Growing Single Stem Tomatoes Vertically in a Square Foot Garden

[TnWormsCastings]

THIS WAS GREAT

[ghostboy679]

That's not really an extraordinary length.

[cheeze5385]

So easy a caveman can do it lol. Dude straight up looks like a caveman.

[ilelar]

Will there be a problem with sunscald without some leaves to protect the tomatoes?

[MrandMissConverted]

Help!

Just above the point where my tomato plants' stem meets the soil, the stem looks as if the bark is being peeled off in patches. If left alone, the stem gets increasingly thin, brown and weak at only that point before the plant dies.

Piling a new layer of soil around the affected area is only a short-term fix because the new point where the stem meets the higher level of soil experiences the same thing.

What's the problem? and more importantly, how can I resolve the problem?

Thanks.

[DanielManahan]

Can you cut back a cherry tomato plant to its root, cover in wood chips (warmth) and preserve the root for next season? or do all tomatoes die once a year?

[growingyourgreens]

That probably wont work. It would be far better to take cuttings when the plant is healthy and grow them inside thru the winter.

[DanielManahan]

@growingyourgreens So if cuttings work on tomatoes it would seem to be far more efficient than growing from seed, especially if you can get cuttings from known productive branches. any vids on this? would be great, if you already did one.

[Achaeosic]

@growingyourgreens

[chrisbetteley]

just a thank you for explaining how to pinch the side suckers and top off as well as the single stem method. again thank you.

[TheDudedummy]

i m learning a lot of new techniques, planning to build my own garden soon,, please keep in line, making more videos to teach us the correct way,, thanks to you i learned how to plant n harvest the garlic,,a cool chick from ccalifornia

[m081779]

awesome video. I am so appreciative of this info

[hotfordmomma]

This is by far the BEST video on verticle tomatoes! The All New sfg Book explains it well but until I found this video I was super confused about how to prune it back! This is my first year with a sfg and Im super hyped. THANK YOU THANK YOU!

[yamatonokaachan]

@hotfordmomma Good point the SFG book explain sthis all in writing but it never really states to pull off the suckers or show any pictures about how to do single stem tomatoes. I was lost at first unti LI watched the video myself.

[BlazingMedic]

Really great video here. I was looking for a resource on how to go about doing the single stem method and I think this is the way I will do my tomatoes I have in my greenhouse now.

[hoofmama]

Excellent info...I will try this next season...I had a bush that took over probably 1/3 of my bed and really didn't need to be so big. Thanks.

[Whippetfest]

I was intending to try this method. I learned about it in the book Four Season Harvest, a commercial grower in Maine. This grower grows his cucumbers, I believe eggplants also to single vine and grows peppers to two vines per plant.

[mombo39]

To cwaj- tomatoes are a vine so they root from the stem. When you pinch off a sucker for a new plant just trim the bottom leaves and stick it in fertile soil/compost all the way the top leaves and water. It will wilt for the first 2 to 3 days and then come back to life, so to speak, and there you go...a new tomato plant. I have been doing this for several years and never had a problem, in fact, I am growing some summer suckers inside right now. Good Luck

[crewlla]

pot the stem. wow if I had to cut the top of the vine before frost date I wouldnt have very big plants. we plant after the first week of june and we are done at the end of august. However, the one stem Idea is awesome for our growing season I will have to try that next year.

[cwaj]

Dude - Stop saying " there is nothing wrong with letting it bush" You just showed us you DO know what you are talking about. I subscribed and will try this in my square foot garden raised beds!

[TheUrbanOutdoors]

cool info on tomatoes

[mombo39]

BTW what did he use to make his trellis? Looks very sturdy.

[growingyourgreens]

Check my other video on Future Farms, we go over that specifically.

[yamatonokaachan]

@mombo39 Hey ThereMombo39. The cage is made out of 1/2 inche electrical conduit and then gardeners trellis twine. It works really well and is very sturdy. The conduit is cheap and can be anchored down with brackets screwed into the frame or placed top of a 4 foot piece of rebar that has been driven into the ground. Just got my installed for this year and have been putting up the trellis.

Check out the Square Foot Gardening book and website be Mel Bartholmew he goes into detail with this.

[mombo39]

If you stick the sucker into the ground it will root and you would have another plant for free!

[cwaj]

@mombo39 Really? Nothing more? No root stimulator? If this is correct, please email me and tell me more.

[martenfisher1]

I grow wild tomatoes. I trim them similar to the way he does but I do it to make more plants. Currant or wild tomatoes are my favorite because they are way easier to grow than even cherry.

[fiending]

hey!!! great garden and lesson!!!

u know if he started from seeds or clones??

[growingyourgreens]

I believe he started them from seeds.

[franzb69]

potato leaf tomato. cool.

[ToYouWhoHaveEars1]

At the School of Horticulture, the students have a vegetable garden and they ALL grow their tomatoes using the single stem tomato method. Pruning suckers is good technique. Another good trick with tomatoes is as follows: when you plant the tomato, rip off the bottom half of the foliage and plant the rootball deep so that the nodes that have been defoliated are underground. Those nodes will put out roots and you will get a HUGE rootball, and that will translate into a much bigger yield. Take Care

[MrSybertek]

Your tomatoes do look nice though.

[MrSybertek]

That is not true. I have 40 tomato plants, 4 rows, 10 in each and they are trained to grow vertically. They do not take up 9sq feet so your theory is wrong therefore you are losing pounds and pounds of tomatoes. I am getting 40 to 50 pounds per plant in a square foot garden. I use round fencing 12" and force them to grow up so not sure where your getting your fuzzy math on 9sq feet.

[fetch33]

@MrSybertek

I agree. I planted my tomatoes 1 per sq foot. They grew up a cattle panel bent into a hoop. I did trim the suckers and extra foliage in the first few weeks, then I let them go wild and wove the stems up cattle panel. I got huge fruit and some of the plants were 8-10 ft tall!

[havokeachday]

When was this video taken? Looks pretty early in the season?

[growingyourgreens]

September. This footage was sitting on my laptop for a while, and figured I would finally edit it and upload it. So it will be good for all you South Florida growers that are planting their tomatoes now.. Or good techniques to use for next year.

[martenfisher1]

@havokeachday He said in the video that is was September 11th.

[stangg79]

I use 3 stakes per plant and trim back to 3 main stems. Work as advertised here.. but at the start of the plants life i use the 3 stakes to put a plastic tree cover on to keep the plant warm etc.

[treverbettis]

i wondered where justin from the hills has got to

[1984IcameandIstayed]

now I'm clear as to what a sucker is.

[DedFysch]

He's really cute. I could listen to a cute farmer talk about tomatoes all day. :)

Also informative - never seen this method before (of trimming back the tomatoes so much), and I plan on trying it next season.

[OneCreativeOrigin]

@DedFysch been tried and true for many years. I think it's called the single stem trellis method or the single trellis method? It's how I grow my 'maters here in Vegas.