Black Walnut Trees Killing + Growing Tomatoes Naturally in the Garden

This will now be a 2-part post, since I recently deleted an old website of mine and decided to combine the related pages together before I start adding all of the stand-alone articles amid multiple blogs, etc. The post that was originally on here was called "Garden Experiment: Growing Tomatoes Naturally," but it will now be Part 2.

Part 1: "Black Walnut Trees killing Tomatoes"

Original Post Date: 6-26-2010

This is one of those things that many people are not aware of, as you would have to be trying to grow tomatoes near Black Walnut trees to encounter such a gardening debacle.

Black Walnut trees emit a substance known as “juglone” that can damage and/or kill tomatoes along with several other plants, but most commonly the tomato plant. This harmful substance comes from the leaves, branches, walnut hulls, roots, and pretty much the entire tree. English Walnuts, Pecans, Hickories, and Butternut trees also produce juglone, but not near as much as Black Walnut trees.

The purpose or shall I say the advantage gained by secreting juglone, is the effect it has on inhibiting the surrounding plant growth near the tree itself albeit there are still several varieties of plants & weeds out there that can grow near this tree.  This process of releasing juglone into the ground, allows for these pesky trees to compete and combat any potential nutrient-robber around.

Walnut trees are nice to have, provide decent wood, and are worth a good dollar value and so on, but if you plan on having a garden, especially if you’re growing tomatoes, you need to take precautionary measures. I’ve recently relocated, and last year I had to chop down roughly 8 to 10 of these lovely garden pests since I wanted to have a decent size crop this year.

The person who lived there before, could not understand why they never could grow anything or have good yield in the field that was surrounded by these trees. Upon moving into the area, I quickly realized what the problem was and, since I also built a fire ring, I got to chopping. I also cut down a few other trees as well. I used the Black Walnut wood to repair an old bridge, and I used the other trees for the fire ring. I saved some of the ashes from the wood I burned, but only from the trees that didn’t contain juglone, and used it for a soil amendment this spring, as I explained in my post titled “Organic Fertilizer – Natural ways to fertilize your garden.”

Anyway, back to the subject… If possible, simply grow your tomato plants and/or plant your garden far away from any Walnut, Pecans, Hickories, and Butternut trees. If you do decide to cut down the trees, remove the debris from the area. It often takes many years for these types of trees that emit this toxic substance, to affect your garden plants due to the slowly developing underground root system. Adding organic matter into your growing area, like a rich compost, will help enhance the microbes in the soil which, in turn, helps break down juglone and promote plant survival. One final note, as a gardener, you should always be on the lookout for any type of garden pests, potential problems or possible poisons near your garden and, as always, good luck with your crop……

Image Caption: A tomato plant's foe, the Black Walnut tree...

Image Credit: It's within the Public Domain and is not under Copyright.

---End of Part 1: "Black Walnut Trees killing Tomatoes"

Part 2: "Garden Experiment: Growing Tomatoes Naturally"

Original Post Date: 8-7-2011

I usually try to put out at least some sort of garden every year, ranging from a small patch to a big corn field - depending on how much free time I have, if I got a late or early start, etc. However, I always grow tomatoes regardless of how much land space I'm using, whether I have room to plant anything else or not. 

The two most common methods for growing tomatoes both involve the plant growing upright. One method uses a long pole or stick, in which the plant is tied to the stick/pole at various points as it grows. The other method uses a big cage, in which the plant uses as support as it grows into a big fruit-yielding weed. 

A few years ago, they came out with all that "grow your tomatoes upside down" crap, and I never even bothered giving it a try. You know, I think they promoted it by saying how you can grow tomatoes on your porch or patio by using these upside-down hanging basket thingies. I must say, whether it works good or not, that it just looked too stupid for me to try; plus, I don't want red-fruit-bearing weeds all over my damn porch. I thought that was what the yard was for? 

Anyway, I've always used the old, traditional upright growing methods when it comes to growing tomatoes, but this year I tried something different. My garden experiment this year was to allow the tomato plants to grow naturally (except for the use of miracle grow/fertilizer) without my control on what direction they take. By saying "naturally," I mean that I didn't use any cages, sticks, upside-down methods or anything; I just planted 10 plants fairly close together and let them grow however they wanted, tumble over each other, etc. 

Most people will tell you it's a big no-no, but I thought about it and figured I'd give it a try. Many people will say how if you don't get them off the ground they will rot. Hey, I'm not saying that it won't happen to a few tomatoes, but who cares? You should have loads of tomatoes anyway, so it's no big deal. Besides, you are always going to lose some due to garden pests, bad weather, etc. To make a long story short, my garden experiment was a flying success. It wasn't a very pretty patch of tomatoes, but the yield was good, and I didn't have to worry about keeping them tied up - nor did I have to go out and buy a bunch of cages, and so on. 

I did notice a couple other things about letting them grow low to the ground: 1) they seemed to retain more moisture and did better during periods of drought; 2) they held up to high winds during bad storms. In fact, I know somebody that lives close to me, that lost a few of their tomato plants due to them breaking (during a windstorm) while being tied to a stick, but my ugly tomato patch wasn't even affected. That reminds me: a few years ago, I had a couple plants get so big, that they literally broke while being tied up - due to gravity working against them. 

In closure, if you really don't care about how they look, don't mind the extra weeds, and you don't want to be bothered with sticks, cages, and upside-down growing gimmicks, just let 'em grow like they do out in the wild, and grow your tomatoes naturally and let whatever happens, happen. Just remember, if you choose this natural method, make sure to plant your tomato plants a little closer together than you normally would because they will use each other as support. Anyway, I hope everybody had a good yield this year... Cheers! 

Related Posts:

 

* Garden Pest: Tomato Hornworms [link is temporarily inactive]

* Fried Green Tomatoes - Southern Tradition [link is temporarily inactive]

---End of Part 2: "Garden Experiment: Growing Tomatoes Naturally"

---End of Post "Black Walnut Trees Killing + Growing Tomatoes Naturally in the Garden"