THE TOMATO TEXT

the fall. In the south, it is necessary to get good plant development and a full set of fruit before hot weather which often destroys the blossoms. Plant Protectors Many forms of plant protectors are on the market--of paper and of other materials. These act as little greenhouses for the individual plant, protecting against frost and promoting growth. Plants may be set out-of-doors a couple of weeks earlier by their use. The most common forms are of translucent paper reinforced by pasted strips of paper or by wire. The trick is to devise one that is cheap, that will admit maximum light and that will withstand the weather. For tomatoes, they need to be tall, which makes the problem of wind resistance more serious. For emergencies, opaque cover, baskets upside down or even newspaper may be used. Many a field has been saved by burying the plants when frost threatened, carefully uncovering when danger is past. Spacing Untrained tomatoes are set at distances from 3-1/2 feet each way to 7 x 7 feet or even more. The extreme width is found on rich irrigated lands in California where plants make tremendous growth. The closer spacings are found on lighter soils where humus, plant food, and moisture are not too abundant. The variety should also be considered. Sixteen square feet per plant is about average. Check row planting is common, though it is not feasible where transplanters are used. Wider spacing between the rows than between plants is desirable as it permits later cultivation one way and leaves a better passage for pickers with less damage to plants and fruits. Thus, 3-1/2 x 4-1/2 feet might be preferred to 4 x 4 feet. Rows for single stem, staked and pruned plants may be as close as three feet and plants may be as close as eighteen or even twelve inches, though some growers contend that two feet is close enough. Methods of Planting The essential point in field setting is to pack the soil firmly about the roots, thus establishing maximum contact for moisture absorption. Whatever the method of planting, the aim should be to get the plants from the old home to the new with as little delay and check in growth as possible. For the first-early crop, they should be moved so that "they never know it." With bands, pots or blocking in flats or beds, it is feasible to avoid practically all disturbance of roots. The tomato will, under ordinary favorable conditions, take hold and grow even if shaken quite free of earth. Plants, however, should be dug loose rather than pulled, to prevent undue breakage of roots. Plants ought to be watered well some hours before transplanting. Transplanting machines and hand planters of the Masters type give a little shot of water at the root, thus helping to establish contact with the soil. Starter solutions are discussed on page 35. These machines are commonly used for cannery setting and, to some extent, for market tomatoes. Blocked plants can be set pretty fast by hand with much less disturbance of roots. Some manage to set potted or blocked plants by machine, keeping a ball of earth about the roots. The rows are usually marked out fairly deeply, plants are dropped in fours between rows and it is a very short job to pack soil about the clod of earth in which the plant is growing. Another method is for one worker to make an opening with a spade. A second places the plant in the wedge-like opening and the first steps on the soil to firm it solidly about the roots. Plants are generally set a little deeper than in the plant bed. Cultivation The old idea about cultivation was "the more, the better." More recent experiments notably those by Thompson have shown that little need be done beyond controlling weeds. He found that stirring the soil gave no significant increase in yield over mere scraping sufficient to destroy weeds. It is pretty hard to convince many old time gardeners of this. The value of dust mulch for conservation of moisture has been pretty well discredited by experimental comparisons. Irrigation Irrigation is not essential for tomato production in humid climates and is seldom provided except under market garden conditions. Water is occasionally an asset in a dry season and, of course, the grower who waters at such times reaps a harvest in higher prices as well as in increased yield. The advantage of irrigation is especially marked if dry weather retards plant growth and delays maturity of the first of the crop, for the high prices of the early market are involved. Judicious irrigation will sometimes continue production for late fall market. Yet gardeners seldom plan permanent overhead equipment for tomatoes. The movable lines that are now used to a considerable extent serve well for the tomato crop. The furrow method of irrigating tomatoes is the most common in the West. This plan allows the water to make its way down the rows, slowly soaking in all along the line. The tomato stands drouth better than many of