Tomatoes

I started my tomato plants at the end of August and transplanted them into the rainforest on the 8th of September.  It is now the 29th of September and they are shooting up as fast as any plant I've seen.  I'm not sure what the reason for this is.  One guess is that I have been fertilizing them on schedule.  Another possibility is that they are the first crop on a new planting bed and have access to micronutrients that are depleted elsewhere in the rainforest.

I have 21 plants in the ground and am conducting an experiment to determine how to maximize yield.  The type I am growing is a grape tomato called 'St. Nick.'  Dave grew these in the spring in a different section of the rainforest.  I have the plants in four separate rows (first three are trellised) with five variations.  In the first row, I am pinching off all growing points except the leader and also pinching off all the flowers as they appear.  In the second row I am allowing the secondary leader to grow with the primary but still pinching off the flower buds.  In the third row I am pinching all growing points except the primary and secondary and leaving the flowers to develop into fruit.  On one of the these plants I have not pinched any growing points (it now has about six) or flowers.  On the fourth row I have not supported or pinched anything.

These are tomato plants.  

I will provide pest control for all the plants as needed and keep records of tomato harvests for each plant.  This should give me a nice looking graph of the harvest distribution over time and total quantity per plant/pruning method.

Of note for those unfamiliar with Florida gardening technique, planting timelines are opposite the rest of the country.  Our cool season vegetables are started in the fall and grow through the winter.  I have swiss chard, broccoli, cabbage, summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers all growing right now.  I anticipate great success.

New experiences in the last seven days:
1. Mixed and used Cornell spray.

That's it!  Pretty uneventful week...