# Tomato Arbor



## SolarAndWood (Oct 25, 2011)

Has anyone done an arbor like below in a northern climate?  I am wondering if the vines will just spend all their time growing and just end up with a bunch of green tomatoes come frost time?


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## billb3 (Oct 25, 2011)

Seems a common method in Italy, even in greenhouse tubes.
Lots of greenhouse tubes to protect them from wind, hail and heavy downpour damage.

You can prune tomatos.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 25, 2011)

They have a much longer growing season don't they?  We have snow in the forecast and can't put tomatoes in the ground safely until almost Memorial Day.  I used 5 ft stakes this year, tied them off twice but didn't prune.  They don't seem to start producing fruit until they are done climbing though?  I like the light and ventilation benefits of the 10' arbor, but am wondering if all I am going to end up with is a nice green arch when the frost hits?  Maybe with pruning they will cover the arbor quickly and produce fruit at the same time as my staked plants?


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## smokinj (Oct 25, 2011)

I am going to start mine the first week of Feb this season. Adding another row to. I did lose quite a few green ones to the frost on last Friday.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 25, 2011)

We do green tomato salsa this time every year.


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## smokinj (Oct 25, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> We do green tomato salsa this time every year.



LEARN something new everyday! Going to start some later this afternoon.


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## lukem (Oct 25, 2011)

My tomatoes went nuts this year.  I bet the vines were 12'.  I had them staked up 6' high and they kept growing back to the ground again.

Picked the last of my green tomatoes yesterday...supposed to get frosty later in the week.

Need to know more about this green tomato salsa...do tell.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 25, 2011)

Nothing fancy, just jalapenos and onions.  Do you prune on the way up?  Did you prune at 12' or did they just stop when they hit the ground?  Were they producing fruit the whole time?


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## lukem (Oct 25, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Nothing fancy, just jalapenos and onions.  Do you prune on the way up?  Did you prune at 12' or did they just stop when they hit the ground?  Were they producing fruit the whole time?



Making some tonight.  Have to pick the last of the peppers tonight anyway.  Vinegar and sugar, or do the tomatoes have enough to get the job done?

I don't prune my tomatoes...my mom always did, but I haven't learned the craft yet.  I just let them do as they may.

My cherry tomatoes and heirlooms both grew 12' or more....and kept on producing...and producing some more.  They actually kept growing after they hit the ground too.  I would venture a guess that we got 40 - 60 lbs per plant, but that's pure speculation.  I had 24 plants.  Do the math.  Froze a bunch.  Lots of salsa.  Gave a bunch away.


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## begreen (Oct 25, 2011)

I think you got them in too late. Or maybe it was your wet summer? We had a cold spring and a late beginning to summer (mid-July), but still managed an excellent crop. Harvested almost all of our tomatoes by the beginning of Oct. There are some green ones left, but they will have to ripen off the vine soon.


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## timfromohio (Oct 25, 2011)

I use cages and stakes - prefer cages, but only have about 30 of them - I try to prune everything that grows a few inches outside of the cage on all sides and above - this seems to direct more energy into fruits earlier.  With the stakes, it's harder to make as compact and neat form since you don't have the guide provided by the cage.  I think I'm in the same general gardening zone as you solarandwood (5b) and we usually harvest the bulk of our tomato crop in August sometime - I plant out sometime in May, depending on how the Spring is going.  

The arbors look great but would you leave them in place?  This might be a pain for crop rotations, but I supposed they'd work just as well for beans or peas.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 25, 2011)

BeGreen said:
			
		

> I think you got them in too late. Or maybe it was your wet summer?



That pic was in June, we were in right on time.  Last year we lost 75 plants a week before we planted this year.  Irene and the storms thereafter shut us down this year for tomatoes.  We did very well before that but I'm pretty sure arbors would have gotten us through it.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 25, 2011)

lukem said:
			
		

> Vinegar and sugar, or do the tomatoes have enough to get the job done?



I think the tomatoes get it done as long as you keep your expectations in line.  We ripen a bunch on the vine in the house but usually have a pile of green ones and I hate tilling them under.  Tilling the garden under is a real downer for me.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

timfromohio said:
			
		

> The arbors look great but would you leave them in place?



