I really love the fact you wait to release these until the end. Because I thought this was exciting than got disappointed I would have to wait 2-3 months for the results yet here they are. Nothing better than instant gratification
We bury deep , not for extra roots, but to put root ball deeper to help keep it cool and prevent drying out. We don’t get rain in summer, only irrigation with mostly 100f+ temps.
Exactly my thoughts. It should be considered what climate people live in and what kind of temperatures they have in Summer for the best planting method. Last few Summers we had temperatures in mid 90s, and I feel that planting my tomatoes deep helped them survive the extreme heat periods. If our Summers were cool, then it would make more sense to plant them trench way, to keep the roots warm near the surface.
Very good point. Location matters! Although videos like this are fantastic and informative for the general community, they can be misleading to those in trickier climates!!
Yeah, that's the problem with trying to make a determination from these results; alot of what you practice is either circumstantial to your particular conditions, or otherwise affected by the other tactics you use throughout the plants life. With results so close I could easily see any "winning" under slightly different situations.
Pro tip when planting sideways in a trench: lay the tomato plant sideways a few days to a week before planting. Over time, the plant will naturally bend upward to reach toward the light. No forced bending that risks snapping branches or the whole leader!
im experimenting with plastic containers (cut out stuff) and I basically turn the plant upside down and sideways to encourage roots. Another backyard experiment with no conclusive results just throwing it out there :)
I did this same experiment 30 years ago and got the same results. It has saved me many hours of digging over the years. I now practice "No till gardening" and stopped digging holes more than a few inches deep with great results. It is also important to loosen those roots to get the plant to grow new ones. One of the reasons I started following Epic Gardening is that everyone else on the internet is afraid to loosen roots, but most plants really like it to stimulate new root growth. Even cutting the root ball (if rootbound) just stimulates most vegetables to grow. There are a few plants that don't like it, but most of them are flowers or plants with a large tap root.
I tried it 20 or so years ago and got basically identical results too - but I also planted 3 or 4 little tiny plants (the ones that come in the little 6 packs) alongside the 6 taller bigger (and much more expensive) tomato plants and found that the small ones did basically just as well. I planted 2 of each trying the 3 methods. Obviously the small plants were just planted normally. Have you found that root growth really changed after you went no till - with roots staying much closer to the surface and going more horizontal than they did before? That is what I have noticed. I'm almost 20 years of minimal disruption and 15 years of not disturbing the soil at all. The most surprising thing to me has been how long the garden can last in between waterings. (I am in high mountain desert)
@@jeffa847 This is in reference to planting small tomatoes plants. I think it was The Gardening Channel with James Prigioni that tried the same thing, planting smaller and larger starts. The smaller ones caught up to the larger ones with no problem. So now I start my tomatoes later (1st of April instead of early to mid March) and only up pot once. Such a time and sanity saver. The plants have been out for about a month and are doing great. I’m also trying to do as much no till as I can but am finding that the soil in the higher raised beds is settling and almost as hard as a rock if I don’t water often enough. Not sure how to combat that without spending a ton of money on new soil. Finding that for most things, especially tomatoes, I am better off gardening in plain old native soil that’s regularly topped off with compost. Am in Zone 5B, northern Illinois. Happy gardening 😊
@@sbffsbrarbrr What is the soil in your higher beds considered (clay/loam/sandy)? Are you leaving organic matter on the top of the soil (like 2-3" of shredded leaves or arborist's woodchips(with the green leaves shredded into the chips)) or doing any cover cropping and chopping the plants down and leaving them on top?
@@sbffsbrarbrrthis no till craze is counter productive. It comes from comm farming where it is important on 500acre lots. In a home garden where youre adding much more compost....tilling is extremely important to keep compaction low and soil oxygen high. Microbes thrive on oxygen and loose soil. Comm farm soils are mostly dead and compacted, tilling there makes issues worse. Hence 'no till' farming
@@crabtrapthat hasn't been my experience. Our soil health has improved so much from no-till, and our garden is still yielding better and growing stronger each year.
I plant in raised beds. I always use the trench method for my tomatoes. I will place the root ends of the tomato towards the middle of the bed with the tops towards the outer part of the bed. By the time I plant on each side of the raised beds, all of the root balls are in the middle of the bed. As the plants get bigger and leaf out, they shade their roots. This allows for targeted watering in the middle of the bed. I have really good results with this method.
This is one of the smartest things I've ever read. I wish I'd thought of it! The middle of my tomato raised bed always seems to be wasted space, and this just makes so much sense. THANK YOU for sharing, I'm definitely doing this next year!
I do the same for cherry tomatoes in a big 20g planter. Usually put 5-7 plants in there, root balls in the center and stalks facing towards the edge of the pot. Instead of the roots all at the edges, the center of the pot stays moist for longer, had great results. Definitely gonna try that in the garden bed next planting
Titanic's root ball is stunted because it's planted too deep to get oxygen and by removing leaves, you also reduced the photosynthesis effect of the leaves feeding the roots.
Grandma said (50 years ago) that you plant in a trench so that the roots are warmer being closer to the top. She was an organic gardener and was constantly reading about new techniques.
@@terrywebb6454 I think this may be dependent on your local climate. Last few years we have temperatures in mid-90s throughout most of June-July, and I feel that planting tomatoes deep with thick mulch on top helps them handle extreme hot temperatures better by consistently keeping roots cool and moist. In cooler climate it probably makes more sense to plant them trench method to keep all roots warm near the surface.
In het verleden experimenteerde ik ook meer met planten als tomatenplanten, zonnebloemen, Maïs, cosmea en Tagettes. Allen planten welke makkelijk wortelen. Ik plantte deze planten in ondiepe greppels, dat is mede makkelijk water geven met een emmer. Naarmate de planten groeien, vulde in de greppel met onkruiden en compost, zodra de planten groot waren begon ik met aanaarden van de plantstengels, door met een hark zand op te harken vanaf beide zijden van de rijën en ontstaan er opnieuw ondiepe greppels, makkelijk om emmers water in te legen. De resultaten waren dat planten tot twee maal hoger en 4 maal breder groeiend, meer bloei en meer vruchten of zaden vormden. Door gebruik maken van greppels en aarde ruggen vergroot je tevens het oppervlak van de grond waardoor deze vlotter meer zonnewarmte kan opnemen. Meer bodem warmte versneld de sapstromen en daarmee de groei van de plant greppels voorkomen dat wortels te lang te nat staan, tevens helpt dit bij water geven, water zakt direct in de grond bij de wortels in plaats van uit te vloeien over grote oppervlakte en direct weer deels te verdampen. Bijkomstig effect van gebruik van onkruiden en compost in de greppels is een natuurlijke vorm van composteren.
3:12 oh, I know EXACTLY why, LOL! Around here, there's areas where the bedrock isn't very far down. Planting at an angle will allow the same kind of bare stem for more root growth, but we don't have to try to bust rock to do it. You didn't need to angle the top so sharply. Go at a very gentle angle, and allow the plant to straighten its growth by itself - which it WILL do.
Excellent observation. I believe James prigioni on his channel has done a lot of gardening with the trench method and what he usually does is he leaves his starts out layed down for a few days so that it naturally begins to turn up before he fully transplants them out into the garden.
You know what I tried this year, with raging success?? I planted ONE tomato plant in a 1 gallon container and let it grow. When a sucker was around 12", I snipped it at the base/main stem and transplanted it using the trench method into my raised beds. They looked a little rough for about a week, but then they absolutely TOOK OFF. They are, by far, the healthiest tomato plants I have EVER had, and its so bizarre that they didn't have a single root when I placed them into the ground. I also did not use rooting hormone or anything special. They are absolutely thriving, and I was able to turn one tomato plant into easily 10-15 plants. My plan for this summer is to let my tomato plants grow and as they get taller and more tired, clip a sucker and plant it in the ground right next to the original plant. As soon as it begins to take off, I will remove the old tired tomato that may or may not have fungal or pest damage at that point. I think it's going to work out great!
@@BLT__00 Good question! I actually tried both! The ones with flowers went on to bear fruit and - to be completely honest - the planted suckers look the same healthy as the ones without flowers and fruit. Definitely not what I expected! I thought those with pinched flowers would have been able to focus on making roots, but it seems they're making roots at the same pace anyway. :)
One more idea for your experiment this year is instead of removing all of the tired plants, cut them back to the ground or just a bit above and see if they re sprout and have a new life. My brother accidentally sprayed a tomato one year with something that killed all the above ground foliage and was surprised that after a week it re sprouted from the roots and ended up becoming one of his best, most productive plants I'm guessing you live in an area with a long growing season! In Ohio, "tired" tomato plants are pretty rare 😄
In North Texas we sometimes lay tomatoes on their side because of hard clay. To bend them, we lay them on their side a couple of days before planting so they turn up to the sun.
My father once described his experience planting tomatoes when he was a boy in the late twenties-early thirties. Many farmers in the town he grew up in contracted to grow tomatoes for a nearby cannery. Starts were grown in the Moapa Valley (Logandale and Overton), north of Las Vegas, then dug up in mid to late May, rolled, bare root, in damp burlap and sent over 400 miles north by boxcar or truck to the cannery, who distributed them to the contract farmers in Weber and Davis Counties in Utah. My father would be given a bundle of plants, which were at least three feet long, then he would lay them down in a furrow, kicking dirt over all but the last six or eight inches, then lay down the next. That was repeated, bundle after bundle, until the furrow was full, then the field, then on to the next field until all the starts were replanted. There are still some tomatoes grown in large gardens for local markets and restaurants and the town still celebrates Tomato Days, though most farms have shifted crops at least a couple of times in 100 years, soon to end with housing developments.
I always plant ours sideways, and we get amazing results! The shallower planting trench means the base roots stays away from zones that could potentially become more anaerobic in our clay soil, plus it enjoys more surface heat like your pro tip mentioned.
I plant that way as well since it is easier to dig the hole than a straight deep hole (no drill tool), plus I have raised beds, so I'm somewhat limited in depth.
@@theoneandonly1158 People don't understand the struggle of red clay. The way he digs in his soil might be possible for me if I leave a pile of wood chips to break down for 10 years.
About surface heat, I think this may be dependent on your local climate. Last few years we have temperatures in mid-90s throughout most of June-July, and I feel like planting tomatoes deep with thick mulch on top helps them handle extreme hot temperatures better by consistently keeping roots cool and moist. In cooler climate it probably makes more sense to plant them trench method to keep all roots warm near the surface.
I agree. We have heavy clay soil as well. Are you doing any kind of amendments? We started dabbling with tilling in carbon and supplementing calcium to try and flocculate the clay. Seems to be doing pretty good and we are noticing less weed pressure.
I need to try more experiments. I'm thinking a tomato graft with multiple color cherry tomato on a sweet 100 rootstock next year maybe even do a few and give them as gifts.
Hey I just wanted to share that the majority of soil nutrients is found in the top couple inches, which is why the trenched tomato produced so many roots. The whole stem was located in the nutrient rich region. I've always planted my tomatoes this way, but never had any evidence that it worked. Thanks so much for sharing :)
Ah! That was my first thought - that the trenched stem was able to root out into the nutrient-dense topsoil, which also explains why the deep-sunken plant developed a second root ball higher up. Everyone else jumped on the warmer-soil bandwagon, but I think you’ve hit upon the more likely reason.
