I've been doing myself a favour! ;D

[tim]

The reason why the books say don't plant out until the first truss is in flower?
Can never achieve it.

[supersprout]

excellent experiment and tip, thank you bill22 :)

[Marymary]

Yes thanks for that good to know that what I'd been doing was for the best - doesn't work with everything though!