our crops, especially if the soil holds moisture fairly well, either naturally or through a liberal humus content. Excessive moisture is doubtless a factor in causing the plants to run to vine and drop their blossoms. Hence, in western sections, it is customary to water thoroughly just before or just after setting the plants and then to avoid applications until the setting of fruit is well advanced. Thorough soaking is better than frequent light waterings, as it encourages a better development of root system. An Idaho bulletin suggests three irrigations. Late irrigations tend to delay ripening of fruit, but this object is sought in the late fall shipping districts of California which find their best markets after eastern crops have been nipped by frost. Irrigation must be handled with care to avoid cracking of fruit, which occurs when soil becomes rather dry and then is heavily watered. Watering late in the season is said to make fruit watery and of poor quality. Mulching R. A. Emerson[16] in 1903 reported results of careful comparisons between vegetables that were cultivated and others that were mulched with straw. These results indicate that mulching gives good results with tomatoes, both as to yield and quality. However, frost injury was more severe on mulched plats, and Emerson points out that the mulch should not be applied until the plants are well established. Mulching is recommended by a good many writers and growers and it seems to be practiced to some extent in Missouri. The advantages claimed are conservation of moisture and clean, fine quality fruit. L. W. Purdum and Sons of Virginia use 4-5 tons per acre of wheat straw, staking their plants and irrigating. They report unusually heavy returns per acre under these methods. The Missouri people apply as much as sixteen tons per acre, making the cover five or six inches thick. The practice of mulching, however, is not common, and the cost will likely prevent its general use. VI TO TRAIN THEM UP OR LET THEM SPREAD Growers attending conventions will often stay up half the night to argue about training and pruning tomatoes and to debate the details of their favorite procedures. For home garden, the method is strongly commended. Many market gardeners follow the practice and it has gained materially of recent years in New England. Some market reports quote staked tomatoes separately and at a materially higher level than fruit from unpruned plants. Most of the southern shipping sections follow the practice and it is practically universal in greenhouses. One way is to drive a stake by each plant tying at several points along the stem with cheap twine. The other plan, recently gaining in favor, is to set posts every 25 feet or so, string a heavy wire on top, and another a foot from the ground. Cheap jute twine is strung between wires and the tomato plants are merely twisted around the string. Tying is not required. Some omit the lower wire, tying a non-slipping bowline loop around the plant near the ground. In either case, plants are kept trimmed to a single stem though occasionally an extra branch is allowed to grow. In southern Illinois, plants are tied to a short stake without pruning. [Illustration: FIGURE 15.--Tomatoes pruned and trained with post, wire and twine. This is the trellis system of New England.] [Illustration: FIGURE 16.--Fine clusters on trained plants.] Pro and Con The advantages claimed for pruning and training are: Earliness. High yield per acre. Ease of cultivating and spraying. Ease of picking. No injury from snails and wire worms. Quality of fruit:--size, color, smoothness and cleanliness. Crop finished earlier. Less sunscald. The disadvantages claimed are: Many plants required. Reduced yield. More blossom-end rot. Higher cost of labor. Cost and care of stakes and wire. The validity of each of these points varies greatly with conditions; in fact, the answer to the whole question depends largely upon the location and the ideas of the grower. In trying to reach a conclusion, it is well to realize that training makes certain radical changes in the plant. It loses leaves through pruning, it is supported from the ground, and it is spaced differently. Since the leaves manufacture the basic substance for themselves, and for the rest of the plant, removal of leaves reduces the resources of the plant. H. C. Thompson[17] has found that the root system is reduced about in proportion to leaf reduction. It is fairly clear that single-stem training greatly reduces the yield per plant, and other methods result similarly in proportion to the severity of pruning. When plants are spaced closely enough together the yield may be brought up to that of areas unpruned and unstaked. Idaho experiments indicate that staking alone does not affect the total yield, but that it does favor early maturity under the different pruning systems. The disadvantages of training are largely economic. Will the marketing