The Prepper Pantry Garden would like to welcome Seely Pratt to our blog.
Seely is a master Commercial Organic Tomato Grower and would like to share his knowledge and tips on how you can grow beautiful luscious tomatoes at home in your garden.
Seely is the owner of SoMo Farms, where the best tasting tomatoes in Arizona are grown right here in Phoenix at 2501 E. Weir Avenue! They harvest two crops per year, picking in April-May and November-December.
They have a 3100 plant capacity – up to 15,000 pounds per crop! SoMo Farms grows Early Girl and Big Beef varieties. But, can grow any variety on a special order basis!
SoMo Farms web page
SoMo Farms Face book
Here a couple of photos:
One of the things to note in the photo is that all of Seely's tomatoes are grown in containers! That is definitely one of my favorite aspects for small space gardens!
Over the course of the next several posts, Seely will be sharing his tips, techniques and information on how you can grow beautiful, luscious tomatoes at home in your garden. So stay tuned.
Seely is also the founder of Desert Solitaire Prepper Community, which he is developing and is looking for individuals who want to become part of this community. If you are interested, please visit the web page at:Desert Solitaire Prepper Community.
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Post Feb 16th
How to Grow World-Class Tomatoes By Seely Pratt
You too can grow the best tomatoes you have ever eaten. I do it commercially on SoMo Farm with 3,200 vines planted twice a year. My results are based on my experiences. If you do what I do you will harvest the best tomatoes in Arizona - like I do.
Soil
You can grow in either containers - 5 gallon and larger, or in the ground. The advantage of containers is soil-borne problems don’t spread and each plant has its own soil with no competition. The disadvantage of containers is you have to buy them. Ten or fewer plants I would recommend containers.
Either way you will need soil. For containers buy the most expensive soil you can afford. If you want to use rougher compost you will have to make your own soil by putting manure tea on it to break down the compost. You will be putting manure tea on anyway but it takes a good year to break down rougher compost into the soil you want.
If you are growing in the ground buy as much composted steer manure as you can and roto-till it into your ground then make manure tea and put it on the spots where the plants will go.
Manure Tea
Manure tea creates a microbe culture like beer that breaks down the soil into the various micronutrients the tomatoes need to taste good. Recipe - - two home depot buckets. In one put two double handfulls of manure - a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a quarter cup of molasses. Fill the bucket. Let it sit for a day. Stir it then pour half into the other bucket. Fill both buckets full with the hose. Now you have two buckets of tea. Put a quart on each plant. Each bucket will handle 20 plants.
Fertilizing
Use composted chicken manure pellets. They add nitrogen and phosphorus One cup per plant, then just water in - don’t mix in. Nitrogen will bind with the soil and become inert so it needs to be dissolved in water to get in the plant. One cup when you transplant, one cup when the plants start flowering.
Crushed volcanic cinders
This is Azomite. I crush my own from Flagstaff cinders. This stuff provides a lot of trace minerals not available in normal desert clay, sand and compost. Whatever minerals the tomatoes take from this sand, they are the ones that make the flavor beyond compare. Put one cup per plant on top and just water in along with the chicken pellets.
Gypsum
If you grow in containers you will need gypsum. Buy it at Home Depot. Minerals wash out of containers and calcium is one of them. Gypsum replaces the calcium. Dust each plant on the leaves with a cup of it then water it down to the roots. The plant will absorb it through both the leaves and the roots. If you experience Blossom End Rot on the bottom of your fruit you need gypsum.
Miracle Grow
Tomatoes are foliar feeders, so your Miracle Grow hose end sprayer works great if you think your plants need a little boost.
Irrigation
Water your plants twice a day, sunrise and sunset. Use a hose bib timer and set them up for ten minutes, twice a day and you will avoid cracking problems.
Cages
Plants with cages will make three times the number of fruit as unsupported plants. I use wire re-mesh which comes in rolls of 100 feet by 5-foot width and make my own.
Shade
Using 50% shade cloth on the west side of your plants, reducing the effect of afternoon sun, will stretch your season to the end of June. This will allow you to harvest more tomatoes.
Horn worms
These things are death to tomato plants. They always start at the top and munch their way down. if you see the ends starting to get eaten away, look for the worms. BT spray takes them out - do not delay.
White flies
These are a tomato plant scourge. Healthy plants don’t get them. Use the manure tea and fertilizer recommendations and you won’t see them.
Heirloom Tomatoes
From a disaster preparation point of view you want to plant heirloom tomatoes so the seeds will propagate the same plant again. Hybrid tomatoes won’t.
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