How to Supercrop Your Indoor Tomato Plants
"Supercrop" is often used in reference to genetically modified plants. However, in this case supercropping is a gardening technique used by home gardeners to strengthen the tomato's stems and encourage flower production. Growing tomatoes indoors is nearly as easy as growing them outdoors. By using large tubs or a hydroponic system, eight hours of light and supercrop gardening techniques, your tomatoes will grow into large, stocky plants that produce many tomatoes. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- 5- to 10-gallon garden tub
- Potting soil
- Mulch
- Wire fencing with 4-by-6-inch spaces, 4 feet tall
- Wire cutters
- Zip ties
- 4 to 6 garden stakes, 6 feet tall
- Plant ties
Instructions
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Plant your tomatoes, one per 5- or 10-gallon barrel, in a good quality potting soil. Dig the hole deeper than the root ball; plant the tomato with only the top two sets of leaves above ground. Tamp gently and water. Add 2 inches of mulch to cover the soil, pulling it back 3 inches from the tomato's stem.
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Install a sturdy trellis by rolling the wire fencing into a circle that will just fit inside the top of the tub. Use wire cutters to cut the wire. Use zip ties to fasten the sides of the circle together. Insert 4 to 6 stakes into the soil, pushing them all the way to the bottom of the tub. Place the wire trellis over the stakes and tie it down with zip ties.
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Allow the tomato plant to grow until it has 3 or 4 sets of branches. Select a strong branch with 3 or 4 leaf nodes.
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Press the stem between the last 2 leaf nodes with your fingers, bruising it until it bends.
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Bend the stem at a 90-degree angle toward the outside of the plant. Tie it to the trellis so the branch receives a maximum amount of light. Repeat with the remaining branches. Repeat the process every week.
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Cut the main stem once the tomato bush has reached the maximum height for your space, which is generally about 48 to 60 inches tall.
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Turn the tub weekly so all branches of the tomato receive light. Provide additional light if necessary with a grow light or halogen light suspended over the tomato plant.
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Water when the top of the soil is dry. Fertilize weekly with a tomato fertilizer according to the manufacturer's directions.
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Tips & Warnings
The stems may split slightly as you bend the branches. This is normal.
Adding horizontal chicken wire panels inside the wire trellis, at 12, 24 and 36 inches, allows you to spread the branches over a flat surface. Gently tie the bent branches to the chicken wire and allow the small branches and suckers to grow upward.
Hand pollinate the tomato blossoms for a maximum yield.
Place the tubs onto plant stands with casters to make moving and turning the tubs easier.
A floor fan set on low helps keep air moving through and around your plants. Air circulation helps prevent mildew and fungal diseases.
Wear gloves. Some people are sensitive to tomato sap.
Do not break the branches off. You are spreading the growth pattern so the stems are strengthened at the bends and opening up the branches to light and air.
Do not prune determinate varieties such as Roma tomatoes.
Indeterminate tomatoes grow into huge, sprawling plants. Do not hesitate to prune the branches if necessary.
References
Resources
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