Here are some "field observations" of my tomato plants that were planted exactly 5 weeks ago, from seedlings that were all in the range of 3-4" above ground after planting.

This is not a pure controlled experiment because I am not testing any hypothesis, just growing the plants under natural outdoor conditions, and the plants have already been started 5 weeks ago. My only goal has been to get tomatoes as big and healthy as possible.

I am using the Non-Foliar Feeding method. The plants are side dressed with dry granular fertilizers every 2 weeks alternating between Cockadoodle DOO 5-3-4 organic fertilizer, and Espoma Garden-tone 4-6-6 which is 85% organic ingredients, a handful spread in a 3-4" circle around the root zone of each plant according to label directions. So I am making no effort to either under- or over-fertilize the plants. Since these are slow release organic fertilizers I assume the plants are being fed to saturation levels of whatever leeches into the soil.

Watering is drip irrigation by soaker hoses timed to 20 minutes ON every 6 hours. No water or fertilizer touches the foliage during clear days. Rain water but no fertilizer touches the foliage on rainy days. Plants are mulches and are French pruned removing all lower leaves, to avoid splashback. Therefore the fertilization is assumed to be purely non-foliar.

Local weather conditions have been a mixture of sunny and rainy days with rain every couple of days for the past 5 weeks.

In the photos that follow, all height measurements are vertical measurements taken from the base of the plant to where the highest point of foliage crosses the measuring tape. Howeve, the plants are actually being grown at an angle, since I am growing them towards a central trellis. The plants are about a foot away from the trellis and many of the plants the top foliage it touching the trellis. Therefore the actual length of each plant is greater than the measurements indicate.

Width is measured from leaf tip to tip at the widest point of the foliage.

Leaf width is measured from the stem of the plant to the tip of the leaf. In those cases I selected a nice big healthy leaf to show off.

Photgraphs were taken in my garden this evening from 8-8:15 PM eastern daylight time.

For purpose of comparison here is what a row of tomatoes looked like on May 24, 15 days after planting

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Here is what they looked like at 8:15 this evening 5 weeks after planting

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Beefmaster 1 25" wide

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Beefmaster 1 leaf 12" long

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Beefmaster 1 24" tall

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Beefmaster 2 25" tall

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Beefmaster 2 29" wide

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Belgium Giant 1 23" tall

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Belgium Giant 2 25" wide

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Belgium Giant Blossoms

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Azoychka 21.3" tall

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Azoychka leaf 11.4" long

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Azoychka blossoms

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Yellow Brandywine 1 25.5" tall

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Yellow Brandywine 1 approximately 25" wide

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Brandywine 2 23" tall

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Brandywine 2 approximately 34" wide

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Brandwine 2 width, closeup. Notice that the edge of the measuring tape touches the trellis at 33" width and the Brandwine leaf extends through the trellis.

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Brandwine 2 foliage

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