I asked an Amish farmer if he planted them deep he said "don't waste your time with that nonsense just put it in the soil and water it in". Still if I have leggy starters I go deep with them. I shop at a couple different Amish greenhouses and they are always eager to answer your questions about growing.
Ye apparently I transplanted a tomato plant and it died. It was growing well before, no leggy shoots. Never transplant. Or you can grow it like potato raise the soil level in the pot slowly
@ESHess-gp4wi I get some every year called Amish Paste probably the same. They are bigger than Roma's and San Marzano. The ones I have are Heirlooms. Good luck with them. I'm over in Pennsylvania.
Those short green stakes can be very dangerous. If you end up growing some other plants around or behind those tomatoes, you can easily get poked in the eye while attending them. From above, those stakes are easily overlooked as their visible profile is just the diameter of the stake. Its happened to me but luckily I was wearing glasses at the time. A short piece of white tape around the top will go a long way in prevention. You never realize how easily this could happen until its too late. I pretty much only use very tall 7'-8' stakes now so that the tips will always be above my eye level.
Great point! Similar happened to me with a bamboo stake as I was feeding my ducklings. It hit the bone below my eye and ricocheted up to my brow bone. I think it’s going to leave a scar but at least it missed my actual eye 👀
Trenching has been really great for me with volunteer tomatoes. They usually don’t sprout up exactly where I want them and can get pretty long pretty fast. I can use trenching to relocate where they come up out of the soil, increase root mass, and it transplanting a long tomato it works especially well. Reduces top foliage losing water until the plant can get established in its new home. About 50% of my yearly tomato production comes from volunteers so it ends up being significant.
Same. We get a lot of volunteers in our wood chip pile & we just throw a cage around it & let 'em rip. I don't baby the maters in my raised beds either. They just make friends with the chili plants & all's good. 😎
two things come to mind about the side planting: 1. If you have really hard soil and digging down is difficult, you can still get the same effect. 2. If you have shallow raised beds with hardware cloth on the bottom for gophers(me, last year), same benefit. Thanks for doing the hard work for us!
Also in colder climates, particularly early in the season soil is warmer close to the surface, so you get to bury your tomato without it getting frosty roots.
One thing I remember from my hort science class long ago -- roots need air to thrive! The more the better. That's partly why roots of almost all plant roots grow shallow and laterally rather than straight down and deep. We're taught to add mechanical aeration, soil amendments, expanded shale or whatever it takes to loosen it. Why? To add air pockets and increase the 02 ratio at the roots. It makes no sense to bury a plant so deep it can't breath.
Look into the work of Dr. Elaine, plants grow roots deep rather than laterally when the soil is healthy. They need air, but in soil with structure built by soil microbes that air can reach deep. Humans disturb that ballance with a lot of our commonly practiced agricultural techniques and create soil with compaction issues.
I started trenching rather than burying a few years ago because I heard that the roots like the warmer soil temperatures closer to the surface. My tomatoes have done well with this method, and it saves me from digging a hole to China. They seem to do their best later in the season. It would have been interesting to see your results farther into the season. Oh, and it's okay to leave the plant lying sideways above ground. In a day or two it will be standing straight up! Amazes me every time!
Dude I have no clue how this keeps happening but every time I have a "I wonder if epic gardening has a video about this" moment in the garden, here you are with a video about that exact subject! Legend
Ashley from Gardening In Canada has a video about this. She cites articles from... Florida? I think? The summary is that if you have WARM soil, planting UP TO the cotyledons (not burying above leaf level) can increase yields. But if you have COLD soils, planting deeply will stunt your plant.
She also mentions that adventitious roots (the ones coming off the stems) are designed for support rather than nutrient uptake, so it’s maybe not worth digging in unless your surface soil is crazy hot.
Yes! Ashley nailed it and the results of this experiment is in line with what she explained. I'm in a cooler climate and while I never buried super-deep, I won't do it at all in the future. It's extra effort for inferior results.
In cold climates we use the trench method because in the effort to extend our growing season the soil is cold when we transplant right after last frost. This keeps roots as warm as we can. It works!
Here’s the answer to why you trench your tomatoes rather than burying them 8 or ten inches into a hole. Watering!! When you trench, your roots are generally in the top five inches of soil and watering gets to them fairly easily. Burning them deep, watering will be shallow compared the the main root system. Love your videos.
Think the root growth is in response to the water besides just the temperature that was mentioned. The deep one put out roots just under soil surface, and so did the trench one, that just included the whole buried stem.
I am a "trench" guy, I use a small amount of liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks, with the trench you know you are putting the food exactly where the plant can access it. It's not rocket science that planting deep will give you access to more ground humidity, but we almost all water plants, so I think that root surface area takes the win. Also, added a grass clipping mulch this year, what à game changer for water retention. I live in Québec, and my tomato plants are already 6 feet tall, full of fruit, and we are barely hitting July. 15:02 This season will be insane. (Sorry for all my Friends and colleagues in the Midwest who got rained upon all spring... here the sunshine was amazing. )
I think John might have done so well because he didn't lose leaves when you transplanted him - more leaves, more photosynthesis, more energy for the plant. If you ever repeat the experiment, please add in a fourth condition where you remove the lower leaves and surface plant the plant just like you did with John! I think another possible advantage of trenching might be that the roots can access nutrients from a bigger soil area compared to just planting deeper 🤔
inderdaad, voor een betere vergelijking had plant genaamd John evenveel blad moeten verwijderen als de overige twee planten. Nu had deze plant veel meer blad, dus een voorsprong. Immers blad geeft bij voldoende licht fotosynthese waarbij CO2 uit de lucht wordt opgenomen en er zuurstof vrijkomt wat afgegeven aan de lucht en suikers. Als gevolg van dit proces ontwikkeld de plant suikers welke de plant gebruikt bij de ontwikkeling van de wortels via sapstromen en de goei van nieuw blad, bloei en fruit en zaad vorming. De plant voed de wortelgestel met suikers en de wortels voeden de plant met water en mineralen voedings stoffen uit de bodem. Er bestaat een evenwicht tussen wat er aan wortels in de grond groeiend en wat er aan blad boven de grond groeiend. Bij verstoringen van wortels of blad zal de plant proberen dat evenwicht te herstellen. Door de groei van meer wortels of minder groei van nieuw blad of zelfs bladval.
I mean it might be an interesting experiment but its not a really valid idea for testing out which method actually works best. Because anyone who is surface planting doesn't have reason to remove the lower leaves. You'd just be hindering the plant for no point other than the sake of the experiment itself.
@@TheApplianceDirect that is why it is named an experiment. Starting with the same sized tomato plants, next 2 out of 3 remove 1/2 of the leaves. Next placed those plants in different positions in soil and see what comes next. That is not an experiment! To see difference between two of those, treeded the same is a partial experiment, those thirt plant falls out because of other treatment, twice as much leaves and no recovering needed. So may be next year this could make a real experiment on video. Succes.
@@scholmc1633 yes I know that giving all the plants the same starting point is how you would conduct real scientific research. But ultimately he just wanted to know which gardening technique would allow the plants to flourish most. So he needed to replicate the circumstances of the gardening technique itself, not remove the bottom leaves from all of them.
So, I've done this experiment actually quite a few ways about the years and what I have learned is this: always surface sow determinate tomatoes. They only get so big and burying them will really set you back at best, but really you'll cut into your crop yield. Indeterminate tomatoes are ground crawling vines that constantly shoot out new roots so I'm warmer climates where you can plant really early a trenched tomato directly in the ground (not raised bed) tends to grow better longer term, especially if you do the grow and drop method. If you have a raised bed, the whole of the soil mass is warmer, so dig down and plant the root ball at the bottom of the bed and bury up, in my slightly raised beds, this means I get the best results planting at a 45° angle. This also helps with the wind in my area because the lower the plants are to the ground in early spring, the less wind damage I get because I wait to stake mine. TLDR: the three or four different techniques all have different uses for different areas and I encourage personal experimentation.
@michellejester9734 room basically, you can plant deeper in the raised bed and the whole of the soil is warmer, but if you plant shallow and long, now you have less room to plant other things
Planting tomatoes sideways has two advantages over deep planting. First the roots are spread over a larger area and so the tomato gets more overall nutrients from the top layers of soil (the most biologically active, and generally more water availability, tomatoes are not deep feeding plants). Oddly the carbon and Cherokee varieties are deeper rooting varieties tending to extend feeders to occupy 10-16 inches. They do generally naturally limit themselves to 5-6 feet however. Second is only for large scale growers, it can be done quickly with tomatoes in a row. Commercial growers take a piece of pvc pipe or something similar and bend all the plants in a row to the side. They then wait for the plants to naturally curve upwards before putting in their supports. Some places bury the bent over stem, others just ensure the stem is touching the ground and let nature handle itself. The additional roots also have advantages when using tension based support systems as commercial growers are not going to be as careful to ensure each plant is properly tensioned, so the extra roots also help resist a bit of tugging. The additional roots do less of a role in nutrient absorption vs moisture absorption (although they both can do a bit of both). However commercial growers like these methods for stability. The plants a noticeable better rooted to the ground and thus are less prone to damage in a large field.
Using the trench technique will give you more fruit in the long run depending on environment. I've been growing tomatoes for 40 years now in Northern California and have experimented with the 3 methods. The roots take longer to catch in the trench method but seem to give the plant a bit more longevity with indeterminate varieties. We'll have plants producing fruit into January now. The reason is exactly as he suspected, warmer temps closer to the roots but also less soil compaction to fight against because they're not buried deeply. Weed barrier will also help keep the ground warmer which can expedite root development and plant growth.
we do this sometimes in our nursery when seed starters are too tall to just transplant to a 4 or 6 inch pot but at that point the stem is still very flexible so we can literally make a circle with the stem and bring it back up the middle.
I think I know why my tomatoes haven’t done well for years because I have buried my tomatoes deep or trenched. And I have a shorter season in the PNW. Thanks for this.
Your video is very informative for me as I too have tried two methods and the third method of burying i am trying now. You have very meticulously made this video much appreciated. Your plants seems to have some disease known as Leaf Curl.
I just wanted to leave a comment about the side planting technique. We used to do this when we only had shallow raised beds to plant them in. That way we could get more roots for the tomato even though the dirt was very shallow.
Hi there, I am 72, never planted a tomato, but I remember my Slovak grandmother cutting the upper end of a tomato plant once the first/lowest fruits were well formed. The nutrients were this way redirected to the new fruits, supporting its size and ripening colour. Even the uppermost were nearly same size as the first ones.
The results for the sideways planting was so interesting. I can see someone with clay or really compacted soil really preferring that method. It would be easier to dig and lets the plant closer to the surface to take in all the water and nutrients.
