Tomatoes

Plant type: 

Field tomatoes (Roma).

Application method: 

The tomatoes were planted ~2 weeks before we treated the field. We tested different components of John's blend. One part was shanked in (photo 1), and another component sprayed on the plants, on 14 July ’23 (photo 2).

Location: 

A commercial tomato field near Lodi, California

Results: 

We treated about 1,200 plants per each of three different treatments, compared against the many acres of conventionally treated tomatoes.  

On 26 Aug ’23, we came back and again counted the fruits and the blossoms. The fruit count per plant/section was on avg 2.7x higher in the treated sections than the untreated sections. 

On 16 Sept ’23, we counted the fruits again. (photo 3)  While the three treatment conditions had different results, the best treatment had an avg of 1.92x fruit per plant than plants without our treatment. Not only were there more tomatoes/plant in the treated sections, many were ripe a few weeks before the tomatoes grown in untreated soil. We also saw many ripe tomatoes on the plants grown in treated soil that were larger than nearly ripe tomatoes on the plants grown in untreated soil. 

The results are sufficiently promising, that we are expanding soil treatments in 2024. 

 Photo 1: Shanking in biochar. 

Photo 2: Spraying on biologics. 

Photo 3: Counting tomatoes. 

Plant type: 

Indigo Rose cherry tomatoes.

Dates: Winter Dec’23-April’24. 

Application method: 

The materials were mixed by hand in the proper ratios 30 cups per pot.

Location: 

A residence in Woodside, California.

Results: 

A control group (no additional amendments) was made, in addition  to 5 different ratios of ratios (photo 1, 27 May ‘23). Brevity prevents  listing them all, so we’ll oversimplify for this one page overview. The  plants treated with the amendments grew taller earlier, then seemed to  slow down their growth, instead putting their energy into more blossoms  and more fruit (photo 2, 21 June ‘23). The untreated plants kept growing  taller and spindlier into September. Re: blossoms, the treated plants  hit their max # of blossoms ~ 3 weeks before the untreated plants, and  early on the ratio was 5x greater for the treated plants (which drifted  lower as blossoms became fruit). Early on, the treated plants had up to  6x more fruits than the untreated plants, and peak # happened 2+ weeks  before the untreated plants (photo 3, 4 Aug ’23). Final harvest was on  16 Sept ’23, and the treated plants averaged a harvest 2.3x more  fruit/plant than the untreated plants, and the best treated group  produced 2.7x more harvested fruit than the untreated plants. 

Plant type: 

Cherry tomatoes. Still trial no. 4

Photo of tomato roots

The roots tell the story. Therefore we cleaned the roots of the plants in order to compare them to each other.

Roots from left to right:
1) control.
2) Johns Blend calculated by volume.
3) Johns Blend calculated by volume + water retention agent.
   Note that the Johns Blend treated plant  is larger, and with the water retention agent,   it is larger still.
4) Johns Blend calculated by area.
5) Johns Blend calculated by area + water retention agent.
 

The JB @ area started slower but caught up and surpassed JB at volume. The harvested tomatoes of the plants in weight correspond well to the size of the roots.

Plant type: 

Roma tomatoes.

Date of photo: Aug 14, 2024

Results: 

 (r) The average tomato harvested on 14 August, the planted treated with JB weighed 99.8gr (with the largest being 130 gr), and the control average was 58.6gr, for a difference of 1.7x increased weight per fruit. In addition, the JB treated plant was producing 1.99x more tomatoes/plant. 1.7 * 1.99 = 3.4x more weight of tomato per plant, about in line with our tomato results at many other locations. At an additional harvest survey on 29 September 2024, more than 5x more tomatoes were harvestable (and were considerably larger than) the control tomatoes. (We don’t wish to represent that our soil amendment will reliably produce 15x more weight of tomatoes/plant, though it has been demonstrated here.   Instead, in nearly all of our other tomato field trials, we routinely see 2-4x more tomatoes/plant, with each tomato (on average) weighing more, so something in the range of 3-5x more weight of tomatoes/plant seems achievable.) 

Plant type: 

Cherry tomatoes. Same trial as no. 7

Reaction to a drought experience measured by moisture meter:

During the growth period we could not water the plants for about a week during a heat dome. The two moisture meters shown in the photos tell the story. The control plant with its 100% water dosage showed dry soil and had otherwise first signs of exhaustion in the leaves through drought. With plant A, which received just 50% of the water of Control, the moisture meter showed wet soil and the plant looked really well. It can also be seen in the images that the soil of the Control plant looked dry (photo to the right), while the soil of plant A (photo to the left) shows still wet soil.