Where do you live?

Unfortunately, I cannot view your pictures. I don't know if it's just me though.

Could you post a picture here?

Linda

Here are some of your pictures for other to see. These have obviously been extensively pruned plants and never mulched. They appear to be very dry too. All of that heavily stresses the plants.

So to answer your questions not only do we need a location so we have a sense of the climate but info on your feeding and watering regimen.

Dave

I would say that it has been over fertilized.
The remedy can be more watering.

I wouldn't say they've been overfertilized, since you've got good ruit set (considering how heavily they're pruned to tie to the stake). But they need water!

Next year try tomato cages or even tie them to a trellis so you don't have to prune so much. And water and mulch them.

thanks for these tips..

So I tried to mulch one plant temporary with a plastic film, will see what happens...
But I afraid if roots can still breathe if soil is covered by foil...
What do you think?

and I dont understand what do you mean "so you don't have to prune so much"
tie too hard or something?
can u explain it please?

We aren't talking about using plastic. You still didn't tell us where you live and using plastic can kill plants less you live in the far north..

Mulch is a thick layer of something organic like straw or hay or chopped leaves or compost, etc. There is an unlimited amount of information available on how to mulch plants you can read to learn about it.

and I dont understand what do you mean "so you don't have to prune so much"

You cut off all the secondary stems and branches from your plants and only left one stem. Why? Even with those stakes your plants should be 3 times bigger than they are. All that cutting on the plant makes it very stressed, costs most all of the fruit it would have made, exposes the fruit it does make to sunscald, etc.

The soil looks terrible in the picture. It looks dry, dusty, and almost barren but I see corn growing in the background so it can't be too bad.

We still need more information.

Dave

Oh, I forgot, from slovakia. Here is really good climate for tomatoes, sunny summers with temperature around 30C.

Watering: everyday 2-3l per plant, today much more, since u said, theyre too dry.

Nutriment: I used organic NPK once before planting, dosage- as is recommended by label. (I really cant remember, maybe around 150g/plant?)

OK, back to mulching. Should I use straw, will be better than plastic foil?

edit: soil maybe looks terrible, but it doesnt. We grow various vegetables well.

This post was edited by desann on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 10:53

I think you over pruned these. I have read that straw is often used as a mulch and is one of the better ones to use.

Use straw if easily available or dried grass clippings as mulch....or a mix of the two. However, caution, do not use grass clippings if you treat your lawn.

over pruned??? Sounds strange...
cutting off the sprouts is one of elementary care about tomatoes or not? Everywhere is written that, everyone
whose i know do that. Without any problems.
Maybe keep only one sprout and let plant duplicate, but not more, because of slower growing and ripening, smaller fruits, lower quality etc...
Thats not hydroponics or something.

...or Im wrong? I really dont know but thats high kind of tomato not some bush-type or what...

and most my plants are pruned same as this one but they looks regular..

over pruned??? Sounds strange...
cutting off the sprouts is one of elementary care about tomatoes or not? Everywhere is written that, everyone whose i know do that. Without any problems.
Maybe keep only one sprout and let plant duplicate, but not more, because of slower growing and ripening, smaller fruits, lower quality etc...

I guess that could be a common practice in your area but it isn't true here. Most growers over here do not grow their plants that way. Tomato plants do not require "cutting off the sprouts" or keeping only 1 stem. They do just fine without any trimming or pruning at all and the more leaves on the plant the more energy the plant makes with photosynthesis to produce fruit. Some US growers may trim them to 3 or 4 main stems but you rarely see a single stem plant over here except inside a greenhouse where it is very crowded. All that pruning causes too much stress to the plants.

There has been a great deal of tomato growing research done in the last 30 years and growing methods have changed greatly as a result.

See these photos as examples:

Some of mine. Note all the straw mulch. You can't see them but there were over 60 large tomatoes on each of these 4 plants.

Tomato Plants

Tomato Plants 2

And there is no proof that slower growing or ripening or lower quality comes from letting them grow naturally. What is proven is all that pruning cuts the crop by at least half or more.

But you do what works best for you in your garden. Next year try growing one without all the trimming and see what happens. :)

Dave

ok, but this is still not solution for my problem :/

cutting off suckers cant be so stressful like u said. Because if it was, nobody do that.

I work in tomato greenhouse and we cut off them every week. Plants are only duplicated (regular tomatoes) or tripled (cherry). Every new stem results in a little bit smaller fruits.
Plants with only one stem have too heavy and big fruits, therefore is duplicating necessary. If we miss cutting, it will reflect in production (plant use most of energy to grow new stems and leaves instead of ripen) . But I remark tomatoes here grow in hydroponics not simple soil!

There are 2 kinds of tomatoes:
-High (stake) -cutting necessary
-Bush (like on your pic) need to sprouts keep

Here is a link that might be useful: What is the difference between

This post was edited by desann on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 18:52

No Pruning here in my small garden. Now, my staking situation don't look pretty but they are putting out tremendous amounts and to true size.

There are 2 kinds of tomatoes:
-High (stake) -cutting necessary
-Bush (like on your pic) need to sprouts keep

Yes we all know that. What you call "high" are indeterminate varieties and bush varieties are determinate. That is common knowledge.

However all the tomato plants in the pictures I posted are indeterminate (high varieties) well over 8 feet tall and still growing. So as I said, we grow tomato plants very differently over here than you do.

And that is your choice as long as you understand that cutting is NOT necessary on indeterminate (high) varieties. It is your choice.

As to your problem in your original post - since we grow them so differently I'm not sure how we can help. It sounds like you have not overfed them. But perhaps they need more feeding since you haven't fed them since planting them. The general recommendation here is to feed every 6 weeks.

You say you are Watering: everyday 2-3l per plant, today much more, since u said, theyre too dry.

We would never recommend daily watering as that leads to shallow rooted, water dependent plants. Deep, less frequent watering is the normal approach. Using the thick layer of straw mulch and watering deeply rather than so often is the only advice I can offer.

Good luck with your plants.

Dave

desann,

When most gardeners are talking about mulch they are referring to compost, straw, hay, rotted leaves, grass clippings, even shredded paper and cardboard, etc. Wood chips are not usually recommended as a mulch because it binds the soil nitrogen as it decomposes and makes the nitrogen less available to your garden plants, however, if you have no other mulch available, wood chips will do. Mulch should be applied heavily, 6 - 8 inches is usually considered a good depth, though even as little as one or two inches is better than no mulch at all.

"I work in tomato greenhouse and we cut off them every week."

As Dave mentioned, sometimes tomatoes that are grown in a greenhouse are trimmed to a single leader (stem) for space reasons. But tomatoes that are grown outdoors are in conditions that are NOTHING like being grown in a greenhouse. (Well, maybe not nothing, but very unlike the conditions of a greenhouse.) Here in the states, when tomatoes are grown outdoors and pruned, most of the time they are pruned to three or four main stems, and occasionally to just two. Personally, I can't recall knowing of anyone who pruned to a single leader and didn't have problems of some sort, especially with sunscald on the fruit.

I don't have any idea of the length of your growing season, but why not let one or two of your tomatoes grow out any new branches they put out and see if that helps with the problem you are experiencing now?

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ on Pruning Tomato Plants