Unless you deep water your soil I would think trenching is going give more roots due to moisture, temp and less compaction. What the plant does with that can greatly vary from even the same seed packet. Great video showing results!👍🏻
I live in zone 9a just north east of Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport. There are times when we receive 5-10” of rain in less than 8 hours. Planting a tomato plant deeply here could result in roots rotting and oxygen depletion. The trench planting works perfectly for us.
First of all, really enjoyed this video but I can't help but feel the results are inconclusive because it was ended so early into the growing season! The whole point of the deep hole method is it provide season long resilience because it can access deeper soil and thus more moisture when it's dry. It reduces the need for irrigation and when it gets very hot in mid-late summer the cooler temperature is actually a bonus. I totally agree that this method causes a later start, but the reward is realized late in the season. Roots grow exponentially, so while the extra rooting might have looked unimpressive now it would look much different after another two months of growing. For anyone interested, I've also found that doing the deep whole method with containers completely eliminates the slow start because (obviously) you are filling it with ambient temperature soil and there is more air circulating it. I like to do a few plants in containers that I can put out much earlier and bring them in if there is a cold snap and adjust the location depending on temperature and wind. The down side of this is you do have to water more, just because of the nature of container gardening. As for the trench method, I think this is also sound but to me it is just awkward to design a bed and digging a sideways hole and bending it stresses me out a bit. I find something very satisfying about the deep hole method, maybe because it hides the fact that most of my seedlings tend to be on the leggy side but you'll never tell once I plant ;-) Thank you for this content!
I totally agree. I loved this video and really appreciate all of the experiments you’ve done. This one I did feel missed the point. I’d like to see the results for this experiment where the endpoint was the end of the tomato season, not when it just started to get a few ripe fruit. Please repeat next year! 😁😊🙏
I agree the experiment ended too soon to be useful. I'm interested in total production and plant health, not just the first six weeks! I will add that I've done this experiment with bell peppers I want fully ripe, using the two ends of my garden. In my very sandy soil the buried peppers need less water once they get established, which really helps me out! I get the same or more peppers with less added water.
The downside to planting deeply is that the adventitious roots (the additional ones) are not as good at nutrient uptake, but are mostly for moisture uptake. If you don't fertilize/amend your whole soil profile, all the way down to the bottom of the tomato hole, there's less nutrition for the plant to use. In addition, planting past the cotyledons can lead to reduced harvests.
@@CWorgen5732 I agree with you on needing good soil all the way down, I would imagine almost every garden has at least 12". And if you choose to amend / fertilize it's easy enough to do when you dig the initial hole Curious on your last point on planting past the cotyledons, is there a study or experiment you can recommend?
Anecdotally, my harvests were always equal or larger, with enough difference that I stopped shallow playing completely. It works for me in my soil, which I do amend deeply for the veg. Doesn't mean it's best for everyone!
@Kevin: You mention the increased heat as a reason for the bigger root growth on Clown. Another reason could be that there there is far more microbial activity in the top layer of soil. So trenched can use it's full length of the burried stem while burried deep will only use the top part of its burried stem.. Just a thought. Great vid, thanks
A couple of things I've learned: a) the roots that grow on the stem are only stabilization roots; they don't increase the plant's ability to take up nutrients. b) the point of planting in a trench is if you're in a cold climate and want to plant "deeply," but a straight down hole would get you into cold soil, which would set the plant back. Planting in the trench keeps the stem at a shallower depth where the soil is warmer.
@@jimhudson1737 When I hear it from multiple reliable sources: a master Gardener and a soil scientist. I usually try to do further research of those statements on university extension websites.
I think in certain soil types, it's best to get that depth. The upper regions of my soil profile dry quickly, and it's sandy, so nutrients wash down. They do better when they're buried. I would bet that Clown did so well because it had access to more surface area, rather than just a column, for nutrient access
Might be that sewing from seed is the way to go. It's the only way that wasn't tested in this experiment and the exact way that Mother Nature would do it. That really would have been interesting to see.
I have had this experience as well! I always try to dig up transplants and put them in the garden - my volunteer transplants are currently twice the size of my stuff from the store
@peachykeen7634 my first year for volunteers! They are sturdier and bushier than the transplants for sure. The only problem is guessing the variety, although this year there were only 4 options to choose from.
@@Nikki-mx5my There's a couple on Bumblebee Junction that keeps a dedicated raised bed just for volunteers. A cherry variety that's her favorite. She let's the plants die back completely, cleans the plant material out leaving any tomatoes in the bed. Covers the tomatoes with 1/2 a bag of Black Cow and potting soil in November and many come back up in the Spring.
Amazing experiment. Nature knows what she’s doing. Thanks for the video! I was as curious as you, Kevin, but I don’t have the yard capability. This was a great one! ❤
Haven't watched to the end yet, but I used to (30+ years ago) follow the trench method. I got it from a book on growing tomatoes. As well as I can remember, the reasoning was that that sun would warm the soil, and thus the roots and the stem where the roots should be growing. Okay, I'm up to the final comparison, just before they are dug up. So far all the comparisons and explanations are based on the roots. But please remember how much more foliage John had from the start. It takes roots AND leaves to grow, so of course John had a head start on one of those. And of course, a different variety might act differently. And summers vary. (When I had a garden I only planted tomatoes. Lots of them. I took a week of vacation in August to eat tomatoes. Lightly toast rye bread, cover with sharp cheddar, put in the toaster over to melt the cheese, then top with THICK slices of fresh ripe tomato.)
I've been growing my tomatoes by doing a John-style method where I only bury it like 3-5 inches deeper so that it doesn't spend a month throwing out roots but it'd have more roots than plain John. Best of both worlds. Works out pretty well for me.
Cool experiment. The reason I trench tomatoes is because our water table is so high (sometimes at or above ground level) and it reduces the risk of them drowning. If it's a dry year and I have to water, there's a lot of root area close to the surface so I don't have to water them as deep.
Makes perfect sense to me. More oxygen exchange and moisture near the surface. Would take a lot of h2o to get moisture that deep for titanic lower roots.
I really enjoy the experiment videos, I am always trying different ways to grow everything, a few extra seeds well let’s see how they do over here or in a smaller container or more light etc.
Out of curiosity, I planted a San Marzano horizontally without pruning or bending the top. The side branches that were exposed straightened reaching for the sun and the plant is fantastic!! It has lots of green fruit and is twice the size of the regularly planted tomato plants. I'm pretty impressed with the growth.
Our family and friends have always planted tomatoes on their sides with a tablespoon of epsom salt into the soil. All of the plants grow with vigor and overflowing with fruit. My late mother-in-law said that they did it this way because sometimes the soil was really cakey and they didn't have time or means to dig the plants deep, so they laid the plants on their sides allowing the water and nutrients from the top soil feed the plants, rather than waiting for any fertilization or water to get down through the cakey soil.
I believe some of the theory behind the angled/laying flat tomato planting method is that the majority of many planting beds have their nutrients and often their water applied to the surface, and by laying the plant flat you force many of the roots to start growing from from the surface. If any compost or mulch is added, there are far more roots far closer to it spread over a wider area. its also quite strange, because here in scotland, laying flat is the only way ive heard people plant tomatoes, and I wonder if it is in part because of water availibility and avoiding drowning the plants by planting deep and allowing the soil to dry out to some reasonable amount on the surface, meanwhile where you live its clearly very hot and dry and water availibility is more of a struggle so having the roots forced deep underground, youre more likely to have access to water for more of the year and avoid the soil drying out entirely within a day on the surface.
One thing that comes to mind as to why the trenching method produces more roots than deep burying: tomatoes naturally have very shallow root systems. So even if you deep bury the plant's stem, it will only produce new roots in soil conditions that suit them (i.e. within a few inches of the surface where heat/nutrient/water access are prime for the tomato to grow). The trench method has 100% of the buried stem in the tomato's natural root development zone. If you want to test this, you could setup another experiment with two deep buried tomatoes: one in ground and the other in a container/growbag nearby.
The adventitious roots are also not very good at nutrient uptake, but are primarily for moisture and stability. So long-term, the plant will do better with trenching because the original roots are still up where the best soil is.
Burying in a trench allows for more surface roots. Its said that they use surface roots more than deep roots which is why they produce roots so easily. And if you leave the plant on the side days before planting, the new growth will bend for you. I love experiments. Thanks for extra knowledgeable. Super fun.
I have used the side version since the 1980's when introduced by Dick Raymond, check out his book Garden Way's Joy of Gardening, by Dick Raymond. The roots are closer to the surface, hence getting more heat and easier access to water than the vertical deep method. Been getting great tomatoes for years. Thanks for the info.
The on the side method is great for places where the topsoil is extremely shallow and what's under it is undiggable, or just anaerobic. Like my clay soil. The first four or so inches are ok-ish, but beyond that there are no roots because there is no drainage or air.
Quality of the soil is also a big factor. Our soil is rocky and silty. Deeper is more clay. Impossible to grow any type of food, except corn maybe. And the only type of flower that will grow each year are lilies. I found out something cool last year. So there was an invasive toxic plant that started to grow, had white little berries in clusters of 3, the leaf shape and how the berries changed to a different color is how you fully identify it. Anyhow, the only suggested method is to just pull out its roots, pick up any berries that fall, and burn it. Well, we've a tiny insect that goes to town on its leaves, and it greatly affects the plant, reducing its berries from growing. One plant popped up again this year and the leaves were already under attack. This time I left it to see how the insects would take care of it. 😊 They destroyed the plant. Oh, and the other plants around it were left alone. Nature is neat!
After watching the root development i can only assume your water is only reaching a max of 2-4 inches down into the dirt. The root balls are developing where the water is easily available which is why on the deep buried one you dont see roots all the way up as well as why the bottom rootball wasnt as developed as the surface buried. This is also backed up by the trench results as the whole trench lives in that 2-4 inch range and saw root development.
Hey Kev, you should do the 4th option which is the 2nd most natural one to tomatoes. Which is starting it from seed, let it get leggy to at least 2.5 ft, and then plant it normal but let every foot or so touch the ground, that will generate roots faster than the other options. Growing up my grandad would grow indeterminate varieties and that’s how he would get more harvest @epicgardening
I had extremely leggy, lanky tomato plants one year, buried them in the trench method and had the best tomato year ever!! Thought I had ruined that years harvest but nope!
Trench method is amazing, always produces a mass amount of fruit and the root system is huge. The 1st time I fried this way at end of season the roots had extended straight across the garden for 6 feet, I was sold when I seen that. Take Care
I think the high amount of root development on the trench isn't just because of the warmer temperatures it can experience compared to the normal burying it deep method, I think it may also have to do with the higher moisture too. It was put in an info card during the video but paraphrase it here, the tomato stem can produce more roots when in more contsant contact with water. With that stem being so close to the surface its in near constant contact with water, which probably is what created that massive root at the very top. Very interesting results, hmmmmmmm...
Did you keep the lower leaves off the ground? It is recommended to reduce the leaves picking up mold which kills many plants where powder mold is common in the ground.
Hi there Kevin. If you plant deep you have to water deep. But, the plant can be far more draught tolerant if you do. It may take the plant longer to develop, but look out when it does. You will have more tomatoes than you know what to with! If you plant with the horizontal method you don't have to water as deep and the roots develop where the water is. If you have a plant that thrives in a warm temperature, then warm water in warm soil with shallow roots gets the plant growing faster. Your climate may be too hot for this method in mid summer.
