Tomato communication
By Wayne McLaurinUniversity of GeorgiaIn your garden, you need to get inside the mind of a tomato.No, I’m not crazy. Tomatoes really do think. Well, OK, “respond”might be a better term.Take, for instance, when the tomato is young. Just planted, withsnug roots down in nice, rich soil, plenty of food for growth andnothing to do but just stretch those cells, make chlorophyll andenjoy itself, the tomato is much like a baby. It inches up,extending its roots and growing branches and leaves, then moreleaves. Tomato care tipsWhat can you do if you can’t think like a tomato? Just followthese directions (that a tomato “told” me):1. Fertilize and lime according to soil-test recommendations. Usea fertilizer with a 1-2-3 or 1-2-2 analysis (5-10-15, 1-2-2 or 6-12-12, for instance). Avoid, at all cost, using a 1-1-1 analysis,such as 10-10-10 or 13-13-13.2. Water as needed, usually about 1 inch per week. Don’t wet thefoliage — this causes diseases.3. Side-dress tomatoes only after fruit set and never whilethey’re blooming. It’s best to side-dress when the fruits areabout the size of a dime. This will allow for proper growth andfruiting for the next flowering structure.If you talk with your tomatoes, they may tell you,”More than 100 diseases and insects attack us. So please don’tcomplicate our lives with extra fertilizer and overtax our’thinking’ processes.” Fertilizer shockAlmost at once the plant is thrown into confusion. This happytomato that was basking in the warm sun just a few minutes ago,with no cares in the world, is jolted back into anotherphysiological process it didn’t really want.All of its sensors, all of its “mental” processes, now tell itmore fertilizer is present, especially nitrogen, and it needs tothrow off the fruit it has set and grow more foliage. Theobedient plant responds and drops the fruits.The gardener goes out the next day and looks for the flowers thatwere there yesterday, can’t find them and calls the nearestcounty agent.Well, I get the call from the county agent. That’s when I “getinto the mind of the tomato.” What went wrong from the tomato’sperspective?
Tomatoes go through growing stagesAfter going through these juvenile growing pains, it becomes astrong, healthy plant and turns to reproducing its own kind. Itsample leaf area can support reproductive structures (tomatofruits).Now, at its peak, it sends out the flower structures. The flowersdevelop, open up for only one day and are pollinated by the wind.The plant sets fruits, knowing all systems are functioning fully,thinking all along just how happy it is in the sunshine.Along comes a heavy-handed gardener with the fertilizer bag. Youknow what happens. The gardener sees the plant’s flowers andinitial tiny tomatoes and, thinking it needs feeding at thisreproductive time, dumps a generous amount of fertilizer at thebase of the plant.
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