Tomato Question

Dear Lee,

While back East I was talking to a Gal about growing tomato plants and she asked if I ever heard of hitting the plants with a stick!........she claimed that while in Italy she saw a man do this with the end result, twice as much fruit when all was said and done.

     

If true I know I would not want to do to my beautiful plants, but what is your take?

-W.

Hi W. -

Sure, we do that---but not with a stickl. We're not so brutal. We shake the cages, which shakes the plant, which causes more blossoms to be pollinated. Tomatoes are self-pollinating-they don't need no stinking bees. Wind accomplishes the same thing, causing more pollen to drop into the pistil. Commercial growers, in huge greenhouses, have fans that go on automatically for 5-10 minutes a couple of times a day to accomplish the same thing as the Italian with the stick-or us with the shake of the cage.

Have a swell day!

-Lee
 

Just Do IT!!

Aren't you convinced yet that the people you've trusted with your food supply all your life simply can't be trusted? There are hundreds of thousands of cases of food borne illnesses, some fatal, every year. We spend bzillions in taxes to monitor, regulate, legislate, politicize this stuff every year.

What do we get? We get sick- and some of us even die.

If you have only a few square feet, you can start there. Just start. You'll be amazed at much fun it can be, how relaxing and extroverting it can be, and with a little luck and less effort, you'll get some real, untainted, fresh, high nutrient actual food!

Don't know where to start? Get the DVD's. They have everything you need to know, start to finish. Have other questions? Write to me. I've just spent the last 2 hours answering gardening questions; what's yours?