I live in condo and have a little garden on by balcony which is covered,and when I transplant my tomatoes onto my balcony I put them in diagonally in a trench so I can "push" the plant outside my balcony railing where they are trellised, so it gets more sunlight than they would otherwise get. I have better results than just growing them straight up initially.
I’m not sure why this is a surprise to you, it has little to do with soil warmth. What is the most important thing to do once it has been planted? Feed and water. Where do you feed and water? The first 4 inches of the soil. The trenched is most exposed to these positive amendments, so it will be the most productive. There is little water and nutrition below 6 inche s of soil, so you actually stunted the titanic.
@@videodistro not saying it isn't important, but not critical. It is critical during germination. The water and nutrient uptake plays a bigger role when the plants are more mature.
I would usually plant shallow and after sometime maybe 2 or 3 weeks gently bend the part of the stem into a trench of compost covered in soil,as the root debelope it eats into the compost giving the plant a boost
I have problems with a relatively shallow hugelculture bed: tomatoes do not thrive despite lots of good amendments. I think the deep planting puts roots into a woody nitrogen-deficient zone. Going to try shallower planting next year.💚
I appreciate you doing this experiment. I have about 50 years of gardening behind me. I bury the root ball about 1 inch deeper than it was in the pot, similar to your "John" tomato. HOWEVER, I have found that the most effective thing you can do at the time of transplant is what I call the MUD method--fill that hole with water and stir it to make it gushy. This compensates for the shock to the roots that happens whenever you transplant anything. I only bury the tomato at depth for 2 reasons...if the vine is broken or damages, I bury it up to and beyond the broken point, and if I am transplanting a cutting, I trim leaves and bury about a foot of the vine underground. PS, I don't "prune" tomatoes or pinch suckers, this is a waste of time (I only grow indeterminant tomatoes). I also pick the fruits when they start showing color, because vine ripening just increases your losses to animals without changing the taste of the tomato.
Don’t understand stand why removing suckers is “a waste of time”? It takes very little time and greatly increases the growing season and the health of the plant ( by allowing better air circulation).
The trench method is actually done a bit different in my experience, your goal is to bury the entire main stem except for the tip which is pretty young and flexible still, and make the suckers and side branches into multiple plants, the benefits of wide root system, with the added benefit of a greater leaf coverage for an area, which allows you to have "multiple plants" sorta, which you couldn't normally have so close together without consequences. So you get a lot of rooting, and also a lot of sun real estate. The reason the "At the surface" one grew so well is just down to leaves = energy, energy = growth above and below ground. It's a snowballing effect. So ideally with the trench method, since you would have "multiple plants", they end up all getting more sun. So it would have a slower start, but hopefully more foliage in the long run. Also another benefit of the trench method over the deep method, is kind of a trade off actually. The deep method has easier access to more water. The trench method has easier access to nutrients, as the most nutritious soil is likely near the top in a well used bed. This is why you see roots at the surface of the deep, but not in the middle. Plants are smart enough to prioritize good soil first.
I've planted in a trench, for a couple years. They end up much more stable & I've gotten plants that are 8'-15' tall. The stems can get around 4" around near the ground.
I love the experiment garden! So, I garden up in Quebec, Canada, and I have a shorter growing season. I can't plant anything outside before late May, and my first frost is in mid-September. I used to plant my tomatoes deep, but I'd have to spend the entire gardening season waiting for my tomato plants to put out new roots, resulting in a very small, very late harvest! This year, I went basic and planted my tomatoes at surface level, and my plants have never looked better. I'm already getting blooms! So yeah, do what works best in your context and keep trying!
There’s a reason for Trenching : deep planting puts the roots down into cold soil. Trenching keeps those roots up in the warmer zone of soil, yielding a quicker start.
I think the reason John did best / grew largest is primarily because you didn't trim any foliage off the plant, and it had more power to produce early on
If you're like me and plant too many tomatoes, placing a portion deeper/entrenched may spread out the initial onslaught of ripening fruit (so you can get your neighbors hooked...), and possibly give the deeper plants a longer production season as it gets both hotter/drier and later cooler towards fall.
This is awesome test thank you for making this video I luv growing tomatoes in garden. Each tomatoes plant 3 3 3 same in production wasn't expecting that observation in middle of testing. I luv racoons poor thing was starving lay out dry catfood in different place and they will never bother your tomatoes again. So whatever works for you and your gardening environment space works best. Awesome results i couldn't say it better.💜🌴
I have secret planting for that kind or any kind in a garden bed that you have done on your show and that organic mixing in the bottom of the hole with steer manure and compost mix it with soil came out of the hole mix with at bottom so when roots stretched down they get fed and a boost works well I have giants size plants that way even bigger then what seed packets say or transplant potted plants say out growing 4 to 6 ft post even when it's supposed to grow 3 to 4 ft high. Especially cost I liked buying starts at the stores this year all from seeds and over planted my flat style from a cheap tote and had 4 to 5 different kinds of tomatoes and 100 plants and few in pots doing better then the garden bed. And was surprised at my local hardware store selection and cost. One tomatoes potted plant that's has flowers on it so decent maybe two months old grown in greenhouse $7.99 to almost $10.00 one plant for the same ones.. one-two years ago $4.99.
i would love to understand the production for the full production life of the tomatoes. i'm on long island outside of NY (zone 7), planted my tomatoes memorial day weekend and i'm still plucking some tomatoes off my plants. I've removed 1/2 of my plants because they were "done", but i'm still producing some fruit, way past the 6 weeks of this test
I love videos where they actually compare these ideas. I did an experiment where I pruned half of my tomatoes and left the others unpruned and I got triple output from the unpruned tomatoes and less disease on the plants. I wasted so much time pruning before.
You can easily draw the wrong conclusions from this; but the root itself tells you where to plant it, which is close to the top of the soil, likely because of the temp being the controlling factor. I used mulch (straw) over the whole field to control weeds and hold in the heat, there was enough tomatoes to feed an army from a quarter acre. (Not staked because of the mulch, not watered either (depends)). I though I'd mention they were Rutgers tomatoes and we picked them pretty green and wrapped them in newspaper and stored them in boxes in the cellar for up to six months. There were so many tomatoes we didn't mind the rabbits getting as much as they could eat.
The experiment you made is an experiment in natural garden conditions, like we all have at home. I have been growing tomatoes for years. My grandfather always taught me to transplant tomatoes horizontally. A problem that often occurs with horizontal planting is that the first flowering branch is very close to the ground and that, very often, the first fruits lie on the ground. In this way, it happens that some of the fruits start to rot or are eaten by small animals. Thank you for the video and the experiment you did. You have solved many tomato transplant dilemmas I have had.
Love seeing these experiments! Few people have the time or resources to do this themselves and are left wondering if they're doing it right. Some notes on these methods, since each DOES have specific benefits. Plants collect most of their nutrients near the surface where the most organic matter is. The trench method optimizes this. Deep roots are good for water- deep planting optimizes for water. Surface planting is just letting the plant decide. In a garden that has decent organic matter for both nutrients and water holding, and receives irrigation, there is little need for deep or trench planting. With plenty of water and nutrients available near the surface, just stick them in. Now if you are early on in gardening and still working on building your soil, trench planting will maximize the plants ability to take from your thin topsoil and amendments. Likewise, if you aren't able to provide very regular irrigation, deep planting can help reduce water stress.
Kevin, I saw the logic of the side bury w/ someone who has gophers. The run hardware cloth beneath their raised beds to block the gophers. Therefore, they are unable to deep plant their tomatoes. It makes sense. 😊
I really love the fact you wait to release these until the end.
Because I thought this was exciting than got disappointed I would have to wait 2-3 months for the results yet here they are.
Nothing better than instant gratification
Im a couple minutes in and was worried that the video wouldn't have results. Glad to know he really put in the work! this is such a great channel.
Still waiting on that blackberries and raspberries build out in the back, curious how they looking.
We stay committed to our mission: helping you grow! 🫶🍅
Yesssss
The magic of television as they say.
We bury deep , not for extra roots, but to put root ball deeper to help keep it cool and prevent drying out. We don’t get rain in summer, only irrigation with mostly 100f+ temps.
Exactly my thoughts. It should be considered what climate people live in and what kind of temperatures they have in Summer for the best planting method. Last few Summers we had temperatures in mid 90s, and I feel that planting my tomatoes deep helped them survive the extreme heat periods. If our Summers were cool, then it would make more sense to plant them trench way, to keep the roots warm near the surface.
Very good point. Location matters! Although videos like this are fantastic and informative for the general community, they can be misleading to those in trickier climates!!
Yeah, that's the problem with trying to make a determination from these results; alot of what you practice is either circumstantial to your particular conditions, or otherwise affected by the other tactics you use throughout the plants life.
With results so close I could easily see any "winning" under slightly different situations.
Pro tip when planting sideways in a trench: lay the tomato plant sideways a few days to a week before planting. Over time, the plant will naturally bend upward to reach toward the light. No forced bending that risks snapping branches or the whole leader!
Thank you! I will try this next season
im experimenting with plastic containers (cut out stuff) and I basically turn the plant upside down and sideways to encourage roots. Another backyard experiment with no conclusive results just throwing it out there :)
Yeah rather than pro tip that's the normal instruction for planting that way not as shown in video.
And you never want your leaves to touch the dirt.
Never had a problem with breaking over decades
Woah, catty gardeners in here.
I did this same experiment 30 years ago and got the same results. It has saved me many hours of digging over the years. I now practice "No till gardening" and stopped digging holes more than a few inches deep with great results. It is also important to loosen those roots to get the plant to grow new ones. One of the reasons I started following Epic Gardening is that everyone else on the internet is afraid to loosen roots, but most plants really like it to stimulate new root growth. Even cutting the root ball (if rootbound) just stimulates most vegetables to grow. There are a few plants that don't like it, but most of them are flowers or plants with a large tap root.
I tried it 20 or so years ago and got basically identical results too - but I also planted 3 or 4 little tiny plants (the ones that come in the little 6 packs) alongside the 6 taller bigger (and much more expensive) tomato plants and found that the small ones did basically just as well. I planted 2 of each trying the 3 methods.
Obviously the small plants were just planted normally.
Have you found that root growth really changed after you went no till - with roots staying much closer to the surface and going more horizontal than they did before?
That is what I have noticed.
I'm almost 20 years of minimal disruption and 15 years of not disturbing the soil at all.
The most surprising thing to me has been how long the garden can last in between waterings. (I am in high mountain desert)
@@jeffa847 This is in reference to planting small tomatoes plants. I think it was The Gardening Channel with James Prigioni that tried the same thing, planting smaller and larger starts. The smaller ones caught up to the larger ones with no problem. So now I start my tomatoes later (1st of April instead of early to mid March) and only up pot once. Such a time and sanity saver. The plants have been out for about a month and are doing great.
