How to commerical growers get perfect tomatoes consitently? Even with non-heirlooms I get strange shapes, tomatoes with dried junk on the bottom, etc.

I think I've heard that cutting back on watering toward the end of fruit production is good for flavor. Any truth to that?

So far for caging I'm using the ultomato plastic, adjustable type, with is nice in that you can move the parts around, even adding on to it like an erector set when a plant gets even to big for it.

Scott

Heirlooms often have irregular shapes, it's part of why they "fell out of fashion" - they weren't consistent and easy to stack on store shelves. I grow heirlooms all the time and my best advice is to make absolutely sure you have enough lime in the soil - keeps them from getting blossom end rot, keep them watered - if they dry out or wilt between waterings it stresses them horribly, and make sure they are well-fed. Tomatoes are very heavy feeders. If you are an organic grower this means LOTS of manure and compost, if not it means a high quality tomato food. I have never heard about cutting back on watering. Any stress you put on your tomatoes makes them prone to disease even with strong varieties. Many heirlooms are NOT disease-resistant, which is another reason they aren't used for mass production.

My rewards for following my own advice? Three ribbons - one for each year I entered them at the State Fair. :)

-Marie