What caused my massive tomato harvest?

Question

Please settle an argument. I just started gardening this year. I planted six tomato plants in one planter, and covered with a sheet of thin red plastic than came with the plants. I planted two other plants in a second planter with no plastic. The six plants with plastic are enormous (9ft and still growing!) and each plant has given me at least 80 tomatoes, per plant, so far. I've only gotten about 30 tomatoes, each, from the plants without the plastic, and these plants are only about 4ft high. All eight plants get the sample amount of fertilizer, water, sun, mulch, and care. All eight plants came from the same company.

So...it IS the plastic, right? Perhaps something about insulating the roots?

Answer 1

You created a "greenhouse", if you will, for the plants covered in plastic.  They stayed warm, moist, fertilized, and then throw in the sunlight and you had optimal growing conditions.  

Answer 2

You are a great gardner and have created the correct environment with the plastic.  The plastic created a support for the soil as, it kept it warm and well watered-and that is the best environment for growth.

Answer 3

I've been wondering about the red plastic so I picked 3 websites at random to see what they had to say....I believe it was the red plastic, two out of three said you get higher yields.  I think I'll try it next year!

Farmers Almanac

Red plastic mulch reportedly helps some crops go gang-busters. Tomatoes do well with it because the red light reflects onto the undersides of the leaves and triggers a physiological response that causes the plants to grow large and mature more fruit. Red mulch raises soil temperature and reduces the incidence of leaf blights. Melons, squash and cucumbers reportedly do better with red mulch as well.

http://www.almanac.com/gardening/oneansw...

Ron Smith, Horticulturist, NDSU Extension Service

Research years ago using red plastic mulch under tomato plants reported an increase in production. We tried to duplicate that at the Dickinson Research Extension Center, but did not find that to be true. There is probably a nugget or two of truth, but I would say the hype outweighs the truth somewhat. The successful research used red plastic mulch and drip irrigation, but nothing else.

A: Research years ago using red plastic mulch under tomato plants reported an increase in production. We tried to duplicate that at the Dickinson Research Extension Center, but did not find that to be true. There is probably a nugget or two of truth, but I would say the hype outweighs the truth somewhat. The successful research used red plastic mulch and drip irrigation, but nothing else.

http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extnews/hortisc...

Park Seed Company

Grow Bigger Tomatoes and More of Them - Without Ever Weeding!

This red plastic mulch increases fruit size and yields!

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/store...

Answer 4

You mentioned that the plants came from the same company but, all the plants are the same variety, right?  Indeterminate tomatoes will grow taller by far and produce more fruit, for a longer period, than most determinates.  If they are all the same tomato then it's obvious the red plastic made a difference.