I’m also trying to do as much no till as I can but am finding that the soil in the higher raised beds is settling and almost as hard as a rock if I don’t water often enough. Not sure how to combat that without spending a ton of money on new soil. Finding that for most things, especially tomatoes, I am better off gardening in plain old native soil that’s regularly topped off with compost.
Am in Zone 5B, northern Illinois. Happy gardening 😊
@@sbffsbrarbrr What is the soil in your higher beds considered (clay/loam/sandy)?
Are you leaving organic matter on the top of the soil (like 2-3" of shredded leaves or arborist's woodchips(with the green leaves shredded into the chips)) or doing any cover cropping and chopping the plants down and leaving them on top?
@@sbffsbrarbrrthis no till craze is counter productive. It comes from comm farming where it is important on 500acre lots. In a home garden where youre adding much more compost....tilling is extremely important to keep compaction low and soil oxygen high. Microbes thrive on oxygen and loose soil. Comm farm soils are mostly dead and compacted, tilling there makes issues worse. Hence 'no till' farming
@@crabtrapthat hasn't been my experience. Our soil health has improved so much from no-till, and our garden is still yielding better and growing stronger each year.
I plant in raised beds. I always use the trench method for my tomatoes. I will place the root ends of the tomato towards the middle of the bed with the tops towards the outer part of the bed. By the time I plant on each side of the raised beds, all of the root balls are in the middle of the bed. As the plants get bigger and leaf out, they shade their roots. This allows for targeted watering in the middle of the bed. I have really good results with this method.
This is one of the smartest things I've ever read. I wish I'd thought of it! The middle of my tomato raised bed always seems to be wasted space, and this just makes so much sense. THANK YOU for sharing, I'm definitely doing this next year!
I do the same for cherry tomatoes in a big 20g planter. Usually put 5-7 plants in there, root balls in the center and stalks facing towards the edge of the pot. Instead of the roots all at the edges, the center of the pot stays moist for longer, had great results. Definitely gonna try that in the garden bed next planting
I find that I get way less leaf curl than my parent who just plan it normally.
Titanic's root ball is stunted because it's planted too deep to get oxygen and by removing leaves, you also reduced the photosynthesis effect of the leaves feeding the roots.
Well get cracking and show us all! Upload a video and you will get lots of hits, im sure. Greets from Australia.
Grandma said (50 years ago) that you plant in a trench so that the roots are warmer being closer to the top. She was an organic gardener and was constantly reading about new techniques.
Also, there is no need to really bend it , as it will in a few weeks straighten up on its own.
Temperature is the reason in high altitude Colorado. Digging deep is way too cold, but the trench gives them warmer soils.
@@terrywebb6454 I think this may be dependent on your local climate. Last few years we have temperatures in mid-90s throughout most of June-July, and I feel that planting tomatoes deep with thick mulch on top helps them handle extreme hot temperatures better by consistently keeping roots cool and moist. In cooler climate it probably makes more sense to plant them trench method to keep all roots warm near the surface.
In het verleden experimenteerde ik ook meer met planten als tomatenplanten, zonnebloemen, Maïs, cosmea en Tagettes. Allen planten welke makkelijk wortelen. Ik plantte deze planten in ondiepe greppels, dat is mede makkelijk water geven met een emmer. Naarmate de planten groeien, vulde in de greppel met onkruiden en compost, zodra de planten groot waren begon ik met aanaarden van de plantstengels, door met een hark zand op te harken vanaf beide zijden van de rijën en ontstaan er opnieuw ondiepe greppels, makkelijk om emmers water in te legen. De resultaten waren dat planten tot twee maal hoger en 4 maal breder groeiend, meer bloei en meer vruchten of zaden vormden. Door gebruik maken van greppels en aarde ruggen vergroot je tevens het oppervlak van de grond waardoor deze vlotter meer zonnewarmte kan opnemen. Meer bodem warmte versneld de sapstromen en daarmee de groei van de plant greppels voorkomen dat wortels te lang te nat staan, tevens helpt dit bij water geven, water zakt direct in de grond bij de wortels in plaats van uit te vloeien over grote oppervlakte en direct weer deels te verdampen. Bijkomstig effect van gebruik van onkruiden en compost in de greppels is een natuurlijke vorm van composteren.
3:12 oh, I know EXACTLY why, LOL! Around here, there's areas where the bedrock isn't very far down. Planting at an angle will allow the same kind of bare stem for more root growth, but we don't have to try to bust rock to do it.
You didn't need to angle the top so sharply. Go at a very gentle angle, and allow the plant to straighten its growth by itself - which it WILL do.
I'm pretty much on
Good point! I'm pretty much on bedrock and have been doing mainly container/raised bed planting but may try one using your suggestion. Thanks!
Nice context. A lot of advice needs to be contextualized otherwise people misapply and then complain about bad advice.
I just plant it the normal way and take the leaves off that hit the ground because I only have a short time of growing things!
Excellent observation. I believe James prigioni on his channel has done a lot of gardening with the trench method and what he usually does is he leaves his starts out layed down for a few days so that it naturally begins to turn up before he fully transplants them out into the garden.
You know what I tried this year, with raging success?? I planted ONE tomato plant in a 1 gallon container and let it grow. When a sucker was around 12", I snipped it at the base/main stem and transplanted it using the trench method into my raised beds. They looked a little rough for about a week, but then they absolutely TOOK OFF. They are, by far, the healthiest tomato plants I have EVER had, and its so bizarre that they didn't have a single root when I placed them into the ground. I also did not use rooting hormone or anything special. They are absolutely thriving, and I was able to turn one tomato plant into easily 10-15 plants.
My plan for this summer is to let my tomato plants grow and as they get taller and more tired, clip a sucker and plant it in the ground right next to the original plant. As soon as it begins to take off, I will remove the old tired tomato that may or may not have fungal or pest damage at that point. I think it's going to work out great!
Did the 12” sucker have flowers at the time you transferred it? did you trim those off or leave them on?
@@BLT__00 Good question! I actually tried both! The ones with flowers went on to bear fruit and - to be completely honest - the planted suckers look the same healthy as the ones without flowers and fruit. Definitely not what I expected! I thought those with pinched flowers would have been able to focus on making roots, but it seems they're making roots at the same pace anyway. :)
@@heidiwheeler9917thats great to know! Thanks so much!
One more idea for your experiment this year is instead of removing all of the tired plants, cut them back to the ground or just a bit above and see if they re sprout and have a new life.
My brother accidentally sprayed a tomato one year with something that killed all the above ground foliage and was surprised that after a week it re sprouted from the roots and ended up becoming one of his best, most productive plants
I'm guessing you live in an area with a long growing season! In Ohio, "tired" tomato plants are pretty rare 😄
I have done this with 50/50 success. I've also taken cuttings to winter over in the house.
In North Texas we sometimes lay tomatoes on their side because of hard clay. To bend them, we lay them on their side a couple of days before planting so they turn up to the sun.
My father once described his experience planting tomatoes when he was a boy in the late twenties-early thirties. Many farmers in the town he grew up in contracted to grow tomatoes for a nearby cannery. Starts were grown in the Moapa Valley (Logandale and Overton), north of Las Vegas, then dug up in mid to late May, rolled, bare root, in damp burlap and sent over 400 miles north by boxcar or truck to the cannery, who distributed them to the contract farmers in Weber and Davis Counties in Utah.
My father would be given a bundle of plants, which were at least three feet long, then he would lay them down in a furrow, kicking dirt over all but the last six or eight inches, then lay down the next. That was repeated, bundle after bundle, until the furrow was full, then the field, then on to the next field until all the starts were replanted.
There are still some tomatoes grown in large gardens for local markets and restaurants and the town still celebrates Tomato Days, though most farms have shifted crops at least a couple of times in 100 years, soon to end with housing developments.
Cool share.
I always plant ours sideways, and we get amazing results! The shallower planting trench means the base roots stays away from zones that could potentially become more anaerobic in our clay soil, plus it enjoys more surface heat like your pro tip mentioned.
I plant that way as well since it is easier to dig the hole than a straight deep hole (no drill tool), plus I have raised beds, so I'm somewhat limited in depth.
I live in red clay so sometimes there just no way to dig.
@@theoneandonly1158 People don't understand the struggle of red clay. The way he digs in his soil might be possible for me if I leave a pile of wood chips to break down for 10 years.
About surface heat, I think this may be dependent on your local climate. Last few years we have temperatures in mid-90s throughout most of June-July, and I feel like planting tomatoes deep with thick mulch on top helps them handle extreme hot temperatures better by consistently keeping roots cool and moist. In cooler climate it probably makes more sense to plant them trench method to keep all roots warm near the surface.
I agree. We have heavy clay soil as well. Are you doing any kind of amendments? We started dabbling with tilling in carbon and supplementing calcium to try and flocculate the clay. Seems to be doing pretty good and we are noticing less weed pressure.
I had an old Italian next door neighbor many years ago, he taught me the trench method. 💛
The experiment patch in the garden has been a great idea
Yes! Every year I have done an experiment in the garden. It's so much fun and educational.
I love seeing these videos. I am participating in some tomato breeding and have my own little experiment patch. You do any?
Thank you!
I agree, love these experiments!!
I need to try more experiments. I'm thinking a tomato graft with multiple color cherry tomato on a sweet 100 rootstock next year maybe even do a few and give them as gifts.
Hey I just wanted to share that the majority of soil nutrients is found in the top couple inches, which is why the trenched tomato produced so many roots. The whole stem was located in the nutrient rich region. I've always planted my tomatoes this way, but never had any evidence that it worked. Thanks so much for sharing :)
Ah! That was my first thought - that the trenched stem was able to root out into the nutrient-dense topsoil, which also explains why the deep-sunken plant developed a second root ball higher up. Everyone else jumped on the warmer-soil bandwagon, but I think you’ve hit upon the more likely reason.
I asked an Amish farmer if he planted them deep he said "don't waste your time with that nonsense just put it in the soil and water it in". Still if I have leggy starters I go deep with them. I shop at a couple different Amish greenhouses and they are always eager to answer your questions about growing.
Yeah, I always get leggy seedlings and bury my tomatoes.
Amish were right.
Ye apparently I transplanted a tomato plant and it died. It was growing well before, no leggy shoots. Never transplant. Or you can grow it like potato raise the soil level in the pot slowly
the most productive plants I had last year in central Ohio was a Roma variety called "Amish Pasting" from a local nursery.
@ESHess-gp4wi
I get some every year called Amish Paste probably the same. They are bigger than Roma's and San Marzano. The ones I have are Heirlooms. Good luck with them. I'm over in Pennsylvania.
Fascinating and surprising results. A unique ‘look’ at what’s happening below the surface. Extremely well done experiment and recap.
Those short green stakes can be very dangerous. If you end up growing some other plants around or behind those tomatoes, you can easily get poked in the eye while attending them. From above, those stakes are easily overlooked as their visible profile is just the diameter of the stake. Its happened to me but luckily I was wearing glasses at the time. A short piece of white tape around the top will go a long way in prevention. You never realize how easily this could happen until its too late. I pretty much only use very tall 7'-8' stakes now so that the tips will always be above my eye level.
