Transplanting tomato plants started inside

[ducks4you]

What is your favorite method?
1) Digging a really deep hole and planting ~3-4 above to develop roots
2) Digging a shallow trench and letting the roots develop underground about 4-5 inches deep?

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you bury them deep root swill still develop along the length of the buried stem. I don't know if they are as vigorous as the roots that would develop if you bury them shallow in a trench but they are there. That doesn't happen with all plants but it does with tomatoes. I've dug up certain plants when the garden goes dormant top look at how the roosts develop.

I bury them deep. Two reasons. The moisture level down there is pretty good. If you mulch you can keep the top part from drying out, but for the first few days after transplanting those planted deep and well watered are not going to have dried out roots and will keep the plant going until it develops shallow roots.

The one time I tried burying them shallow I damaged (killed) one when weeding. My bad for sure, pure clumsiness. I'm good at that. But maybe the stems are safer when they are deep.

Since some experts say to lay them in a shallow trench they are probably right and I'm doing a lot wrong as usual. But my personal preference is to bury them deep.

 

[Beekissed]

We bury them to the first set of leaves. I like to transplant to the garden when they are about 6-8 in. tall.

 

[Smart Red]

I have done it both ways. If the plants are leggy, they get buried trench-wise, but mostly my 'maters are buried deeply. I used to be pretty good at damaging roots when I weeded, but now that I never need to weed my tomatoes, that's not a problem.

 

[catjac1975]

I plant them deep. It has to be an extremely dry summer for them to need water when their roots are deep.

 

[digitS']

I have tried them at an angle a few times and don't like it. Some don't seem to want to straighten so they trail off at an angle right through the growing season.

There are varieties that like to grow with little branching. Azoychka was like that for me. Maybe, they need pruning ... I am reluctant to do pruning or to twist the plant to the vertical.

I am also reluctant to sink the plant too deeply in the cold, spring soil. Some gardeners say that roots develop at the soil surface and the development of deeper roots, stop. I don't know ...

The planting holes I dig are 8" for tomato plants in 3 1/2" pots.

Steve

 

[Lavender2]

I bury them deep, probably about 10-12 ". My plants are usually 2 to 2 1/2' tall when I plant, so maybe not as deep as some others plant them. I have read that their roots grow down very quickly, so I'm not sure if planting deep is that important, just the way I usually do it.

One 'high water' year, I feared they would drown if I went too deep and really didn't notice a difference.

 

[ninnymary]

Lavender2, I took a tomatoe class taught by the guy that runs a non profit farm here in Alameda. They use the dry farming method. He said they grow their tomatoe seedlings 18" tall and then plant them deep. They fill the hole with water and let it sit, then the tomatoe goes in, with some ground oyster shell. That's it. They don't water it for the rest of the season. This dry farming forces the plant to stress and grow deep. It also improves the flavor of the tomatoe. He says it works really well. All the veggies from the farm go towards a CSA. I'm trying it this year.

Mary

 

[Lavender2]

@ninnymary , the water table here is very high. In some areas, if I dig a hole a foot deep I will hit water. My vegetable garden is raised a bit, but usually if I dig down more than a foot or so I hit muck. I rarely have to water anything, only if we have a long stretch of drought, like most of the summer, which rarely happens here. I am probably in a different situation than most, living in a swamp.

 

[ninnymary]

@ninnymary , the water table here is very high. In some areas, if I dig a hole a foot deep I will hit water. My vegetable garden is raised a bit, but usually if I dig down more than a foot or so I hit muck. I rarely have to water anything, only if we have a long stretch of drought, like most of the summer, which rarely happens here. I am probably in a different situation than most, living in a swamp.

Wow, you sure have a lot of water.

Mary