Planted Better Boy Tomatoes

3/25/2022 – Planted 31 Better Boy tomato plants Mary raised from seed in the greenhouse. We trimmed the lower leaves and planted them deeply. They filled the 2nd row and the north half of the 3rd row.

The process was:

1. Spread 13-13-13 between the tractor tracks in the north half, rows 2 and 3 from the east side. Row 2 is 11 feet from the east fence and Row 3 is about 5′ west of that. The Row 3 location was set by running Fergie’s wheel about 6″ away from the track made when the Row 2 was drawn.
2. Spread 2 quarts (about 4 lbs.) of 13-13-13 in each row down the center of each track. (see below)
3. Pulled the rows up with Frank’s hiller.
4. Installed a drip line along the top of each hill and ran them enough to mark the locations to plant the tomatoes.
5. Planted the tomatoes at every third drip, i.e. 3′ o.c. Row 2 is filled with 21 plants and the north end of Row 3 has 11 plants. They were planted deep with soil well up on the stems. The plants were not potbound but white roots were visible and the Miracle Grow Seed Starting Mix held together well.
6. Turned on the drip lines and let them run for one hour.

Fertilizing plans

From Calculating Recommended Fertilizer Rates for Vegetables Grown in Raised-Bed, Mulched Cultural Systems, Document SL 303 from the Department of Soil and Water Sciences, UF/IFAS Extension. See copy in DropBox/Gardening Vegetables.

Tomato on 5-foot Centers
Your nitrogen (N) fertilizer recommendation is 200 pounds per acre. Using Table 2, proceed down the left-most column to the row with 6-foot typical bed spacing. Go across that row until you come to the column with the recommended fertilizer rate of 100 pounds per acre. Come down that column to meet the 6-foot bed spacing row, and find the number 1.38 pounds of N per 100 LBF. You will want to double this amount because we used the 100 pound column and your recommended rate was 200 pounds per acre. So you will need to apply 2.76 pounds of N per 100 LBF. If your fertilizer is 25% N then you will apply 11.04 pounds of fertilizer per 100 LBF.

The second part of the plan is to somewhat follow Wayne Tingin’s process of applying 13-13-13 three times: at planting, then in 30 days, and again 30 days later.

As we are using 13-13-13, we have half the nitrogen in their example. So, for the year, we need 22 lbs (2×11) of 13-13-13 for a 100 ft row but ours are 60 ft long or 2/3rds. 66% of 22 is about 14 lbs. per row for the year.

We spread 4 lbs. (a little less than one-third measured by spreading 2 quarts) per row today before hilling so there are 10 lbs more of 13-13-13 to be spread to achieve the IFAS recommended nitrogen. The next fertilizing will be on April 25th and should be 5 lbs per row of 13-13-13. But, the last fertilizing, on or about June 25th, will be 66-0-0 so that amount will be about 20% of the volume; i.e. a little less than a pint.