I put my worn out garden gloves on my stakes😊
Good use for single shot rum bottles 😊
Great point! Similar happened to me with a bamboo stake as I was feeding my ducklings. It hit the bone below my eye and ricocheted up to my brow bone. I think it’s going to leave a scar but at least it missed my actual eye 👀
@@FLSunshineSuegreat idea!
I paint the tops bright orange.
Trenching has been really great for me with volunteer tomatoes. They usually don’t sprout up exactly where I want them and can get pretty long pretty fast. I can use trenching to relocate where they come up out of the soil, increase root mass, and it transplanting a long tomato it works especially well. Reduces top foliage losing water until the plant can get established in its new home.
About 50% of my yearly tomato production comes from volunteers so it ends up being significant.
Same. We get a lot of volunteers in our wood chip pile & we just throw a cage around it & let 'em rip.
I don't baby the maters in my raised beds either.
They just make friends with the chili plants & all's good. 😎
My dad used to let the last crop of beans sit. The next year after tilling he just transplanted into rows under the wire.
two things come to mind about the side planting: 1. If you have really hard soil and digging down is difficult, you can still get the same effect. 2. If you have shallow raised beds with hardware cloth on the bottom for gophers(me, last year), same benefit. Thanks for doing the hard work for us!
Yep, hardware clothed two of three raised beds... regretting not doing bed three which was a 4 foot high lasagna bed...😢
How do you deal with gophers? Do they eat just as much as groundhogs?
Also in colder climates, particularly early in the season soil is warmer close to the surface, so you get to bury your tomato without it getting frosty roots.
One thing I remember from my hort science class long ago -- roots need air to thrive! The more the better. That's partly why roots of almost all plant roots grow shallow and laterally rather than straight down and deep. We're taught to add mechanical aeration, soil amendments, expanded shale or whatever it takes to loosen it. Why? To add air pockets and increase the 02 ratio at the roots. It makes no sense to bury a plant so deep it can't breath.
Look into the work of Dr. Elaine, plants grow roots deep rather than laterally when the soil is healthy. They need air, but in soil with structure built by soil microbes that air can reach deep. Humans disturb that ballance with a lot of our commonly practiced agricultural techniques and create soil with compaction issues.
@@WitlessVods-bg2th That's why many are starting to use no dig methods, to avoid unnecessary disturbance!
I started trenching rather than burying a few years ago because I heard that the roots like the warmer soil temperatures closer to the surface. My tomatoes have done well with this method, and it saves me from digging a hole to China. They seem to do their best later in the season. It would have been interesting to see your results farther into the season.
Oh, and it's okay to leave the plant lying sideways above ground. In a day or two it will be standing straight up! Amazes me every time!
Dude I have no clue how this keeps happening but every time I have a "I wonder if epic gardening has a video about this" moment in the garden, here you are with a video about that exact subject! Legend
I wish I could search just Epic Gardener videos, but search is only available for all channels at once. That I know of…
Ashley from Gardening In Canada has a video about this. She cites articles from... Florida? I think?
The summary is that if you have WARM soil, planting UP TO the cotyledons (not burying above leaf level) can increase yields. But if you have COLD soils, planting deeply will stunt your plant.
Aye I love her
She also mentions that adventitious roots (the ones coming off the stems) are designed for support rather than nutrient uptake, so it’s maybe not worth digging in unless your surface soil is crazy hot.
In south Texas I do plant to the cotyledons and it works great. Our plants get up to 5-6 feet and cherries even bigger
@@victoriabarclay3556 that makes sense. I live close to Canada and shallow planting worked great for me this year
Yes! Ashley nailed it and the results of this experiment is in line with what she explained. I'm in a cooler climate and while I never buried super-deep, I won't do it at all in the future. It's extra effort for inferior results.
In cold climates we use the trench method because in the effort to extend our growing season the soil is cold when we transplant right after last frost. This keeps roots as warm as we can. It works!
This. And it even helps in warm climates. Maybe not for crazy hot, but does help in warm climates. Tomatoes love HEAT
Here’s the answer to why you trench your tomatoes rather than burying them 8 or ten inches into a hole. Watering!! When you trench, your roots are generally in the top five inches of soil and watering gets to them fairly easily. Burning them deep, watering will be shallow compared the the main root system. Love your videos.
Think the root growth is in response to the water besides just the temperature that was mentioned. The deep one put out roots just under soil surface, and so did the trench one, that just included the whole buried stem.
100% this. Could be temperature too, but surface roots are the big deal.
I am a "trench" guy, I use a small amount of liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks, with the trench you know you are putting the food exactly where the plant can access it.
It's not rocket science that planting deep will give you access to more ground humidity, but we almost all water plants, so I think that root surface area takes the win.
Also, added a grass clipping mulch this year, what à game changer for water retention.
I live in Québec, and my tomato plants are already 6 feet tall, full of fruit, and we are barely hitting July. 15:02
This season will be insane.
(Sorry for all my Friends and colleagues in the Midwest who got rained upon all spring... here the sunshine was amazing. )
@@csn583 겉표면으로
발생 되는 뿌리는 작물의 특성상
그렇기도 하지만 직근이 긴 뿌리임
에도 그렇게 되는 이유중
온도도 영항을 주지만
물주는 습관이 잘못 됐을때에
겉표면으로 뿌리가 뜰수 있습니다.
행복한 하루 보내세요^^
This is a good point that I did not think of.
I think John might have done so well because he didn't lose leaves when you transplanted him - more leaves, more photosynthesis, more energy for the plant. If you ever repeat the experiment, please add in a fourth condition where you remove the lower leaves and surface plant the plant just like you did with John!
I think another possible advantage of trenching might be that the roots can access nutrients from a bigger soil area compared to just planting deeper 🤔
inderdaad, voor een betere vergelijking had plant genaamd John evenveel blad moeten verwijderen als de overige twee planten. Nu had deze plant veel meer blad, dus een voorsprong. Immers blad geeft bij voldoende licht fotosynthese waarbij CO2 uit de lucht wordt opgenomen en er zuurstof vrijkomt wat afgegeven aan de lucht en suikers. Als gevolg van dit proces ontwikkeld de plant suikers welke de plant gebruikt bij de ontwikkeling van de wortels via sapstromen en de goei van nieuw blad, bloei en fruit en zaad vorming. De plant voed de wortelgestel met suikers en de wortels voeden de plant met water en mineralen voedings stoffen uit de bodem. Er bestaat een evenwicht tussen wat er aan wortels in de grond groeiend en wat er aan blad boven de grond groeiend. Bij verstoringen van wortels of blad zal de plant proberen dat evenwicht te herstellen. Door de groei van meer wortels of minder groei van nieuw blad of zelfs bladval.
I mean it might be an interesting experiment but its not a really valid idea for testing out which method actually works best. Because anyone who is surface planting doesn't have reason to remove the lower leaves. You'd just be hindering the plant for no point other than the sake of the experiment itself.
@@TheApplianceDirectthats a good point as well. Free speech ftw.
@@TheApplianceDirect that is why it is named an experiment. Starting with the same sized tomato plants, next 2 out of 3 remove 1/2 of the leaves. Next placed those plants in different positions in soil and see what comes next. That is not an experiment! To see difference between two of those, treeded the same is a partial experiment, those thirt plant falls out because of other treatment, twice as much leaves and no recovering needed. So may be next year this could make a real experiment on video. Succes.
@@scholmc1633 yes I know that giving all the plants the same starting point is how you would conduct real scientific research. But ultimately he just wanted to know which gardening technique would allow the plants to flourish most. So he needed to replicate the circumstances of the gardening technique itself, not remove the bottom leaves from all of them.
So, I've done this experiment actually quite a few ways about the years and what I have learned is this: always surface sow determinate tomatoes. They only get so big and burying them will really set you back at best, but really you'll cut into your crop yield. Indeterminate tomatoes are ground crawling vines that constantly shoot out new roots so I'm warmer climates where you can plant really early a trenched tomato directly in the ground (not raised bed) tends to grow better longer term, especially if you do the grow and drop method. If you have a raised bed, the whole of the soil mass is warmer, so dig down and plant the root ball at the bottom of the bed and bury up, in my slightly raised beds, this means I get the best results planting at a 45° angle. This also helps with the wind in my area because the lower the plants are to the ground in early spring, the less wind damage I get because I wait to stake mine.
TLDR: the three or four different techniques all have different uses for different areas and I encourage personal experimentation.
Thanks!
Great comment, loving your summary! In watching the video, I had wondered about the 45° angle, I guess a hybrid planting between Titanic and Clown.
Why not a raised bed?
@michellejester9734 room basically, you can plant deeper in the raised bed and the whole of the soil is warmer, but if you plant shallow and long, now you have less room to plant other things
My dad did trenching over 30 years ago. It is the only way I have planted my tomatoes. Glad to see it gives the best root growth. Good experiment
Gardeners never stop learning.
Always learning! 🤓
Agreed!!!
Gardeners are such an amazing community/type of person. Happy to have y'all and be one myself
Some do. But they're the hungrier and grumpier ones. 😂
Planting tomatoes sideways has two advantages over deep planting. First the roots are spread over a larger area and so the tomato gets more overall nutrients from the top layers of soil (the most biologically active, and generally more water availability, tomatoes are not deep feeding plants). Oddly the carbon and Cherokee varieties are deeper rooting varieties tending to extend feeders to occupy 10-16 inches. They do generally naturally limit themselves to 5-6 feet however.
Second is only for large scale growers, it can be done quickly with tomatoes in a row. Commercial growers take a piece of pvc pipe or something similar and bend all the plants in a row to the side. They then wait for the plants to naturally curve upwards before putting in their supports. Some places bury the bent over stem, others just ensure the stem is touching the ground and let nature handle itself. The additional roots also have advantages when using tension based support systems as commercial growers are not going to be as careful to ensure each plant is properly tensioned, so the extra roots also help resist a bit of tugging.
The additional roots do less of a role in nutrient absorption vs moisture absorption (although they both can do a bit of both). However commercial growers like these methods for stability. The plants a noticeable better rooted to the ground and thus are less prone to damage in a large field.
Using the trench technique will give you more fruit in the long run depending on environment. I've been growing tomatoes for 40 years now in Northern California and have experimented with the 3 methods. The roots take longer to catch in the trench method but seem to give the plant a bit more longevity with indeterminate varieties. We'll have plants producing fruit into January now. The reason is exactly as he suspected, warmer temps closer to the roots but also less soil compaction to fight against because they're not buried deeply. Weed barrier will also help keep the ground warmer which can expedite root development and plant growth.
Excellent experiment! You never mentioned rainfall or watering. I wonder if the deep planting methods outshine in drought.
You don't need to bend the stem on the 3rd one, after a day it will grow towards the sky...
we do this sometimes in our nursery when seed starters are too tall to just transplant to a 4 or 6 inch pot but at that point the stem is still very flexible so we can literally make a circle with the stem and bring it back up the middle.
I think I know why my tomatoes haven’t done well for years because I have buried my tomatoes deep or trenched. And I have a shorter season in the PNW. Thanks for this.
Properly done trench is the best for short seasons. Don't trench very deep. Just a 2 or 3 inches deep.
