Tomato Roots

[headfullofbees]

I have seen video after video, read recommendations innumerable, and been told, time-and-again, that to improve yields from my tomatoes, plant them deep, and, being vines, they'll grow extra roots.

Well, for years I've planted my toms deeper and deeper, and my toms get later and later, and if anything, it COSTS me yield!
Something has GOT to be wrong!
I should be getting a huge rise in yield from all those extra roots
Well I have ended up with root systems just like those on the video, and it has troubled me.
Why don't the tomatoes grow roots in the space, if they can grow them all along the vine?
In my view, this fellow has it almost right:

and planting in the trench method may be fine for those of us with a long growing season.

Anyway, the "normal" root system of a tomato, (the roots it would grow if you sowed a seed and let it grow from there) are a bunch of roots on, or near, the surface for everyday absorption of water, air and nutrients, and a tap root for extracting water from deeper in emergencies.
The plant doesn't grow roots in the "space" between the two root systems, because they would be of no use to it, so why divert energy there?

I have been led to one inavoidable conclusion:
The "new" surface roots which grow when you bury a tomato plant deep aren't additional roots, they are REPLACEMENT roots, and the surface roots you have buried don't actually do very much, if anything, as they won't go as deep as a tap root would unless you buried over a foot of tomato plant!

Now this may not be very important to those of us who live in a climate with a long growing season, but a pause, or slowing in production of above-ground tomato, whilst it replaces its surface roots, would not only temporarily (at the very least) weaken the plant, but would make the harvest later and in a short growing season, considerably smaller.

I may be wrong, but this year I'm not planting my tomatoes any deeper than previous soil level.

 

[Chuck]

Interesting vids. I have known folks who plant their toms extra deep on purpose but in my experience there is only one reason to plant a tomato transplant deep and that is if the transplant is severely leggy to begin with. You don't want it to fall over and break in the wind. I have never witnessed a higher yield when planting deep. In the vid it shows a space of about 4"-6" of no roots. That means that the transplant was of a fairly large size at the start of the study. IMO to achieve a larger root system one should plant their seedlings as deep as possible at the time you potted them up. For folks who do not start their plants from seeds I would strongly suggest that they be extremely careful when they purchase their tomato plants and only buy healthy non-leggy plants

 

[R.R.]

I have watched these videos plenty of times during the past few months. I liked the idea of planting them like he does in this video. What do you think about planting them sideways?

 

[Chuck]

I have watched these videos plenty of times during the past few months. I liked the idea of planting them like he does in this video. What do you think about planting them sideways?

IMO they should have already been planted, like a month ago. But, since they are what they are, planting them sideways is the only option left for us unless you have really deep soil or stick them in a 5 gallon bucket

 

[R.R.]

You mean the tomatoes in the video, right?

 

[Chuck]

You mean the tomatoes in the video, right?

Yep, the video tomatoes. I have done this on numerous occasions when something like a hail storm or deer or hogs destroy my big nice healthy plants, which is also why I grow many more seedlings than I will probably need. I have never seen an increase in production by doing this planting sideways but it is the only way I can plant them. And yes they do grow more roots this way but as I said, no increased production. That could be because in my climate it gets too hot too soon for the plants to set fruit. In a climate where the nighttime low temps stay between 68F and 74F for a longer period it might be and probably is a different story

 

[zigs]

Very interesting

Worthy of a controlled experiment or 2

 

[ChanellG]

And here I was ready to start burying some of my tomatoes deep and turning others on the side. I suppose the best thing is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." We all know that plants need potassium and calcium to produce and not drop flowers, so it would seem as long as we see to it the plant has the nutrition and support (stakes, cages, etc.) it needs the fruit yield should be good.

 

[LIcenter]

I've always planted my tomatoes on their side, cause that's the way I was taught. I don't think it makes a better tomato plant in the end. What I think it does do is give the start a better chance to survive in the beginning. It signals the plant to send out more roots, ultimately waking the plant up. It's only a theory of mine, so take it for what it is worth.

 

[headfullofbees]

Two further points which have just struck me:

1) When tomato plants are grafted they cannot be planted deeper than the graft, or grafting becomes pointless.
2) The industrial-scale twin-stem method of tomato-growing involves removing the growing tip and using stems which grow from the cotyledons (seed leaves), which absolutely rules out deep planting.

