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mmqchdygg

I'm not sure I 'get' tomatoes 4/4sq ft spacing

mmqchdygg
14 years ago

A couple of concerns here: With SFG, will I need to be vigilant about pruning tomatoes? I tried to do it this year, but it got to a point where I couldn't see all the suckers and pull them out of the crotches like I should, or I wasn't sure if it was something that should go, and they inevitably got overgrown and messy. So messy that the 6 or so plants that I had in a 4x8' area I couldn't even get to.

I'm obviously doing it wrong.

The SFG spacing guidelines say 4 per 4 sq feet. Now, if I were to build a 4x4 plot, then there'd be 16 squares, correct? So essentially, I'd have a plant at the intersection of every first row/column from the corners. Right? But if I do this, that gives my plants only a foot radius all the way around...and I know my plants spread out WAY more than that this year. I'd venture to say they were more like 4' WIDE overall instead of the 2 that's allotted via SFG.

Should I abandon the idea of SFG with tomatoes if I can't be out there pruning every day, and I'm not quite sure sometimes if something should be pinched off, or HOW to cut back to a main branch?

Help!

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