IV. FORCING TOMATOES: COMPARISON OF 



METHODS OF TRAINING AND 



BENCHING.* 



S. A. BKACH. 



SUMMARY. 



Single-stem training is clearly superior to three-stem training 

 for forcing tomatoes in winter — in this climate. The superiority 

 is seen in the larger yield of early ripening fruit and in the 

 larger total yield. There is but slight difference in the average 

 size of fruit produced under the two methods of training, but on 

 the whole the fruit of the single-stem plants seems to be slightly 

 the larger. 



Plants in two or two and a half inch pots plunged in the soil 

 so that roots may be formed above the pot as compared with 

 similar plants knocked out of the pots and planted in the soil on 

 the bench sometimes show slight gain in yield when plants are 

 trained to single stem, but this treatment is a disadvantage when 

 plants are trained to three stems. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the larger cities the demand for tomatoes which have been 

 grown under glass begins as soon as the supply of fruit from out 

 of dQors is cut off by freezing weather, and it continues till the 

 Florida tomatoes appear in market, which is usually sometime in 

 February. In local markets tomatoes from forcing houses often 

 bring good prices much later than this because they are really 

 superior to the southern growm fruit which is picked before it is 

 ripe, and many persons are willing to pay an extra price for the 

 choice forced tomatoes which are ripened on the vines and deliv- 

 ered fresh to the consumer. 



To supply this demand the tomatoes must be ripened during 

 the most unfavorable season for ripening fruit, including as it 



•ParUal reprint of Bulletin No. 125. 



