plant 80%

i saw a message on tomatoes at home depot or lowes to plant 80% of the whole plant. have you ever heard of such a thing? why would you plant above the soil line?

Debi,

Tomatoes will put out new roots wherever the stem is buried (or even touches the soil). The idea is that by burying 80% of the stem you produce plants with strong root systems, and thick, strong stems.

Brook, how many times should you do it? I've potted my tomatoes up 3 times already, each time burying 80%, and getting ready to put them in final places. They're big, 3' with flowers.

debi..It looks like from your question that you are assuming that they meant for you to leave some of the root ball out of the soil.This is not the case. They meant for you to bury _more_ of it than the pot that you bought.This means to plant the tomato stem and all.

This makes for a strong plant with a great root system like Brook said. What it does ,is makes the plant concentrate on developing below the soil instead of lots of top growth.It shocks the plant into making more roots than leaves,which is what you want until it is in the ground.

I strip off the lower leaves each time and only leave 2 sets above the soil. depending on how energetic I am,I'll repot 2 or 3 times before transplanting to the garden..burying the plant deeper each time.

I've repotted 3 times this year and really should again,but keep hoping that I can get these in the garden before much longer.

Debi, I've always done this. I did a "test" one year (not scientific ;-) where I planted some tomatoes deep like you describe and some just like planting peppers and other transplants. Months later, the ones planted not-so-deep blew over in some high winds while the deep planted ones stayed standing. BUT the plants were at different ends of the garden, so one could have gotten a freak gust of wind that the other didn't.

BTW, Melody, when Debi said, "Why would you plant above the soil line?", I think she was referring to the soil line in the pot the tomato plant was bought in. :-)

In a normal year I repot twice.

I set seed in either a small flat or cell pack, depending on my mood and how many plants I want. When true leaves appear I repot into 5 oz cups, burying about 2/3rd of the stem. When several sets of leaves appear, I repot into 16 oz cups, again, burying about 23 of the stem. If necessary, lower leaves are pinched off, as Melody indicated.

The ideal is to produce a short, squat plant about 6 or 8 inches tall with a thick stem. This then gets transplanted, again burying it 2/3 or more deep.

That's the ideal. I doubt if many achieved that size plant this year. When I transplanted mine (beat ya Mel! :-)) they were about 30 inches tall, and I had to trench them, allowing about six inches or so of the tops as emergent plants.

BTW, Melody, the latest research I've seen says it's OK to leave the flowers on. As long as there is no fruit the energy will go into plant growth.

I raised my tomatos under lights till they have 2 true leaves then put them in 8 oz cups ( not the best as they tip over very easy next year I will use 3 1/2 inch square pots )if they don't go to the garden ( because of weather ) I move them to 1 gal. pots keeping soil low just covering stalk as they grow I fill in soil till iI can plant out. It is surprising how tall they will get and live in just 8 oz. with good water and light. This year I started about 100 plants gave away quite a few and have 45 growing.
Greenw@@d

wow. thanks for all the info. i will plant them directly into the ground. Do i take off stems too or just the leaves? is it 80% including the pot? or 80% of the plant? Do i plant the lower stems?

just want to get this straight. :) thanks everyone.
debi

Debbi,

The 80% figure refers to the stem and crown. That is, 4/5ths of the part you see above the soil in the pot.

You trim the stems and leaves both, clearing the stem for the depth it will be in the ground.

Go for it, girlfriend.

what about putting foil around the stem? do you do that?

For what purpose, tiG?

The purpose of burying the stem is to create a larger, stronger root system. If you put a barrior between the stem and the soil you defeat that purpose.

sorry, didn't make it clear. Do you put a foil collar around the stem to keep cutworms off? and would you need them in a container planting?

cutworms haven't (thank goodness) been a problem for me. If they were, I think I would use plastic collars made from sections of soft-drink bottles, rather than foil. No particular reason though.

I don't think cutworms would be a problem in container plantings unless you filled them with garden soil and picked up the grubs that way.

We have a good population of cutworms in our soil, but I have yet to lose a plant of any kind to them......just lucky so far I guess, cause I don't protect against them. Hey, they have to live too:) Now those darn slugs are a different kind of story:)

Owen

We have had a cutworm problem here for years. I read somewhere that when planting seedlings in the garden to plant the seedling part way, then put cornstarch around the plant, finish putting soil around the seedling then put more cornstarch around the seedling again. The cutworms eat the cornstarch, swell up, and die. I've been doing this ever since and haven't lost a plant to cutworms again. I go through many boxes of cornstarch every spring when I'm transplanting to the garden. It's cheap, and from what I can see, very effective.

Now the rabbits are another story.

thank you thank you thank you. i'm now all set to plant my tomatoes. hopefully tomorrow. the weather is finally going to turn back into normal may weather. imagine that? :) now off to another forum for another question or two. :)

Joan,

Dealing with rabbits is easy. All it takes is a 12 gauge, some #6 shot, and a recipe for hassenpheffer.

LOL Brook, I've thought about doing that, just not sure if I could actually make myself do it. Plus I don't really see the rabbits much, I only see the damage. Last year they ate every little corn plant as they came up. I couldn't figure out what was happening to them, until I found the tracks in some mud up and down the rows.

Obviously you're a slug-a-bed. :-)

If you want to see them, get up at dawn and sneak out to the garden. You'll spook them then.

Get up at dawn? Are you crazy? LOL! I haven't seen dawn for many years. I'm too much of a night owl. I think I might just have to plan on planting enough for the bunnies too. :)

You remind me of my sister. She's a real believer in staying in bed until the crack of noon. :-)

Brook, will they be on the leaves at dawn??

tiG,

"On the leaves...."

Do you mean will the be feeding? Absolutely. Like most rodents, rabits are essentially nocturnal. They will feed and water one last time very early in the morning, then bed up for the day.

They might not be actively feeding, but would likely still be in the garden at that time. If you walk out there, they'll take off hopping.

So, if they're eating your garden, that's the best time to see them.

Hunting is different. Although early morning still is the best time, hunters are moving through rabbit habitat with the intent of spooking them. And, of course, the best sort of rabbit hunting is behind hounds, especially beagles. But that has nothing to do with your gardens.

oh, oops, I forgot you turned to rabbits, I meant slugs, sorry !! :)