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loufloralcityz9

Tomatoes & Potatoes grown together

loufloralcityz9
13 years ago

Another one of my experiments is growing tomatoes and potatoes together in the same earthboxes. I load the earthbox heavily with potatoes cut in 1/4's and plant the slips two to three inches apart. The type of potato I plant does not seem to matter. (not sweet potato) Then I also plant two tomato plants to each earthbox in the spring. I'm growing early girl and better boy tomatoes (Gurneys). I have been doing this for a few years now and my tomato plants keep giving me tomatoes all summer long. After the potato plants die off I remove the dead tops and do not dig them up but leave them in the soil (at first I didn't want to disturb my tomato plants) but now I leave them in the soil because somehow it is doing something to keep my tomato plants setting tomatoes all summer long. In this heat I picked three nice ripe tomatoes today. The plants have new tomatoes set this week in this heat the size of peas growing on them. I'm not sure what the potatoes in the soil has to do with it but this has worked the last three years for me and I even had tomato plants overwinter and produce again the next year. NOTE: all the tomato plants died this last winter when the temp here hit 15F. I'm not sure if somehow the new potatoes that grew in the soil is keeping the soil temperature even or what is going on, all I know it seems to be working for me and I wanted to pass the info along for others to try. I have a 50 foot long by 40 foot wide 15 foot high screen house where I grow all my veggies & citrus fruit so I'm not bothered by all the nasty bugs Florida has to offer. The lizards, frogs, & spiders in my screen house eat any bugs that do sneak in. I do get the powdery mildew, black leaf mold, etc. but not the bugs. I have to hand pollinate the squash, cukes, & melons not having bees in the screen house. The thermometers in the screen house has shown mid 90's temperatures the past few weeks so I know it's not keeping the heat out.

My next experiment will be to plant potatoes in my sweet green pepper boxes to see if it works there too. My pepper plants have stopped setting peppers in this heat but will return to setting peppers when it cools down later in the season. Peppers are also in the nightshade family so it may work.

Lou

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