by George Collins » Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:30 pm
Guy, the experiment was successful in a limited respect.
While the drought in May/June was ongoing, the amount of time taken in the failed attempt to save the walnut patch precluded the kind of attention required to appropriately document the results. Having said that, I did observe enough to form an oninion. That opinion is that seeds started indoors do in fact possess a significant advantage over those directly seeded. That advantage manifests in two ways:
1. A MUCH higher producing plant to seed planted ratio and
2. Those plants directly seeded never caught up to those started indoors.
Next year, time permitting, I may attempt the experiment again but even if I never get around to doing so, I've at least trailed it enough to answer the question sufficiently in my own mind.
Having said all that, I did have some other tomatoes that came up voluntarily and the work to harvest ratio was infinitely higher than either of the other methods because inputs were zero. I may play around with some volunteers next year and see how they perform relative to direct seeded and those started indoors.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"
"If you can't beat them, bite them."