Thanks for the teaching
Your video is very informative for me as I too have tried two methods and the third method of burying i am trying now. You have very meticulously made this video much appreciated. Your plants seems to have some disease known as Leaf Curl.
I just wanted to leave a comment about the side planting technique. We used to do this when we only had shallow raised beds to plant them in. That way we could get more roots for the tomato even though the dirt was very shallow.
Hi there, I am 72, never planted a tomato, but I remember my Slovak grandmother cutting the upper end of a tomato plant once the first/lowest fruits were well formed. The nutrients were this way redirected to the new fruits, supporting its size and ripening colour. Even the uppermost were nearly same size as the first ones.
The results for the sideways planting was so interesting. I can see someone with clay or really compacted soil really preferring that method. It would be easier to dig and lets the plant closer to the surface to take in all the water and nutrients.
Unless you deep water your soil I would think trenching is going give more roots due to moisture, temp and less compaction. What the plant does with that can greatly vary from even the same seed packet. Great video showing results!👍🏻
I trenched 6 tomato plants of all different varieties this season and they are doing amazing!
Missed opportunity to call Clown.... Sideshow Bob. Great experiment! Thanks for going through the time and energy!
I know it was just backyard science, but I found it very fascinating. Definitely something to think about when transplanting my tomatoes
You know you have to trust the science. 😂
Also gotta say, I'm learning so much from yourself and other gardeners doing tests to break down myths. Fantastic, and thank you for sharing!
I live in zone 9a just north east of Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport. There are times when we receive 5-10” of rain in less than 8 hours. Planting a tomato plant deeply here could result in roots rotting and oxygen depletion. The trench planting works perfectly for us.
I've trenched for many years. Here in Illinois I have clay within 6 inches of the surface, by trenching I get better rooting system.
First of all, really enjoyed this video but I can't help but feel the results are inconclusive because it was ended so early into the growing season! The whole point of the deep hole method is it provide season long resilience because it can access deeper soil and thus more moisture when it's dry. It reduces the need for irrigation and when it gets very hot in mid-late summer the cooler temperature is actually a bonus. I totally agree that this method causes a later start, but the reward is realized late in the season. Roots grow exponentially, so while the extra rooting might have looked unimpressive now it would look much different after another two months of growing.
For anyone interested, I've also found that doing the deep whole method with containers completely eliminates the slow start because (obviously) you are filling it with ambient temperature soil and there is more air circulating it. I like to do a few plants in containers that I can put out much earlier and bring them in if there is a cold snap and adjust the location depending on temperature and wind. The down side of this is you do have to water more, just because of the nature of container gardening.
As for the trench method, I think this is also sound but to me it is just awkward to design a bed and digging a sideways hole and bending it stresses me out a bit. I find something very satisfying about the deep hole method, maybe because it hides the fact that most of my seedlings tend to be on the leggy side but you'll never tell once I plant ;-)
Thank you for this content!
I totally agree. I loved this video and really appreciate all of the experiments you’ve done. This one I did feel missed the point. I’d like to see the results for this experiment where the endpoint was the end of the tomato season, not when it just started to get a few ripe fruit. Please repeat next year! 😁😊🙏
I agree the experiment ended too soon to be useful. I'm interested in total production and plant health, not just the first six weeks!
I will add that I've done this experiment with bell peppers I want fully ripe, using the two ends of my garden. In my very sandy soil the buried peppers need less water once they get established, which really helps me out! I get the same or more peppers with less added water.
The downside to planting deeply is that the adventitious roots (the additional ones) are not as good at nutrient uptake, but are mostly for moisture uptake.
If you don't fertilize/amend your whole soil profile, all the way down to the bottom of the tomato hole, there's less nutrition for the plant to use.
In addition, planting past the cotyledons can lead to reduced harvests.
@@CWorgen5732 I agree with you on needing good soil all the way down, I would imagine almost every garden has at least 12". And if you choose to amend / fertilize it's easy enough to do when you dig the initial hole
Curious on your last point on planting past the cotyledons, is there a study or experiment you can recommend?
Anecdotally, my harvests were always equal or larger, with enough difference that I stopped shallow playing completely. It works for me in my soil, which I do amend deeply for the veg. Doesn't mean it's best for everyone!
@Kevin: You mention the increased heat as a reason for the bigger root growth on Clown. Another reason could be that there there is far more microbial activity in the top layer of soil. So trenched can use it's full length of the burried stem while burried deep will only use the top part of its burried stem.. Just a thought. Great vid, thanks
A couple of things I've learned: a) the roots that grow on the stem are only stabilization roots; they don't increase the plant's ability to take up nutrients.
b) the point of planting in a trench is if you're in a cold climate and want to plant "deeply," but a straight down hole would get you into cold soil, which would set the plant back. Planting in the trench keeps the stem at a shallower depth where the soil is warmer.
Just curious, how do you know that “a” statement is true? Thanks!
@@jimhudson1737 When I hear it from multiple reliable sources: a master Gardener and a soil scientist. I usually try to do further research of those statements on university extension websites.
@@MyFocusVariesThank you.
I think in certain soil types, it's best to get that depth. The upper regions of my soil profile dry quickly, and it's sandy, so nutrients wash down. They do better when they're buried. I would bet that Clown did so well because it had access to more surface area, rather than just a column, for nutrient access
It’s fun to experiment. Seems like the volunteers grow the best in my garden with no transplanting.
Might be that sewing from seed is the way to go. It's the only way that wasn't
tested in this experiment and the exact way that Mother Nature would do it.
That really would have been interesting to see.
I have had this experience as well! I always try to dig up transplants and put them in the garden - my volunteer transplants are currently twice the size of my stuff from the store
@peachykeen7634 my first year for volunteers! They are sturdier and bushier than the transplants for sure. The only problem is guessing the variety, although this year there were only 4 options to choose from.
My volunteers are always the healthiest plants in the garden, for sure!
@@Nikki-mx5my There's a couple on
Bumblebee Junction that keeps a
dedicated raised bed just for volunteers.
A cherry variety that's her favorite. She
let's the plants die back completely,
cleans the plant material out leaving any
tomatoes in the bed. Covers the tomatoes with 1/2 a bag of Black Cow and potting
soil in November and many come back up in the Spring.
I like listening about agriculture talk ❤
I don't know which editor decided originally to add the squeaky noise into videos, but I love you for it.
Haha! Thank you! 😆
Amazing experiment. Nature knows what she’s doing. Thanks for the video! I was as curious as you, Kevin, but I don’t have the yard capability. This was a great one! ❤
Haven't watched to the end yet, but I used to (30+ years ago) follow the trench method. I got it from a book on growing tomatoes. As well as I can remember, the reasoning was that that sun would warm the soil, and thus the roots and the stem where the roots should be growing.
Okay, I'm up to the final comparison, just before they are dug up. So far all the comparisons and explanations are based on the roots. But please remember how much more foliage John had from the start. It takes roots AND leaves to grow, so of course John had a head start on one of those.
And of course, a different variety might act differently. And summers vary.
(When I had a garden I only planted tomatoes. Lots of them. I took a week of vacation in August to eat tomatoes. Lightly toast rye bread, cover with sharp cheddar, put in the toaster over to melt the cheese, then top with THICK slices of fresh ripe tomato.)
Love it. Add some basil leaves and olive oil, sheer perfection!
I've been growing my tomatoes by doing a John-style method where I only bury it like 3-5 inches deeper so that it doesn't spend a month throwing out roots but it'd have more roots than plain John. Best of both worlds. Works out pretty well for me.
We did the sideways method in our grow bags, and they grew just fine. They are producing a lot of tomatoes.
Cool experiment. The reason I trench tomatoes is because our water table is so high (sometimes at or above ground level) and it reduces the risk of them drowning. If it's a dry year and I have to water, there's a lot of root area close to the surface so I don't have to water them as deep.
Makes perfect sense to me. More oxygen exchange and moisture near the surface. Would take a lot of h2o to get moisture that deep for titanic lower roots.
I really enjoy the experiment videos, I am always trying different ways to grow everything, a few extra seeds well let’s see how they do over here or in a smaller container or more light etc.
Out of curiosity, I planted a San Marzano horizontally without pruning or bending the top. The side branches that were exposed straightened reaching for the sun and the plant is fantastic!!
It has lots of green fruit and is twice the size of the regularly planted tomato plants. I'm pretty impressed with the growth.
Our family and friends have always planted tomatoes on their sides with a tablespoon of epsom salt into the soil. All of the plants grow with vigor and overflowing with fruit. My late mother-in-law said that they did it this way because sometimes the soil was really cakey and they didn't have time or means to dig the plants deep, so they laid the plants on their sides allowing the water and nutrients from the top soil feed the plants, rather than waiting for any fertilization or water to get down through the cakey soil.
Gotta love old timey boomer science nonsense 😂.
Nice practical application of the technique!
@@HawkXe More like advice from a woman born in 1892.
@@bdctrans70 Makes sense. Boomers did have to learn those old wives tales methods from someone.
@@HawkXe This "Boomer" learned a lot of things from the greatest generation.
As a scientist and gardening enthusiast, this is really cool :)
I believe some of the theory behind the angled/laying flat tomato planting method is that the majority of many planting beds have their nutrients and often their water applied to the surface, and by laying the plant flat you force many of the roots to start growing from from the surface. If any compost or mulch is added, there are far more roots far closer to it spread over a wider area.
its also quite strange, because here in scotland, laying flat is the only way ive heard people plant tomatoes, and I wonder if it is in part because of water availibility and avoiding drowning the plants by planting deep and allowing the soil to dry out to some reasonable amount on the surface, meanwhile where you live its clearly very hot and dry and water availibility is more of a struggle so having the roots forced deep underground, youre more likely to have access to water for more of the year and avoid the soil drying out entirely within a day on the surface.
My tomatoes started flowering really fast this summer too. I’ve noticed that alot of plants are growing faster than I’ve ever seen this summer.
One thing that comes to mind as to why the trenching method produces more roots than deep burying: tomatoes naturally have very shallow root systems. So even if you deep bury the plant's stem, it will only produce new roots in soil conditions that suit them (i.e. within a few inches of the surface where heat/nutrient/water access are prime for the tomato to grow). The trench method has 100% of the buried stem in the tomato's natural root development zone. If you want to test this, you could setup another experiment with two deep buried tomatoes: one in ground and the other in a container/growbag nearby.
The adventitious roots are also not very good at nutrient uptake, but are primarily for moisture and stability. So long-term, the plant will do better with trenching because the original roots are still up where the best soil is.
Burying in a trench allows for more surface roots. Its said that they use surface roots more than deep roots which is why they produce roots so easily.
And if you leave the plant on the side days before planting, the new growth will bend for you.
I love experiments. Thanks for extra knowledgeable. Super fun.
I have used the side version since the 1980's when introduced by Dick Raymond, check out his book Garden Way's Joy of Gardening, by Dick Raymond. The roots are closer to the surface, hence getting more heat and easier access to water than the vertical deep method. Been getting great tomatoes for years. Thanks for the info.
