The Wilmington morning star., 1944-05-29
TOMATO VINES
REQUIRE CARE

One Of the usual inquiries at thi!
time Of the year is what is thu
best method of pruning and stalk
ing tomatoes?" The best way tt
answer this question is to describe
the practice followed by success
FULL vegetable gardener located II
the western Piedmont area of thi!
state.
A SIX to eight foot stake i!
driven about two feet into the
ground at each plant and when the
tomato plant is eight to 10 inches
tall, 1t is pruned to one stem. From
then on, no additional pruning or
the removal Of f'suckers" is done.
The suckers" are side branches
arising at the point where the
large leaves are joined to the main
stem. The tomato plant with its
suckers are tied securely at inter-
walls to the stake in order to sup
port the weight of the vine and
its fruit. One of the best ways to
make a tie is first loop the string
around the stake and then cross
1t between the plant and the stake
before being dr. avn directly
against the stake with danger of
injury as well as preventing the
string from slipping down the
stake.
Many home gardeners, however,
like to practice more pruning than
described above. The tomato
plant is pruned to one or two
stems, preferably one stem, which
is tied to stake and all suckers"
as they develop are pinched out.
The tomato plant is topped when
four or five clusters Of fruit have
set. This seems to check the en-
ergy of the plant toward early
maturity of the fruit. Those who
have followed this practice OF
pruning and training Of tomato
plants claim larger fruits are pro-
duced which are ready to harvest
several days earlier than unpruned
plants.
Both Methods Good
1t may be advisable to practice
both methods of pruning and
training. A few plants may be
pruned as practiced by the home
gardener in order to secure early
fruit with the remaining plants
left to be partially pruned as prac-
ticed by the vegetable gardener
in order to have large quantity
for canning purposes.
Tomato plants grown without
muc'l pruning give larger total
yield of fruit than severely prun-
ed plants. Unpruned plants have j
also a larger root system and are
able to reach out and obtain more
soil moisture. They will need more {
fertilizer than severely pruned {
plants since they have a larger ,
for taking up and utiliz- I
ing the soil nutrients. Tomato
plants, lightly pruned, have also {
larger total amount of foliage l
which provides for more shade for :
the fruit, thereby resulting in less !
exposure of the fruit to high tenn
aerature that induces sunscald, =
BLOSSOM end rot, and blotchy rip y
ming in addition to protecting the
ruit from rain and severe crack
lg. y
Satisfy And Parsnips :, -
Don't forget to plant satisfy 10y ~
ter plant and parsnips for use f;
lis fall and winter. They can be %
1T in the ground all winter. They O
re not damaged by freezing tt
Gather. In fact, a light freeze c.
GEMS to improve their flavor. IL
Yarmouth Landwitch Island is a ii
pod variety of satisfy. One ounce n
ill plant 100 feet of row and, aft h
the seedlings have come up, a
ley are thinned two inches apart. dl
ollow Crown and Ideal are good tt
of parsnips and one-half o.
unce of seed will be enough for u
10 feet of row. The seedlings Vi
Mould be thinned to stand three -
lches apart in the row. These =
egetables require a loose fertile ~
eep soil. The seeds are slow in ~
and should not be N
overed deeper than one-fourth b
ch of loose soil and then the row f.
'vered deeper than one-fourth fl
laff, pine needles, or other fine Il
aterial to prevent the soil from N
ecoming crusted.