I'm thinking I will do a 6 posted arbor next year.  The idea is that it is more or less free standing as it would be hell to drill in the glacial till I built the garden terraces out of.  I'm thinking I will build it like the left side of the pic in my original post except three rows wide.  That way I could pick them up with the loader and move them into place with the idea being they would come down every year.  Then connect them with 2x4x16s and deck screws.  I've gotten used to being able to run the garden out quickly and don't want to interfere with that with anything permanent.


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## begreen (Oct 26, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

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The arbors are fine. Have you thought about setting them up so that you can tent the tomatoes when the weather is not cooperating? I did that this year and am sure it's what saved our crops. Most people locally complained about this being a lousy tomato year, yet for us it was great.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

Is it the water physically hitting the plants that shuts them down?  I assumed they were too thick and not getting enough ventilation after the big rains?  Tenting shouldn't be too hard with that plan.  The first one will be about 16x10 if I do a 4 post system.  I could probably just pitch the horizontal members enough that tenting it would form a shed roof.


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## lukem (Oct 26, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

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I tilled under a bunch of cherry tomatoes last weekend.  There was nothing wrong with them, but I'm so sick of picking them this was the lesser of the two evils.  Gardening is a lot like wood burning for me....can't wait to get started...then at the end of the season can't wait to be done.


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## timfromohio (Oct 26, 2011)

"Gardening is a lot like wood burning for meâ€¦.canâ€™t wait to get startedâ€¦then at the end of the season canâ€™t wait to be done. "

I feel the same way - I'm gung ho the beginning of the season, but by September am done.  I keep wanting to get serious about extending the gardening season via row covers, perhaps a hoop house, cool weather crops (reading Elliot Coleman), but when the time comes all I want to do is transition to wood burning, wood working, and homebrewing.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

I like the garden because it forces me to slow down and relax at least a few times a week.  I guess I need an off season compliment.


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## timfromohio (Oct 26, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> I like the garden because it forces me to slow down and relax at least a few times a week.  I guess I need an off season compliment.



Huh?  Relaxation and my garden are two words that don't go together!  

I suggest you take up woodworking - I find it extremely relaxing.  I'm slowly getting into using more hand tools, especially as my sons get older and can participate more.  The hand tools move slower and make less noise/sawdust.


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## lukem (Oct 26, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> I like the garden because it forces me to slow down and relax at least a few times a week.



I agree...but the new car smell wears off around September.

I need a distraction for my distraction...LOL


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## timfromohio (Oct 26, 2011)

Another favorite winter hobby is fire gazing - you know, gazing at the stove whilst sipping a homebrew.  This is an end of the day hobby of course.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

timfromohio said:
			
		

> Huh?  Relaxation and my garden are two words that don't go together!



I think we have finally gotten to the place where it isn't a lot of work compared to when we started.  The tractor makes the prep and clean up pretty quick.  Mulching everything and having the irrigation system in makes the in season work a lot easier.  The addition of the compost has made pulling any weeds that do make it through the mulch pretty easy.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

lukem said:
			
		

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This never gets old for me.


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## smokinj (Oct 26, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

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Yea me either, and my chairs and garden are nowhere near that nice.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

When you decide to build some, let me know and I will send you the pattern.  That is my primary motivation for getting a mill.  Those were almost 2 bills in lumber 12 years ago.  They have held up very well especially given that they sit out all the time but it would be nice to make them out of scrounged wood.


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## lukem (Oct 26, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

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That's cool, but if i had chairs in the garden a lot less work would get done!


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

lukem said:
			
		

> That's cool, but if i had chairs in the garden a lot less work would get done!



Someone has to be out there to flip the valves on the soaker hoses :lol:


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## timfromohio (Oct 26, 2011)

I think that the tractor would make a huge difference.  I currently use a bcs brand walk-behind tractor (tiller on steroids) - it works very well, but is still physically demanding.  Plus, my "traditional" garden area is really too small to use the bcs to its potential - I have to turn too frequently.  If we stay where we are, I'll eventually install different fencing that I can easily move when I expand the garden area and be in the market for a smallish 4x4 diesel tractor.  I'd still use the walk behind, but the real tractor with a tiller, bottom plow, and front loader would make life considerably easier.  Plus I could use it to clear the driveway in the winter, move firewood, engage in compost manufacture on a much larger scale, etc.

