Tomato Culture: A Practical Treatise on the Tomato

by W. W. Tracy

CHAPTER III

General Characteristics of the Plant

In the native home of the tomato, in South America, the conditions of the soil, both as regards composition and mechanical condition, of the moisture both in soil and air, and those of temperature and sunlight, are throughout the growing season not only very favorable for rapid growth, but are uniformly and constantly so. Under such conditions there has been developed a plant which, while vigorous, tenacious of life, capable of rapid growth and enormously productive, is not at all hardy in the sense of ability to endure untoward conditions either in the character of soil, of water supply, or of temperature. A check in the development because of any unfavorable condition is never fully recovered from, but will inevitably affect the total quantity and quality of the fruit produced, even if subsequent favorable conditions result in the rapid and vigorous growth of the plant.

I know of an instance where two adjoining fields belonging to A and B were set with tomatoes, using plants started in the same hotbed from the same lot of seed. The soil was of equal natural fertility and each field received about the same quantity of manure, though that given A's was all well decomposed and worked into the soil, while that given B's was fresh and raw and simply plowed in. A's field was put into the best possible tilth before setting the plants, and the management of the plants and their cultivation were such as to secure unchecked growth from the time they were pricked out into cold-frames and set in the field until the crop was matured. As long as the plants would permit, the soil was cultivated every few days and kept in a state of perfect tilth.

B's field when the plants were set out was a mass of clods, as it had been plowed, when wet, some time before and never harrowed but once. The plants had been crowded forward as rapidly as possible in the cold-frame, and when set in the field were much higher than A's, but so soft that they were badly checked in transplanting and a great many of them died and had to be reset. The field received but one or two cultivations during the entire season. The growth of the plants in B's field was irregular and uneven instead of steady and uniform as in A's, and though some of the fruits were quite as large, they were not as uniform as A's while the yield per acre was not more than half as much nor the fruit of as good general quality. B had difficulty in disposing of his crop and often had to sell below the market, while A had no trouble in disposing of his at the highest prices for the day. B's crop was a financial loss, while A's returned a most satisfactory profit.

The key to the most successful culture of the tomato is the securing, from the start to finish, of an unchecked uniform growth, though it need not necessarily be a rapid one. The failure to do this is, in my opinion, the principal reason for the comparatively small yield usually obtained, which is very much less than it would be with better cultural management. The tomato under conditions which I have repeatedly found it practicable to secure, not only in small plantings but in large fields, has proved capable of producing from 1,000 to 1,200 or even more bushels to the acre, and the possible yield per plant is enormous.

As early as 1818 the Royal Horticultural Society of London reports the obtaining of over 40 pounds of fruit of marketable character from a single vine. An acre of such plants would give a yield of over 1,800 bushels of fruit, and many similar yields, and even greater ones, have been recorded for single plants. The yield commonly obtained, even in favorable locations, and by men who have grown tomatoes all their lives, is more often less than 200 bushels to the acre than more. The way to secure a better yield is to study carefully the nature and requirements of the plants and the adaptation of our cultural practice to them.

Life habit of the plant.—The tomato could be described as a short-lived perennial, but its span of life is somewhat variable. Under favorable conditions it will develop from starting seed to first ripe fruit in from 85 to 120 days of full sunshine with a constant day temperature of from 75 to 90° F., and with one from 15 to 20° F. lower at night. The plants will ordinarily continue in full fruit for about 50 to 60 days, after which they generally become so exhausted by excessive production of fruit and the effects of diseases to which they are usually subject that their root action and sap circulation become weaker and weaker until they die from starvation. From Philadelphia southward gardeners expect that spring set plants will thus exhaust themselves and die by late summer, and they sow seed in late spring or early summer for plants on which they depend for late summer and fall crops.

Under some conditions, particularly in the Gulf states and in California, tomato plants will not only grow to a much greater size than normal, but will continue to thrive and bear fruit for a longer time. Such a plant grown in Pasadena, Cal., was said to have been in constant bearing for over 10 months. Again, sometimes plants that have produced a full crop of fruits will start new sets of roots and leaves and produce a second and even a third crop, each, however, being produced on new branches and as a result of a fresh set of roots, those which produced the preceding crop having died and disappeared. The period of development, 85 to 120 days of full sunshine at a temperature above 75° F., has been given. The full sunshine and high temperature are essential to such rapid development, and in so far as there is a lack of sunshine from clouds or shade, or the day temperature falls below 75° F. the period will be lengthened, so that in the greater part of the United States the elapsed time between starting seed to ripened fruit is usually as much as from 120 to 150 days and often even longer.