Chapter 12

Proper Distance for Planting

The best distance apart for the plants to be set in the field varies greatly with the soil, the variety, the methods of cultivation and other conditions. Plants set as close in rich clay soil as would give the best results in a warm, sandy one, or those of a strong growing sort, like Buckeye State, set as close as would be desirable for sorts, like Atlantic Prize or Dwarf Champion, would give little but leaves and inferior fruit. In field culture I like to space the plants so as to facilitate gathering the fruit, and recommend the following arrangement: Set the plants according to soil and the variety 2-1/2 to 4 feet apart in the row, omitting two or three in every 75 or 100 plants so as to form driveways across the rows. Set the first and second and the third and fourth rows, etc., 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 and the second and third and the fourth and fifth rows 5-1/2 to 6 feet apart. As the plants grow, those of the first and second and those of the third and fourth rows, etc., are thrown together and in many cases it will pay to have a pair of narrow horizontal strips or wires nearly 18 inches from the ground upon which they can be thrown.

This arrangement of the plants allows us to continue to cultivate the wider spaces between the second and third and fourth and fifth, etc., rows, much longer, and tends to confine the necessary tramping and packing of the soil when gathering the fruit chiefly to these rows--an important point in case the soil is wet. The rows can be marked out the day before, but it is better to set the plants in the cross-rows and that these be marked out just ahead of the setters. In this arrangement the distances are equivalent to from 2-1/2x4 feet, requiring 4,300 plants to the acre, to 4x5 feet, requiring but about 2,100 plants. The latter distance is that most commonly used by New Jersey growers.

=In the home garden.=--It will usually be more satisfactory to give each plant plenty of space, setting them 5 or 6 feet apart each way, except in the case of the dwarf sorts, which should be from 3-1/2 to 3 feet apart. A few plants at these distances will usually be much more satisfactory than more set nearer together, but the larger growing sorts should have at least 3 feet and the dwarf sorts 2 feet. When one has a hotbed or cold-frame it is often an advantage to set a row of tomato plants nearly 18 inches apart at the back end much earlier than they could be safely set in the open ground, and if these are allowed to grow on in place, as shown in Fig. 19, being pruned and tied to stakes, they will give some very early fruit.

=In the greenhouse.=--Experience and practice differ as to the most desirable distance apart for plants under glass. But 2 feet apart, where quality is the main consideration, and 18 inches when quantity, if fair, is of more importance than extra quality.

=Setting plants in the field.=--The economical and successful setting of plants in the field is an important element of successful tomato culture and is very dependent upon soil and weather conditions. It is assumed that the soil of the field has been put into the best possible condition of tilth, but its condition as to moisture is also very important. The worst condition is when it is wet and muddy, especially if it is at all clayey--not only is the cost of setting greatly increased, but plants set in such soil can seldom, by any amount of care, be made to do well, especially if a heavy beating rain or dry windy weather follows immediately; the condition is less unfavorable if a warm gentle rain or still moist weather follows. A dry cold wind, even if the day is cloudy and the soil in good condition, is also unfavorable, particularly if the roots of the plants are exposed.

Wet soil, cold, dry air and wind are the conditions to be avoided. Moist, not wet, soil and still, warm air are to be desired; whether the day is sunny or not is less important. There is a certain definite time, which does not usually extend beyond a few days, when any lot of plants is in the best condition for setting in the field. It is hardly possible to describe this condition more than to say it is when the plants are as large as they can be without crowding and are in a state where they can best stand the shock of removal.

It will always be a matter of judgment as to how long it is best to hold plants, which are in condition for setting, for favorable weather conditions. They can sometimes be held a few days, by scant watering and full exposure, or in some cases by taking from the bed and heeling in, as nurserymen do trees; but it is better to set when the weather is unfavorable or to run some risk from frost rather than to hold them in this way too long. The wise selection of time for setting is an important factor in securing a good and profitable crop.

The South Jersey growers, to whom early ripening fruit is the great desideratum and who have a very warm soil, and grow plants so they are quite hardy and can be transplanted with little check, set them in the field very early, some seasons by the last of April; and if the plants can be got out so as to have two or three days of favorable weather to get established before it comes, they seem to be little hurt even by a quite severe frost. The first essential to successful transplanting is to have well-grown, healthy, hardy plants; the second is that they be in good condition for setting, which can be secured by giving them, for a few days before planting, a scant supply of water and fullest possible exposure to air and sun, and then a thorough wetting a few hours before they are to be set.

The South Jersey plan of growing and setting plants gets them into the field in the best condition of any method I know. Two to five days before they expect to plant, the growers go over the beds and, by means of a hoe that has been straightened and sharpened to form a sort of spade, they cut through the soil and manure so as to divide the plants into blocks of six. A few hours before they are to plant, they saturate the bed with water. By means of a flattened shovel they can take up the blocks of plants and place them in a cart or low wagon so the soil is scarcely disturbed at all, the roots in the manure serving to bind the whole together. In the meantime furrows are opened along the rows and the cart driven to the field; the plants in the blocks are cut apart with a butcher knife placed in the furrow and the earth drawn about them.

Plants set in this way often do not wilt at all, even in hot sunshine. When plants are grown in boxes these can be taken to the field and plants taken from them in much the same way and so that they will be disturbed but little. In setting the plants it should always be borne in mind that while sunshine on the leaves of a plant rarely does any injury, it is very injurious to the roots, and the exposure of the roots to the sun or to cold, dry wind, should be avoided in every practicable way, such as by carrying the plants to the field laid on the sides of a box, which is then carried with its bottom toward the sun so as to have the plants in the shade, always handling the plant in the shade of one's body, etc. It is well worth while to walk to the end of the row to commence work in order to secure this. It is attention to such details that distinguishes one whose plants nearly always do well from one who loses a large proportion of those he handles.

=Fruit at the least expenditure of labor.=--The plants are prepared for setting by scant watering, and are taken up so as to secure as much root as possible with little soil adhering to them. Great care should be taken in taking the plants from the bed, and in handling them, _to avoid twisting the stems_, as to do so very seriously injures the plants, often to such an extent that they will fail to grow, no matter how carefully set out. Some growers dip the roots in a very thin clay mud, hardly thicker than thin cream, but I have not found this of advantage except, sometimes, when the roots are to be exposed for a longer period than usual and I do not recommend it for general use. In setting, holes are made either with a long dibble, in the hands of the one who distributes the plants, or by a short one, in the hands of the setter; the plants are dropped into them a little deeper than they had stood in the bed, the earth closed about the roots, by pressure from the side. Especial care should be taken that this is well done, particularly at the bottom; the earth should be so firmly pressed to the root that the plant cannot be easily pulled from the soil. In some sections transplanting machines (Fig. 20) are used and liked, but most planters prefer to set by hand and the additional cost is not great. An expert with one or two boys to assist in handling the plants can put out as many as 5,000 plants in a day. A machine requiring more help to run it can set from 15,000 to 20,000.

=In the home garden=, when but a few plants are to be set, it will be better to put them in after 4 P. M. and use water in setting, but the wet soil should be covered with some dry earth to prevent its caking.

=In the greenhouse.=--Plants are better set in the places where they are to fruit just before their first blossoms open and should be set in accordance with the suggestions given for transplanting to the field.