Today we were chatting abotu side shoot removal on tomatoes (we'll get to that later), but first I wanted to explain and show a few pics on how we grow some of our tomatoes, using an old fashioned technique called 'ring culture', to explain simply, rather than just planting the tomatoes and leavign them be, you plant them and then add a cyclinder over the top of them (a pot with the bottom cut off), you then fill the pot up with compost, as the plant grows, until its filled to the top. This style of growing encourages the plant to produce more feeder roots, thus giving you a bigger harvest. In this pic we're planting the first of our plants down in Gillespie Polytunnel and placing the empty pots over the top.
By covering the lower part of the stem with compost, this encourages the plants to develop more feeder roots, and a thicker stem in the plant. In this picture you can see the new root growth obtained on the stem as a result of ring culture growing.
Ring culture toms in raised bed in Lifford CommunityGarden
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Ring culture plants in bags in Maybrook
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Row of Ring Culture plants in Gillespie Polytunnels
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To ensure your plants don't turn into big bushy messes, you should manage the growth by removing 'side shoots' as they appear. This controls the amount of over all branches and in turn flowers on the plant to ensure a better quality of fruit.
Wait until the side shoots are a size your happy to handle before removing them, say 3" or so in length
Side shoot removal will be an ongoing affair, you will have to make repeated trips to the same branch end to remove the side shoots
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and remember to get the side shoots at the bottom of the plants too....
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Also we chatted about the New Zealand Flatworm, something which has been in northern ireland since the 60's.
"The New Zealand flatworm (Arthurdendyus triangulatus sensu Jones
& Gerard, 1999), was first recorded in the UK in Belfast
(1963) and shortly afterwards in Edinburgh (1965), but is now widely
distributed throughout much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and, to a lesser
extent northern England (Cannon et al., 1999). In Scotland, A.
triangulatus occurs predominantly in botanical and domestic gardens, and
currently is not generally considered to be a problem on agricultural land. In
Northern Ireland it is found in domestic gardens but also appears to have
colonized grass leys in many localities.
However, its impact on earthworm populations remains ambiguous, with evidence
of numbers in areas with large NZF populations being reduced temporarily before
recovering to levels recorded prior to invasion. Other studies have suggested a
differential susceptibility of earthworm species to A. triangulatus
predation, with recovering populations exhibiting an altered species profile.
Results of a large-scale survey of earthworms and A. triangulatus
populations in grass fields in Northern Ireland has shown a marked increase in
occurrence of NZF's, particularly in field margins (Murchie et al., 1999; Cannon et al., 1999)." - Queens University report
"The New Zealand flatworm (Arthurdendyus triangulatus sensu Jones
& Gerard, 1999), was first recorded in the UK in Belfast
(1963) and shortly afterwards in Edinburgh (1965), but is now widely
distributed throughout much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and, to a lesser
extent northern England (Cannon et al., 1999). In Scotland, A.
triangulatus occurs predominantly in botanical and domestic gardens, and
currently is not generally considered to be a problem on agricultural land. In
Northern Ireland it is found in domestic gardens but also appears to have
colonized grass leys in many localities.
However, its impact on earthworm populations remains ambiguous, with evidence
of numbers in areas with large NZF populations being reduced temporarily before
recovering to levels recorded prior to invasion. Other studies have suggested a
differential susceptibility of earthworm species to A. triangulatus
predation, with recovering populations exhibiting an altered species profile.
Results of a large-scale survey of earthworms and A. triangulatus
populations in grass fields in Northern Ireland has shown a marked increase in
occurrence of NZF's, particularly in field margins (Murchie et al., 1999; Cannon et al., 1999)." - Queens University report
