TOMATO-CULTURE.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XV, Issue 4, 20 October 1917, Page 211

TOMATO-CULTURE.

( Continued.)

W. H. TAYLOR,

Horticulturist.

glasshouses.

Span-roofed houses are the most economical, as there is no high back wall to build. Narrow houses are to be avoided; a proportionally broad house’ is more economical as regards space,. and the temperature can be kept more equable. A house 100 ft. long and 24 ft. wide would be well proportioned. The sides should be 5 ft. high, the lower 1 ft. 6 in. of which may be concrete and the remaining 3 ft. 6 in. glass. There has been a general tendency during late years to merely put down a foundation of concrete and make all the sides of glass. The plan is a good one, as it is impossible to get too much light. The house should run north and south, so that the rising sun will shine on one side of the span. At noon during midsummer the sun will be over the apex, and it will decline on the other side. For a house of the width indicated—namely, 24 ft.— rafters should be 15 ft. long. This will give the roof an angle of 45 0 , with a height of 14 ft. at the apex. If the rafters were 14 ft. long the angle of the roof would be approximately 35 0 and the apex 12 ft. from the ground. This would be a sufficient slope, and suitable for summer work." It would, however, catch less sun in the early part of the season, and for that reason the greater angle is to be preferred. A door should be placed at each end of the house not only for convenience in working, but because one or both would be always available for purposes of ventilation. The doors should be wide enough to admit a wheelbarrow ; about 2 ft. 10 in. clear of the jambs would suffice. Lean-to houses should face north, should have glass ends and front, and preferably a boarded back wall. The back wall would face south, the cold quarter, and boards are warmer than glass in positions where there is no sun-heat upon them.

AN EXPERIMENT.

Being persuaded that tomatoes will thrive with very little water, and, further, that the cause of most attacks of blight is the result of overwatering and too much manure, I carried out an experiment on these lines under glass last, season at the Arataki Horticultural Station. The purpose of the experiment was to find out how little water the plants could do with and yet bear, good crops of fruit.

Some plants of the Stirling Castle variety were obtained from a local grower, and when received were affected with leaf-blight. The plants were set out on 6th September, at distances of 12 in. by 30 in. They were not watered when planted or at any other time, and after about two months the soil was dust-dry to a depth of 8 in. By the end of November the plants were showing coloured fruit, and they continued to produce good fruit till March, when I relinquished the charge of the station.' No spraying was done, yet the leaf-disease with which they were affected disappeared, and the plants remained perfectly clean. As evidence that the crop was good- it may be stated that a plant in fruit was placed on exhibition in a shop-window, and experts who saw. it flatly refused to believe the plant had not' been watered. It may be further mentioned that practically all the flowers set - fruit, some bunches having as much as eighteen fruits. Of course they were thinned, and the soil was fairly good and deeply trenched, but no manure was given. Naturally Ido not advocate this system of culture for general use, but I claim that the experiment achieved its 'object—namely, to prove that disease does not affect tomato-plants grown . under dry conditions, that large quantities of water are not required, and that fruit sets well when the plants are dry at foot and in a dry atmosphere.

OPEN-AIR CULTURE.

RAINFALL AN MANURING.

Blight annually takes a heavy toll from tomato-growers. A summer attended by an abundant rainfall that is beneficial to most vegetable crops is a time when heavy losses are sustained. Usually only some districts are affected ; only rarely do all experience a good season. Too much rain evidently results in soft growth, which becomes a prey to blight. When a dry season occurs blight-attacks are comparatively rare. In this there is an object-lesson .which should be taken to heart by all growers, both those in the open air and under glass. It is evident that blight-attacks are the result of too much water, and as attacks occur under glass where there is no rainfall it would appear to be excess water in the plant that causes the trouble —that is to say, too much water at the roots builds up a soft plant. I have long held the opinion that dry land well manured is the ideal for tomatoes, but that excess of rain on well-manured land is nearly certain to prove disastrous. Knowing that the tomatoplant. is naturally an exceedingly strong plant and that it does not require much water (proved by success achieved in dry seasons), the rational treatment appears to be such as will ensure good growth during a dry season and not be attended by disaster if the season should be extra wet. I am satisfied that I have succeeded under

both conditions by planting in soil in which there was no recently applied animal manure and also comparatively little humus, and by never watering the plants. Fertilizing the soil is effected by applying wood-ashes before . planting and a light dressing of bonedust and superphosphate, after the plants have started to grow freely. In brief, I believe a moderate amount of stable manure to be beneficial if the summer weather is normal, but that it is .likely to . cause serious loss if there is an extra amount of rain ; and that the. most certain way to ensure an annual crop is to refrain from using animal manure. For reasons stated earlier, tomatoes should not be grown more than twice on the same plot without an interval of several years.

