Angus Conference
In Sacramento
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
Angus enthusiasts are invited to
attend the 2002 National Angus
Conference and Tour set for
April 23-26 in Sacramento, Calif.
“Angus Identifying the
Value,” is the theme for the
event, which includes a one-day
conference program and two-day
tour.
Early registration deadline for
the event is April 1. To request a
registration packet, contact
Linda Campbell at (816)
383-5143 or lcampbell@angu
s.org. You will also be able to reg
ister online at www.angus.org
with a Visa or Mastercard after
February 1.
For more information about
the 2002 National Angus Confer
ence and Tour, contact the
American Angus Association at
(816) 383-5100 or go to
www.angus.org.
A complete schedule of events
is available at www.angus.org.
Walk-In • Catalog • Web Sales - www.farmerboyag.com
Call or email us today for a FREE catalog. TOLL FREE -1-800-845-3374 • 717-866-7565
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Stephen Reiners
Associate Professor
Horticultural Sciences
NYS Agricultural
Experiment Station
Geneva, N.Y.
Increasingly, more and more
tomato growers are using the
Florida weave, short stake, or
trellis system (all names for the
same technique) to grow their
crops. This production system
keeps plants growing upright and
off the ground and most growers
who have tried it are convinced
the fruit quality is better (bigger
fruit, less rot, easier to pick).
Researchers in New Jersey
demonstrated that fruit grown
this way have fewer storage rots,
likely from better fungicide cov
erage as well as foliage and fruit
that dry more quickly after rains
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or heavy dew. It's really a pretty
simple technique once you get the
hang of it. Here’s some helpful
suggestions.
First, use determinate or semi
determinate varieties of toma
toes. Indeterminate types can be
used but require longer and
thicker stakes and much greater
pruning. The guidelines given
here are for determinate and
semi-determinate types.
Space the plants 18 to 24 inch
es in the row on 5- to 6-foot cen
ters. Prune the plants so that you
establish a balance between fruit
and vine growth. Prune all the
suckers off up to the one immedi
ately below the first flower clus
ter. Try to remove them when the
suckers are between 2 and 4 inch
es in length. Prune before the
first stringing and only when the
plants are dry, to avoid spreading
bacterial diseases.
You may have to go back and
prune a second time. Do not re
move the sucker below the first
flower cluster or any above the
cluster. Doing so will result in se
vere stunting. Some varieties may
do better with leaving the two
suckers below the first flower
cluster. Do some experimenting
on your farm. Remember, it's
better to leave too many suckers
than to remove too many.
Once you have done the prun
ing, you are ready to set up the
trellis. Place a stake at every
other plant, spaced evenly be
tween the two plants. Use a stur
dy stake, at least one inch square.
4 to 4.5 feet long. Stakes can be
reused, but make sure that you
sanitize them before reusing
using a Clorox wash. Drive the
stake into the soil about 12 inch
es. For small plantings, make a
stake driving tool. Get a 2-foot
length of galvanized pipe, wide
enough to fit around a stake.
Screw on a cap onto one end. Put
the pipe over a stake, lift it up,
and let it fall. For larger acreage,
use a power-driven stake driving
tool.
The plants will need to be
“strung” for the first time when
they are about 8-10 inches tall.
Make sure you get to them before
they flop over. For stringing, use
lightweight, thin, plastic twine,
available in 3-4 pound boxes (30
pounds per acre are required). To
make tying convenient, a home
made stringing tool can be made.
The tool will work as an exten
sion of your arm which limits the
amount of bending you will need
to do. Take an old broom handle
or a shortened tomato stake,
about 2 feet long, and drill two
Ptesticide Point
Update Meetings
2 Core & 2 Category Points
Meetings to include update on how to use
Bioforge to enhance fiber digestibility in corn silage
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29 • 12:15 PM
Joseph G. Beiler Farm
Christiana i m e below )
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 • 9:00 AM
Marvin Zook Farm
5640 Limeville Rd., Gap, PA
Reservations encouraged but not required
Leland Miller, Advanced Agronomics
Grant Troop, Little Britain Ag Supply
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 19,2002-A33
holes one inch from each end.
The holes must be wide enough
to allow the string to be fed
through. Attach the box of string
to your belt and thread the twine
through both holes. Tie the end
of the string to the first stake,
about 10 inches above ground
level. You are now ready to
weave
Use the stringing tool to pass
string along the near side of the
first tomato plant and the far side
of the second. As you get to the
second stake wrap the string
tightly around the stake and con
tinue down the row in the same
fashion. When you reach the last
stake in the row, work your way
back down the row in a similar
fashion. Between each stake, the
twine should be in the shape of a
figure eight so that each plant is
held firmly in place. When you
get back to where you began, tie
the string on the first stake and
you are done, at least for the next
couple of weeks. Repeat the pro
cedure as the plants grow, plac
ing strings about every 10 inches.
You do not need to make the fig
ure eight around each plant for
the other strings. Simply run the
string down one side of the plants
and up the other side when you
return. That will leave you with
about 4 to 5 strings and a row of
very sturdy tomato plants.
Some advice, however, to get
the most out of the system. Make
sure the two end stakes are
anchored securely. They are
under the most pressure, and if
they start leaning, the twine gets
loose and the vines could fall
over. Also, don’t prune, stake, or
string the plants when they are
wet since that is a sure way to in
fect plants with bacterial dis
eases.
717-786-4075
717-529-2196