The on the side method is great for places where the topsoil is extremely shallow and what's under it is undiggable, or just anaerobic. Like my clay soil. The first four or so inches are ok-ish, but beyond that there are no roots because there is no drainage or air.
Quality of the soil is also a big factor. Our soil is rocky and silty. Deeper is more clay. Impossible to grow any type of food, except corn maybe. And the only type of flower that will grow each year are lilies.
I found out something cool last year. So there was an invasive toxic plant that started to grow, had white little berries in clusters of 3, the leaf shape and how the berries changed to a different color is how you fully identify it.
Anyhow, the only suggested method is to just pull out its roots, pick up any berries that fall, and burn it. Well, we've a tiny insect that goes to town on its leaves, and it greatly affects the plant, reducing its berries from growing. One plant popped up again this year and the leaves were already under attack. This time I left it to see how the insects would take care of it. 😊 They destroyed the plant. Oh, and the other plants around it were left alone. Nature is neat!
Very interesting. I love backyard garden experiments!
Love the experimental videos
After watching the root development i can only assume your water is only reaching a max of 2-4 inches down into the dirt. The root balls are developing where the water is easily available which is why on the deep buried one you dont see roots all the way up as well as why the bottom rootball wasnt as developed as the surface buried.
This is also backed up by the trench results as the whole trench lives in that 2-4 inch range and saw root development.
Hey Kev, you should do the 4th option which is the 2nd most natural one to tomatoes. Which is starting it from seed, let it get leggy to at least 2.5 ft, and then plant it normal but let every foot or so touch the ground, that will generate roots faster than the other options. Growing up my grandad would grow indeterminate varieties and that’s how he would get more harvest @epicgardening
What do you mean by touching the ground every foot or so. I have a couple leggy babies I need to get in the ground
I had extremely leggy, lanky tomato plants one year, buried them in the trench method and had the best tomato year ever!! Thought I had ruined that years harvest but nope!
So, let 'em vine out along the ground? I'm experimenting with that method this year (cherry tomatoes). Looks promising.
Now we got blight..
Now we got blight
Trench method is amazing, always produces a mass amount of fruit and the root system is huge. The 1st time I fried this way at end of season the roots had extended straight across the garden for 6 feet, I was sold when I seen that. Take Care
I think the high amount of root development on the trench isn't just because of the warmer temperatures it can experience compared to the normal burying it deep method, I think it may also have to do with the higher moisture too. It was put in an info card during the video but paraphrase it here, the tomato stem can produce more roots when in more contsant contact with water. With that stem being so close to the surface its in near constant contact with water, which probably is what created that massive root at the very top. Very interesting results, hmmmmmmm...
Did you keep the lower leaves off the ground? It is recommended to reduce the leaves picking up mold which kills many plants where powder mold is common in the ground.
haha as a fellow ordinary John... I approve Kevin's message lol
Nicely shown demo! Very cool. 😀
Just put it in...don't be scared 😅
That's what she said 😂😂😂 sorry couldn't help myself
Neither could that Ecuadorian in NYC....be careful😂😂😂😂
@@nafisahbrawner654
😂😂😂😂
Aye yo
More than the tip
Hi there Kevin. If you plant deep you have to water deep. But, the plant can be far more draught tolerant if you do. It may take the plant longer to develop, but look out when it does. You will have more tomatoes than you know what to with! If you plant with the horizontal method you don't have to water as deep and the roots develop where the water is. If you have a plant that thrives in a warm temperature, then warm water in warm soil with shallow roots gets the plant growing faster. Your climate may be too hot for this method in mid summer.
I love gardening, from my head tomatoes!
_~ba dum tiss~_ Well played, LOL!
I live in condo and have a little garden on by balcony which is covered,and when I transplant my tomatoes onto my balcony I put them in diagonally in a trench so I can "push" the plant outside my balcony railing where they are trellised, so it gets more sunlight than they would otherwise get. I have better results than just growing them straight up initially.
I’m not sure why this is a surprise to you, it has little to do with soil warmth. What is the most important thing to do once it has been planted? Feed and water. Where do you feed and water? The first 4 inches of the soil. The trenched is most exposed to these positive amendments, so it will be the most productive. There is little water and nutrition below 6 inche s of soil, so you actually stunted the titanic.
Soil warmth is critical during the early development of the root system, which is why trenching works so well.
@@videodistro not saying it isn't important, but not critical. It is critical during germination. The water and nutrient uptake plays a bigger role when the plants are more mature.
I would usually plant shallow and after sometime maybe 2 or 3 weeks gently bend the part of the stem into a trench of compost covered in soil,as the root debelope it eats into the compost giving the plant a boost
I have problems with a relatively shallow hugelculture bed: tomatoes do not thrive despite lots of good amendments. I think the deep planting puts roots into a woody nitrogen-deficient zone. Going to try shallower planting next year.💚
I appreciate you doing this experiment. I have about 50 years of gardening behind me. I bury the root ball about 1 inch deeper than it was in the pot, similar to your "John" tomato. HOWEVER, I have found that the most effective thing you can do at the time of transplant is what I call the MUD method--fill that hole with water and stir it to make it gushy. This compensates for the shock to the roots that happens whenever you transplant anything.
I only bury the tomato at depth for 2 reasons...if the vine is broken or damages, I bury it up to and beyond the broken point, and if I am transplanting a cutting, I trim leaves and bury about a foot of the vine underground.
PS, I don't "prune" tomatoes or pinch suckers, this is a waste of time (I only grow indeterminant tomatoes). I also pick the fruits when they start showing color, because vine ripening just increases your losses to animals without changing the taste of the tomato.
Don’t understand stand why removing suckers is “a waste of time”? It takes very little time and greatly increases the growing season and the health of the plant ( by allowing better air circulation).
The trench method is actually done a bit different in my experience, your goal is to bury the entire main stem except for the tip which is pretty young and flexible still, and make the suckers and side branches into multiple plants, the benefits of wide root system, with the added benefit of a greater leaf coverage for an area, which allows you to have "multiple plants" sorta, which you couldn't normally have so close together without consequences.
So you get a lot of rooting, and also a lot of sun real estate.
The reason the "At the surface" one grew so well is just down to leaves = energy, energy = growth above and below ground. It's a snowballing effect.
So ideally with the trench method, since you would have "multiple plants", they end up all getting more sun. So it would have a slower start, but hopefully more foliage in the long run.
Also another benefit of the trench method over the deep method, is kind of a trade off actually.
The deep method has easier access to more water.
The trench method has easier access to nutrients, as the most nutritious soil is likely near the top in a well used bed.
This is why you see roots at the surface of the deep, but not in the middle.
Plants are smart enough to prioritize good soil first.
I've planted in a trench, for a couple years. They end up much more stable & I've gotten plants that are 8'-15' tall. The stems can get around 4" around near the ground.
I love the experiment garden! So, I garden up in Quebec, Canada, and I have a shorter growing season. I can't plant anything outside before late May, and my first frost is in mid-September. I used to plant my tomatoes deep, but I'd have to spend the entire gardening season waiting for my tomato plants to put out new roots, resulting in a very small, very late harvest! This year, I went basic and planted my tomatoes at surface level, and my plants have never looked better. I'm already getting blooms! So yeah, do what works best in your context and keep trying!
There’s a reason for Trenching : deep planting puts the roots down into cold soil. Trenching keeps those roots up in the warmer zone of soil, yielding a quicker start.
I think the reason John did best / grew largest is primarily because you didn't trim any foliage off the plant, and it had more power to produce early on
If you're like me and plant too many tomatoes, placing a portion deeper/entrenched may spread out the initial onslaught of ripening fruit (so you can get your neighbors hooked...), and possibly give the deeper plants a longer production season as it gets both hotter/drier and later cooler towards fall.
This is awesome test thank you for making this video I luv growing tomatoes in garden. Each tomatoes plant 3 3 3 same in production wasn't expecting that observation in middle of testing. I luv racoons poor thing was starving lay out dry catfood in different place and they will never bother your tomatoes again. So whatever works for you and your gardening environment space works best. Awesome results i couldn't say it better.💜🌴
I have secret planting for that kind or any kind in a garden bed that you have done on your show and that organic mixing in the bottom of the hole with steer manure and compost mix it with soil came out of the hole mix with at bottom so when roots stretched down they get fed and a boost works well I have giants size plants that way even bigger then what seed packets say or transplant potted plants say out growing 4 to 6 ft post even when it's supposed to grow 3 to 4 ft high. Especially cost I liked buying starts at the stores this year all from seeds and over planted my flat style from a cheap tote and had 4 to 5 different kinds of tomatoes and 100 plants and few in pots doing better then the garden bed. And was surprised at my local hardware store selection and cost. One tomatoes potted plant that's has flowers on it so decent maybe two months old grown in greenhouse $7.99 to almost $10.00 one plant for the same ones.. one-two years ago $4.99.
i would love to understand the production for the full production life of the tomatoes. i'm on long island outside of NY (zone 7), planted my tomatoes memorial day weekend and i'm still plucking some tomatoes off my plants. I've removed 1/2 of my plants because they were "done", but i'm still producing some fruit, way past the 6 weeks of this test
I love videos where they actually compare these ideas. I did an experiment where I pruned half of my tomatoes and left the others unpruned and I got triple output from the unpruned tomatoes and less disease on the plants. I wasted so much time pruning before.
You can easily draw the wrong conclusions from this; but the root itself tells you where to plant it, which is close to the top of the soil, likely because of the temp being the controlling factor. I used mulch (straw) over the whole field to control weeds and hold in the heat, there was enough tomatoes to feed an army from a quarter acre. (Not staked because of the mulch, not watered either (depends)). I though I'd mention they were Rutgers tomatoes and we picked them pretty green and wrapped them in newspaper and stored them in boxes in the cellar for up to six months. There were so many tomatoes we didn't mind the rabbits getting as much as they could eat.
The experiment you made is an experiment in natural garden conditions, like we all have at home.
I have been growing tomatoes for years. My grandfather always taught me to transplant tomatoes horizontally. A problem that often occurs with horizontal planting is that the first flowering branch is very close to the ground and that, very often, the first fruits lie on the ground. In this way, it happens that some of the fruits start to rot or are eaten by small animals.
Thank you for the video and the experiment you did. You have solved many tomato transplant dilemmas I have had.
Love seeing these experiments! Few people have the time or resources to do this themselves and are left wondering if they're doing it right. Some notes on these methods, since each DOES have specific benefits.
Plants collect most of their nutrients near the surface where the most organic matter is. The trench method optimizes this. Deep roots are good for water- deep planting optimizes for water. Surface planting is just letting the plant decide. In a garden that has decent organic matter for both nutrients and water holding, and receives irrigation, there is little need for deep or trench planting. With plenty of water and nutrients available near the surface, just stick them in. Now if you are early on in gardening and still working on building your soil, trench planting will maximize the plants ability to take from your thin topsoil and amendments. Likewise, if you aren't able to provide very regular irrigation, deep planting can help reduce water stress.
Kevin,
I saw the logic of the side bury w/ someone who has gophers. The run hardware cloth beneath their raised beds to block the gophers. Therefore, they are unable to deep plant their tomatoes. It makes sense. 😊