conditions justify the extra cost of staking and pruning? Experiments have shown pretty clearly that sunscald, blossom-end rot and cracking are worse on trained plants. Using varieties of good foliage will help the first trouble while uniform and adequate water supply achieved by selection of suitable land, by building humus content of the soil and by irrigation will solve the latter two problems. Thompson found increased yield of early fruit. Other evidence is somewhat conflicting but, in general, it supports Thompson. It is generally agreed that pruned plants yield larger, cleaner and more perfectly formed and colored fruits. Ease of spraying or dusting and of picking is important. For pruned plants, 3-1/2 feet between rows and 1-1/2-2 feet between plants is about right. To train or not to train is a question that one must answer for himself as the controlling factors vary too widely--costs of stakes, wire and labor, prices of early tomatoes and possibility of cultivating a more or less fancy trade. VII THE ETERNAL BATTLE WITH INSECTS AND DISEASES The tomato, in most regions, is not one of our most "pestered" crops. Although over thirty diseases of tomatoes are discussed in books and bulletins, most of them are only occasionally serious or are subject to definite control methods. Enemies are generally worse in the warmer climates. Most home garden tomatoes and many commercial crops are grown without benefit of spray or dust. If trouble arises, county agent or college specialist can usually advise, suggesting methods suitable for local conditions. Experience must, of necessity, be the guide in shaping a program and costs must be carefully balanced against results. The principal measures that are widely used are seed treatment against damping off, use of resistant strains against fusarium wilt and application of bordeaux mixture against leaf blights. As with all plants, thoroughness must be the watchword in spraying or dusting. Timeliness, choice of weather conditions so far as possible, and covering all surface lightly rather than throwing on heavy blotches of spray or dust all require careful attention. _Fusarium Wilt_ (Fusarium lycopersici) is perhaps the most serious of all the tomato diseases although it occasions little trouble in the more northerly states. It is troublesome as far north as New Jersey to Iowa. The fungus winters in the soil, enters through the roots and blocks the water passages of the plant causing wilting, yellowing, and finally, death. Water vessels in the stem are discolored,--another means of identifying the disease. Spraying or dusting are of no service since the fungus is within. Long time rotation and use of the many resistant strains are effective means of control. [Illustration: FIGURE 17.--Resistance to fusarium wilt. Row on left center is planted to an ordinary variety, row on right with one of F. J. Pritchard's wilt-resistant selections. Insert shows plant attacked by wilt fungus.] _Leaf Spot_, _Septoria Blight_ (Septoria lycopersici) causes heavy loss by destroying the foliage and so the fruit-making power of the plant. It also opens the fruits to sunscald. The spots appear as small dark water soaked areas which enlarge but little though they increase in number and turn brown. Tiny black dots, the fruiting bodies of the fungus, appear. The spores germinate only on moist leaves and the disease is spread by wind, rain, workers and the like. It winters on refuse of the tomato and related plants. Fall plowing helps to control. Bordeaux spraying beginning in the seed bed and carried faithfully through the season will usually hold the trouble in check. _Late Blight_ (Phytophthora infestans) is the same fungus as the late blight of potatoes, affecting both foliage and fruit. It is often troublesome the first few weeks after plants are set out-of-doors. Clean soil in seed bed and bordeaux spraying are helpful. _Western Blight_, _Yellows_, _Curly Top_,--cause unknown,--is prevalent in California. Leaves roll and become thickened and brittle, later turning a sulfury yellow. Veins become purplish. The trouble prevails in hot weather. The cause is likely a virus, similar to or identical with the curly top of beets. It is apparently spread by leaf hoppers. No satisfactory control has been devised though there is some promise in resistant strains. [Illustration: FIGURE 18.--Diseases of the tomato. 1. Septoria or leaf spot. 2. Mosaic. 