RAISING THE PLANTS.

The time to sow the seed should be regulated by the date the plants can be put out with safety. The factors deciding this are frost and the necessary temperature. In places where frosts periodically occur it is useless to plant till the - worst are past. Where there is no frost it is useless to plant until the weather is warm enough to ensure growth. Plants put out too early are frequently injured by cold winds and sometimes killed. ’Eleven or -twelve .weeks is a reasonable, time to allow from the sowing of the seed to planting out; less time is necessary if the plant's are raised in heat. If the plants can be put out about the middle of October, midJuly will be . early enough to sow. If the planting be delayed till November — quite common occurrencemid-August is early enough for sowing.

The way to raise the plants was described earlier. Hardening the plants is effected by raising the lights, both top and' bottom, so as to allow air to pass freely through the plants. . A few days later the lights should be pushed off on fine days, replacing them at night, and the final step is to place the boxes of plants in a sunny and somewhat sheltered position in the open air. As an alternative, where such a position is not available, a shelter can be provided by ' enclosing a space 6 ft. wide and the length required, by fixing a io in. board around it. A centre ridge should be erected about 4 ft. above the ground, from which canvas on rollers can be let down over the plants at night or during violent storms. The plants can be, and frequently are, raised in a shorter period of time than that stated, but the plants should not be considered fit to put out until the roots have taken possession of all the soil, and that requires the length of time stated.

PLANTING AND TRAINING

For some years the most generally adopted mode of training was on a low trellis consisting of three wires. This was later reduced to

two wires, as the three were not furnished quickly enough. I still think this plan is best for private - garden use, and also for very windy places. The first wire should be fixed about 10 in. from the ground and the second a like distance above it. A straining-post must be put in at each end of a row. If the row is not longer than about 4 chains, no other posts will be required. Strong droppers, driven by a sledge-hammer, should be placed about three to each chain. Light fencing-wire is stretched as stated and stapled to the posts, but the staples should not be driven home, so that they may easily be drawn when the trellis is taken up. The plants are set about 30 in. apart. The first leader is taken up to the top wire and then tied along it. A strong shoot from near the base is led along the bottom wire, and the point of each leader pinched off when it reaches the next plant. Waste shoots are to be suppressed in all cases.

The plan now more generally adopted for training is to have a trellis of five wires. Rows are 3 ft. to 4 ft. apart, and run north and south. The plants are set 18 in. apart, and each plant is allowed two stems, which are trained perpendicularly up the wires. This method, of course, gives a larger yield per acre than the former, but is not so well adapted to windy situations.

A third plan is not to provide supports at all. The plants simply lie on the ground, and more stems per plant are allowed ; in fact, training is then more in the way of thinning growth than by systematic method. This method may be described as a gamble. If the season proves a dry one there is a comparatively large return for the labour expended, but in a wet season the plants take blight readily. The fact remains that large returns have been secured in this rough-and-ready way.

VARIETIES.

Most of the large growers have their own strains, the result of careful selection. Important points looked for are that the plants set the first truss, set freely, are short-jointed, and bear fruit of a paying size. The fruit should not be too small for outside growing, as it takes too many small fruits to fill a case. Round varieties are preferred for early houses, but for later houses it is not important to grow them. Carter’s Sunrise is a good variety for early houses ; others are Sutton’s Satisfaction, Stirling Castle, Holmes Supreme, Chalk’s Early Jewel. Moneymaker is now a leading favourite both inside and out. Clarke’s Favourite is a selected large red, so also is Palmer’s Select. There are, of course, many others.

[Diseases and pests of the tomato will be dealt with in the next issue.—Ed.]