Enjoy Fresh Tomatoes All Year
(Page 3 of 5)
February/March 2007
By Barbara Pleasant
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Wonderful Wall O’ Waters
Water-filled cloches such as Wall O’ Waters (also sold as Kozy Coats) have a huge following among folks who aren’t content to wait until summer for their first homegrown tomato. Wall O’ Waters are circular cloches, 18 inches tall and 18 inches wide, made of connected translucent plastic tubes that you fill with water. These water-filled tubes absorb and store daytime warmth and moderate cold while providing dependable wind protection. A 1992 study conducted at Virginia Polytechnic Institute found that Wall O’ Waters helped tomatoes ripen more than 10 days earlier than plants grown in the open or with milk jug cloches. Plus, if the Wall O’ Waters are installed before the tomatoes are transplanted, they can enhance earliness even more by pre-warming the soil. Sold in sets of three for $8 to $15, water-filled cloches will last for five years or more if cared for properly.
If you’ve never used these cloches before, here’s a trick for filling them without making a mess: Cover the plant with a small pail, place the empty cloche around it, and use a hose turned on at low pressure to fill the tubes. Give the tops of the filled tubes a few strong tugs to set them in place, then reach inside and pull out the pail.
Start New Plants from Cuttings
Whether you want vigorous young plants for a fall or winter crop, or decide to multiply a tomato you particularly like, learning to grow rooted cuttings is a valuable skill. Speed is a huge advantage. Seedlings need six to eight weeks to grow to transplanting size, but cuttings kept in warm conditions will be ready to set out in just 10 to 14 days. You also can root cuttings directly in the garden.
Tomatoes are among the easiest plants to root (cells in the stems morph into new roots quickly when kept moist), so even if you’re a newbie propagator you can expect success. Tomato cuttings will root in a jar of water, but you will get sturdy plants faster by rooting them in soil. Here’s how:
- Fill clean, 4-inch containers (or large paper cups with drainage holes in the bottom) with potting soil, and dampen thoroughly. Use a pencil or chopstick to poke a hole in the center of each prepared container.
- Select 6-inch-long tips that are free of leaf spots or other evidence of disease. Snip off any blossoms or buds with sharp scissors, and remove all leaves except the two at the top. Trim off the cut end so it will be 1 inch from the bottom of the container when the cutting is buried up to the base of the intact leaves.
- Push the prepared cuttings into the holes, and press soil against the stem. Set in a warm, shady place for seven days, and keep moist. You can protect them from strong sun by covering them with an overturned clay flowerpot. Gradually expose the rooted cutting to more light for another week.
- Move the rooted cutting to a larger pot (or transplant it to your garden) when new leaves appear or roots become visible in the drainage holes of the container.
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