3. Mosaic, filiform.] _Mosaic._--No organism has been definitely connected with the mosaic diseases of tomatoes, but they are highly infectious, being spread by means of what is called a "virus," which passes the finest filters. It is spread by insects, notably aphids, which carry plant juice, and in the handling of plants, but it does not persist in seeds or in litter. It is wintered on horse nettles and three species of ground cherries. Control suggestions include roguing affected plants, eliminating weeds, and controlling carrying insects. The symptoms are widely various, the most common being mottling of leaves, stunting and malformation of leaflets, which sometimes become fine ribbons or threads, curling, appearance of small brown dead areas, and spots and cracks on fruits. _Damping off_ is caused by various fungi in the seed bed which attack the stem near the surface of the soil and cause the plant to drop over and die. Clean soil, heating of soil, commonly called sterilization, and care in watering are all helpful. It is now common practice to dust seed with formaldehyde dust, or with red copper oxid or with an organic mercury disinfectant. If trouble is serious, a watering with semesan just before seedlings emerge may be helpful. A government bulletin on "Market Diseases of Tomatoes" (Miscellaneous Publication 121, 1932) is an excellent summary with colored plates to help in recognizing the various troubles. Insects _The Fruit Worm_ (Chloridea obsoleta) is probably the worst of the tomato insects, but is not prevalent in the North. It is the same as the corn ear-worm or the cotton boll-worm, and bores into green or ripening fruits. It winters in the soil and fall plowing is recommended for its control. Planting corn as a trap crop is also suggested. The Virginia Truck Experiment Station finds that the addition of two pounds of calcium arsenate to 50 gallons of the Bordeaux used for disease control helps materially. _Cut-worms_ (various species of the family Noctuidae) cause severe losses at the time of field setting. They winter in the soil and are worse when sod has been plowed under, or following other host plants. Poison bran mash is commonly used to combat them, using a spoonful to each plant. Hand picking and the use of paper collars are resorted to on a small scale. Well-hardened plants seem less subject to injury by these pests than tender plants. _Colorado Potato Beetle_ (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) can cause a world of damage to young plants. Arsenical spray or dust will ordinarily control them. The old-fashioned potato bug (family Meloidae), is reported as troublesome in Missouri. When they appear in droves, the only control is to drive them with brush. Arsenical spray or dust is of some value. _Flea Beetles_ (family Chrysomelidae) are the little black jumping fellows that perforate leaves in plant beds and in the field. They are also accused of injuring blossoms and reducing the set of fruit. Their attacks upon young plants are sometimes ruinous. Bordeaux with arsenical serves as a repellant. Dusting with nicotine sulphate dust is also suggested. _Green Tomato Worms_, or _Horn Worms_ (Phlegethontius sexta) are big, green fellows and have a great capacity for tomato foliage. Hand-picking and arsenical spray or dust are usual means of combat. _The stalk-borer_ (Papaipema nitela) is a slender caterpillar which is reported as serious in Indiana. No satisfactory control is suggested except clean culture around fields and pinching the stems to destroy the pest. VIII SKILLFUL SELLING CROWNS THE ENTERPRISE The most skillful production is in vain if marketing is not done well. At the same time, the quality of the goods is the principal factor in making the price and in moving the goods. Even then, if costs in production and marketing are too high, the enterprise is a failure. The differences between high and low quotations on the same market the same day, are usually fairly wide,--say, $1.75 to $2.50; or $0.75 to $1.25; or $0.20 to $0.25 per basket. These differences are sufficient to make the difference between profit and loss. Small differences in quality of the product, in handling and dress-up of the market pack and skill in finding buyers may easily result in price differences as great or greater than those indicated. Harvesting Picking in the field calls for the closest care and supervision to prevent damage to the fruits and vines. Stems should be removed to avoid punching other fruits, and long finger-nails do great harm by cutting the skin and admitting infection. Containers should not be too large to be handled conveniently. Round half-bushel stave baskets and galvanized pails are excellent. Baskets made of quarter-inch staves rather than veneer are smooth and durable, but the investment is rather heavy unless dumping is resorted to. In practice, all sorts of boxes and crates are used, often the package that is used for marketing. No container as deep as a bushel basket should be used. The stage of ripeness at which tomatoes are picked depends upon the time and distance to market. For home use or local market, fruit may range from the first turn to almost fully colored. A few growers pick at the turn and use ripening rooms to prepare for local selling. In this way cracking, injury by soil, by insects, and by uneven coloring are avoided. Fruits are wiped and handled with less loss and may even be washed if need be.