That looks great! I'm jealous at how big your tomato plants are right now! I just got mine started outside recently and they are much smaller.

Thanks very much, you'll catch up! It's better to put them out late rather than early. I'm in 10a too and last year I put mine out too early. I got a blight nearly right away due to the heat and humidity. I've been using Sylvia's method of spraying weekly with spinosad and serenade to keep insects and disease at bay, but I got lectured at the extension service today and told that the chili thrips would become immune to the spinosad. They told me to use 2 Tbs of canola oil and 2 Tbls of ivory soap every few days. OMG! I don't think I can keep a regime like that up!

These buckets have holes three inches from the bottom so they can hold a small reservoir of water. So far so good, no rot and everything looks healthy. I'm going to put a PVC drip system in over them this weekend to save myself some time. I always fret about how long to turn on the timer for.......

That's quite impressive. We're not allowed to grow vegetable gardens in the park I live in, but we are allowed to grow things in containers. I will have to print out a copy of your setup (with your permission) and show it to property owner and see if we can copy it.

Also... I don't suppose those purple containers are from the sale going on in Wally World at the moment? They're all over the aisles here.

Thanks! You got me...they are definately the walmart $4.50 18 gal containers. The plants inside are the sugarloaf pineapples I got from Tom (Shuffles) a few weeks ago. There is a thread from somewhere around Sept. 9th where I built this with guidance from other gardenwebers. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: earlier post

Looking good Tina, I jumped the gun again and set my plants 9/14. Now I have 3' tall plants full of blooms that won't set fruit because the night temps are still above 73F and it's too humid. So far I only have bloom set on Nugget and Sweet Baby Girl, five plants out of twenty eight :-( From now on I'll move my set to either the last week of September or close to October 1st so I'll be moving the seed sowing date forward again from 8/1 to 8/15.

...but I got lectured at the extension service today and told that the chili thrips would become immune to the spinosad.

I'd agree with that, although thrips are not much of a problem for tomatoes I don't spray the tomatoes at all anymore because when the thrips find the peppers it's all over for them :-(

Tom

I think living next to the water is killing it for you Tom. I set my plants Labor Day weekend and they are covered in blooms and small fruits. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.....when something seems to be too good to be true it usually is. Even the peppers are loaded with buds and fruit (except the three with fungus). BTW I'm going to Plant City to pick up the bare root strawberries this weekend if Parksdale has them in. Will you want any?

Love it. Love it. Love it.
I'll definitely be copying it for the next batch (after the frost gets this group, natch...)

I'm SOOOO jealous, though! How on earth do you all get your tomato plants to look so nice and bushy? Mine are always L-O-N-G and vine-y. They get full sun, misted daily for 15 minutes and weekly "under-watering" (hosed on the underside to knock out whitefly and other nasties), give me lots of maters, but they never look pretty.

Thank you! I don't think they are really that bushy....it's just they are all mixed up with each other giving a fuller appearance. But then that may make them more suseptible later to fungus and blight. If you are getting tomatoes...that's the goal and you are doing fine!

I think living next to the water is killing it for you Tom.

It's sure a labor of love having a garden 8-10' from the water but I would not give it up for anything :-) :-(

Tom

The plants are over five feet tall now and the trellis is holding up the tomatoes so well. I just thought I'd post an update!

WOW! Those look great and what a easy way to access all those tomatoes you are going to be harvesting soon.
Will be keeping this in mind as we get ready to get our tomato plants into the garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mikki

Looks great! Your plants look so healthy. I was so happy with the trellis method as well. The older folks at the community garden laughed at me when I built the trellises and told them what they were for. After the first try though, I definitely agree they are the way to go!

Thank you both! I am so happy with the way this has worked out. Finally one less thing to stress over.

Talking abt. Spinosad, Dr. Manners @ FSC posted info. abt. it becoming less effective w/use, and he says it needs to be rotated w/other insecticides, to combat chilli-thrips... this is mainly for roses, but does apply to food crops also...he recommends IMIDACLOPRID,which comes in many forms---- it is a systemic, and foliar spray works best.... Merit 75, merit 2F, premise, bonide, dominion 2L..... orthene, tristar, safari, conserve & precise, avid, Bayer advanced 3-in-1 rose & flower, ortho & orthenex.... I swore off all these 3 years ago but am reconsidering that what with these chili-thrips decimating my roses.... and reading abt. them on Google, there are some are recommended for food-crops.... yikes.... some are spinosad, some are imidacloprid based... but it sounds like the key is, to rotate them..... sally

Interesting. Not as low impact as spinosad, but an alternative.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2012/3-21/imidacloprid.html

Thanks Tina, that is interesting and full of information... I'm going to have to do something, so am researching what is effective...also, I see they are effective against white-fly, on 'maters... which may be of value, since I lost so many plants to that pest...by the way, your 'mater plants are fantastic! they show the results of a lot of hard work on your part! Thanks again, sally

Very nice Tina!