Volunteers!!

9 years ago

Ok... I have tomato and what I think are pumpkin volunteers coming up all over the place. (Lesson learned don't compost pumpkins with seeds)...

Any tips for either

1) smothering these volunteers (apparently 4 inches of mulch does not help)

2) preventing tomato volunteers... the big tomatoes I can manage but cherry/grape tomatoes seems to be a bit of a loosing battle to try and collect them before they get smooshed into the garden beds... I am guessing I can cover the ground with black plastic when the fruit starts to form. .

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Comments (5)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
9 years ago
How big is your garden? Is it too large to just pull them out? Or cut them off and compost?
Prachi
Original Author
9 years ago
Not very big... two 4x4 beds (I have new ones that I have made this spring that are going to be dedicated to my tomatoes.. that one is 24inches by 16 feet ..
gardenper
9 years ago
I would say they are volunteer compost! Let them grow to some certain size...such as the first flower you see. At that point, pull them up and compost them.

Even if you miss the first flower and there might even be a few more flowers or a developing melon, but go ahead and pull it anyway. It's just a bigger quantity for your compost!
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
9 years ago
Well 2 x 4 x 4 plus the long narrow one should not be hard to keep on top of. Just pull them when you see them. The number appearing will gradually reduce as the seed bank is depleted.
digdirt2
9 years ago
I must be missing something. Why is this a problem? Especially in such small beds?

All you have to do is pull them as you see them or take a hoe to them. Takes even less effort than trying to smother them or lay down plastic. If that doesn't appeal then just smoosh them back into the beds with your fingers and let them decompose there. It isn't as if they are going to hurt anything.

Dave