What do you mulch with?  The last two years I have been using layers of newspaper topped with grass clippings between rows.  My soil is terrible - mostly clay, but I'm slowly building it up with composted manure additions -thusfar I have added 25 yards and it has barely made a dent in what I need - huge improvement, but I have a long way to go.  I remember talking with you before about how you built up you soil - didn't you have a larger tractor and then trade down once most of the big work was done?


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## begreen (Oct 26, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Is it the water physically hitting the plants that shuts them down?  I assumed they were too thick and not getting enough ventilation after the big rains?  Tenting shouldn't be too hard with that plan.  The first one will be about 16x10 if I do a 4 post system.  I could probably just pitch the horizontal members enough that tenting it would form a shed roof.



Tomatoes do respond to good ventilation. Dampness invites molds, fungus and blight. We use drip irrigation for all our beds and don't top water at all. This year I was pretty aggressive trimming the in determinant varieties. I kept the bottoms open and airy and clipped off a lot of sucker shoots. 

I think you will be pleased with tenting. Try it on a row. It gives the plants a nice head start. Just be sure to open up the ends when the sun comes out and the tent gets warm. It's possible to bake the young plants, even when it's only 50 outside.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

timfromohio said:
			
		

> What do you mulch with?  The last two years I have been using layers of newspaper topped with grass clippings between rows.  My soil is terrible - mostly clay, but I'm slowly building it up with composted manure additions -thusfar I have added 25 yards and it has barely made a dent in what I need - huge improvement, but I have a long way to go.  I remember talking with you before about how you built up you soil - didn't you have a larger tractor and then trade down once most of the big work was done?



I wood mulch the tractor wheel/walkways.  About 25 yards a year.  Beds get mulched with grass.  About 3 acres worth between us and two neighbors.  Organic material was originally composted manure from a friend's dairy farm, 28 yards of compost this year from a county program http://www.ocrra.org/yardwaste_food.asp.  The impact of the compost this year was amazing.  I hope the program doesn't get killed by shortsightedness before I can get the garden nice and rich and deep.

I've been all over the place with the equipment.  The current early 80s 4wd 32 hp Ford works pretty well for everything but mowing.  After I really get done with the work at the house, the Ford and the 80s era 5' JD mower will probably retire to the camp and be replaced by a similar or slightly smaller 4wd diesel mower/loader/tiller/blower that hasn't been beat on as badly as what I've got now.  I'm currently watching for a clean low hour JD 655/755/855/955.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 26, 2011)

BeGreen said:
			
		

> Tomatoes do respond to good ventilation. Dampness invites molds, fungus and blight. We use drip irrigation for all our beds and don't top water at all. This year I was pretty aggressive trimming the in determinant varieties. I kept the bottoms open and airy and clipped off a lot of sucker shoots.
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> I think you will be pleased with tenting. Try it on a row. It gives the plants a nice head start. Just be sure to open up the ends when the sun comes out and the tent gets warm. It's possible to bake the young plants, even when it's only 50 outside.



We've been hurt by lack of ventilation the past 3 years.  The arbor is a little more work initially, but I think in the long run it won't be too bad and not be as exposed to the horrendous wet periods we have had recently.


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## billb3 (Oct 27, 2011)

I was fighting blight , fungus , mold and splitting green tomatos from too wet a Summer and then Irene  just blew it all out of control, just as all the Romas were turning red. Peppers succumbed early.
I've never had such losses from rain. Ever. Can see why so many farmers are going that route. If any of this was counted on to pay property taxes I'd be hurting.
I did get my butternut squash in  while everyone around me was losing theirs to rotting sitting on the wet ground. Lost some to squirrels and some huge flocks of turkeys, but not too many.
Squirrels wiped out all my fruit trees, too.
No acorns this year. 
Deer and squirrels are eating things I've never seen them eat before, even in Jan/Feb when food sources diminish.


Tomatoes are supposed to like heat and steady water (no extremes) so that set-up with white sheet should be a great set up


I've had poor performance with soaker hoses on my somewhat low well pressure.
I'm trying drip next year.


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