Growing Tomatoes: Trench Planting VS. Straight Up & Down Planting

There are two basic ways to plant a tomato plant: trench planting or straight up and down planting. Both planting methods have their advantages, let's look at both methods and you can decide which one will work best for you and your tomatoes.

In trench planting, you simply pinch off all the lower leaves of the tomato plant and lay the whole plant in a shallow trench horizontally. Then cover the tomato stem with 2-3 inches of soil, leaving just the top cluster of leaves above the soil.

The advantages of trench planting is that the tomato plant will form additional roots all along the stem portion that is buried. The tomato plant will be able to take up more water and nutrients and get off to a quicker start. Since the tomato plant's roots will be near the soil's surface, the heat loving tomato plant will be able to heat up quicker when the sun rays hit the soil in the morning.

Trench planting is a good method for both northern and southern gardeners. Northern gardener's have a shorter growing season and the extra heat the tomatoes receive when trench planted speeds up the growing process. Southern gardeners can set out their tomato plants in trenches earlier in the season and harvest ripe tomatoes before the scorching summer sun slows down the tomato production.

In straight up and down planting you set your tomato plants in a vertical hole that is at least as deep as the tomato plant was in it's container. Planting deeper is better, just pinch off a few of the bottom leaves and bury it vertically in the soil up to the bottom leaf. Roots will form all along the portion of the tomato plant that has been buried.

The main advantage of vertical planting comes in when the weather gets hot and dry in the middle of summer. Because the tomato plants roots are deeper, the plant will be able access moisture deep in the soil and still produce tomatoes during the hot, dry spells of a southern summer.

When planting tomatoes using the straight up and down method, place some compost or other organic matter in the hole before planting the tomato plant, this will increase the soil's moisture holding ability.