 

[headfullofbees]

I thought I'd update this thread, as it may be of interest to some.
No deep-planted tomato roots, and guess what?
In this awful summer we're having, my beefsteak tomatoes are ripening before others' standard ones.
My standard and cherry tomatoes have been steadily increasing their readiness over the past few weeks, and even my outside tomatoes are ahead of others' greenhouse tomatoes.
It certainly wasn't what you'd call scientifically proven beyond doubt, but the evidence points to only one answer:
Planting cordon tomatoes with the roots deep, is a waste of time in the UK.

 

[Chuck]

This year some of my tomato transplants got a little leggy before I could get them in the ground so I had to plant them deep. What I did this time was instead of planting them on their side or really deep I planted them on a 45 degree angle, almost up to the first set of true leaves. They survived nicely during our heavy winds of March, the heavy winds being why I planted them so deep. I could see no increase of production between the deep planted ones and the others.
I also did something else as an experiment. I sprinkled mycorrhizae the entire length of the deep planted stem in order to see if roots would form. The results were not what I had hoped. I had hoped to see roots the entire length of the stem but that didn't happen. What happened was that the original root ball had a great mass of roots and also a great mass of roots about 3" deep below soil level but nothing for the 6 or 8 inches in between which I had hoped would happen. As usual the plants with mycorrhizae had far better production than those without

 

[Sheal]

I have no choice but to grow my tomatoes in a greenhouse because of the unsettled weather patterns and coastal position I live in. They are all grown in buckets because my greenhouse is bolted down to a concrete base, so no soil beds available. I don't think it makes any difference to plant growth or fruit production whether they are planted deep or not, or the amount of roots they have. This year the weather has been bad here, light levels have been low because of more than average rainfall and therefore heat has been lacking too. My tomatoes have stalled three times since germination in late March and I didn't think I would see a crop. As you can see below they are now doing well, do they need more roots.....no. They need food, water and summer heat, nothing more! The only reason for planting tomatoes deep is if they are leggy as Chuck has already stated.

 

[Chuck]

I have no choice but to grow my tomatoes in a greenhouse because of the unsettled weather patterns and coastal position I live in. They are all grown in buckets because my greenhouse is bolted down to a concrete base, so no soil beds available. I don't think it makes any difference to plant growth or fruit production whether they are planted deep or not, or the amount of roots they have. This year the weather has been bad here, light levels have been low because of more than average rainfall and therefore heat has been lacking too. My tomatoes have stalled three times since germination in late March and I didn't think I would see a crop. As you can see below they are now doing well, do they need more roots.....no. They need food, water and summer heat, nothing more! The only reason for planting tomatoes deep is if they are leggy as Chuck has already stated.

View attachment 8426

Before I start on my tirade let me say that your tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and that what you are doing is working. But. IMO the more robust and extended that a tomato plants roots are the better the production. Therefore the use of mycorrhizae fungi which enables nutrient uptake to the plants and also makes for a much greater surface area and volume of the feeder roots. I realize that you have a difficult, at best, tomato growing environment. If I am not mistaken your containers are 3 1/2 gallon buckets and are thereby limited to volume as compared to me of which I plant directly in the ground. You probably already have the maximum of root volume that your container of soil can maintain. I guess what I am trying to say is that root volume is important and the larger the root system of a tomato the larger the amount of production.

 

[headfullofbees]

Before I start on my tirade let me say that your tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and that what you are doing is working. But. IMO the more robust and extended that a tomato plants roots are the better the production. Therefore the use of mycorrhizae fungi which enables nutrient uptake to the plants and also makes for a much greater surface area and volume of the feeder roots. I realize that you have a difficult, at best, tomato growing environment. If I am not mistaken your containers are 3 1/2 gallon buckets and are thereby limited to volume as compared to me of which I plant directly in the ground. You probably already have the maximum of root volume that your container of soil can maintain. I guess what I am trying to say is that root volume is important and the larger the root system of a tomato the larger the amount of production.

That's true in the US, but not here.
Here LIGHT is the limiting factor, and Sheal has plenty of roots commensurate with the available light.
There is no need for extra nutrients when photo-synthesis is limited.