16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Carolyn:
These are all new varieties for me. It was not my intention to smear TF. I know things happen and I'm sure they would not be in business as long as they have if this was a common occurrence. I was freaking out a little I guess as I was looking forward to these varieties and not knowing exactly what I had. As far as my end I can only say I am very meticulous, but of course mistakes can happen. After looking at the opalka plants with suspicion for a long while I noticed that my SMR were getting very long and slender and then finally they were unmistakably opalka. I thought then maybe I had made a mistake so I looked up the growth habit for both and they were indeterminate and what was supposed to be opalka were determinate. Also the Anna Russian were noticeably wrong. I think the Italian Heirloom are probably right. They are decribed as pear shaped and while a few look like hearts most are oblong with slightly pointy ends but more oblong than pear I would say. I will look again at the NAR as they might not be completely ripe. I was going to wait until the other varieties showed color before I reported anything. I was just wondering if anyone else was having any problems. From Baker Creek I got Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Kelloggs Breakfast, Pantano Romenesco, and Stupice. All of those excluding KB (which have not blushed) are looking good. Also I grew Yellow Brandywine, Black Krim, German Pink, and another variety that I got as a local heirloom that are all looking good. I will gather more info and see if I can figure anything out on my end but it looks like some are not showing true to anything that I was growing.
Upon further review:
I think the NAR are OK. I was either looking at the wrong plant or thought it was blushing pink. I have one on now that looks like it will be red.
I think what I thought was Italian Heirloom are in fact Anna Russian. Wispy foliage and the immature fruit are dead ringers on tatanias database. They were early as was reported. I would say they are more orange red than pinkish red though.
So either I have blundered badly, but only with the seeds from one vender or they are mis-labeled. All the packages are identical except for a printed label. I am going to try to start more seed and see if I can get them up big enough to at least identify them if not get some mature fruit. It's going to be pushing it with average first frost being early to mid-October. I do hope it was my mistake. I will report my findings. Thanks Carolyn.
There are two kindsof Powdery Mildew so I'm asksing where, specifically are you growing your tomatoes,in a geographic sense,such as coastal CA, coasta lFL, hot humid south with plants too close together or otherwise
,so it might help if you did that.
The treatment for both is the same,a good anti-fungal, but first take off and dispose of all affected foliage before you treat with any ant-fungals.
Carolyn
Yep I did prune as much as i can, as for the whole GMO thing I dont even understand it, I just want to use a pesticide/fungicide that not going to have me keel over if i eat my own tomatoes lol. As for why I want a "3 in 1" spray is because I am a newcomer to gardening. Much like my mature plant paid the price when I just jumped into using miracle grow.
I see some occasional bite holes, and the powery mildew is indeed on my two youngest plants. But Im trying keeping it simple as possible. Thats why i went with the tomato spikes. Helped the Nitrogen burnt plant recover and flourish. Meanwhile keeps me error free.
Also Im in the midwest,Nebraska to be exact. we've had some unseasonably friendly weather. Its late july and were are hitting 70s tops. Usually in the 90s. Sparse rain, but here in the midwest anythign we get...is usually too much lol.
Nothing you can do given the situation in the pic except some massive pruning which will only make problems worse for all. I'd root some cuttings from the one you want to save and then plant them elsewhere. It is still early enough in the season to get some fruit from them. Meanwhile leave this one alone and see what it does. Consider it a good learning experience for the future.
Dave
Thanks Weicker and Dave. I appreciate the fast responses.
I never thought about a later setting variety. It makes perfect sense though. I know it doesn't look it but there wouldn't be much pruning except to remove some of that flowering cilantro(the trellised vines of the loner plant are right there). I may try that and root some cuttings but I will leave everything else alone.
This is all one giant learning experience Dave! I think that is what I enjoy most about gardening outside of the satisfaction of growing my own food. :)
I have had this problem this year and so have 2 other friends that live 10 miles and 12 miles away. I took my leaves & soil the CSU diagnostic lab and they said it was herbicide damage from contaminated horse and cow manure! The worst part is that the hay meadows were sprayed with herbicide to kill thistles, the animals ate the hay, the herbicide went through unchanged, the manure was 6 years old. Dang! It was still toxic to tomatoes even after being in the environment that long.
We washed all the soil off of the damaged tomatoes and repotted in potting soil. They really didn't improve but the new plants in potting soil are fine.
The people in the lab said that the fruit is PROBABLY okay to eat.... DANG again!
So today is the 22nd, figured I would give an update on the plant. Can't say im seeing any progress, certainly not seeing any new growth.
leaves :still burnt
Stem: still looks green:
Conclusion? I dunno...
The plant had up to 8 flowering buds over the last 2-3 days. now they are gone. Not sure if that is a good or bad sign.
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv327/MechPilot2/WP_000341_zps63bda2ae.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv327/MechPilot2/WP_000344_zps86dbaf1d.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv327/MechPilot2/WP_000342_zps6a09d3a0.jpg
So im curious what the heck does one do with a (Dead plant)? just dig up and toss it aside?
welp after some weeks of careful pruning, and using the jobe tomato spikes http://www.amazon.com/Jobes-6005-18-Pack-Outdoor-Fertilizer/dp/B001REDIZ2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405700098&sr=8-2&keywords=jobe+spikes
I must say digdirt knew what he was talkin about all along. The plant would indeed recover. No only that its got tons of fruit!
pics
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv327/MechPilot2/WP_000382_zps0c687c07.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv327/MechPilot2/WP_000376_zps362d3a43.jpg
http://s696.photobucket.com/user/MechPilot2/media/WP_000385_zps7ac75fc6.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3
thx again! knew coming here would pay off =)
It really might be late blight upon better inspection and reading about it on the internet. And yes, many people have the same problem. The weather last two months has been exceptionally good for molds and similar. Not so hot as it should be, lots of humidity and loads of rainfall.
So the best thing is to remove the affected plants to minimize the possibility of disease spreading to other plants?
Is there really no chance in them surviving this? And how long does it usually take for the sick plants to die off? A few days, maybe a week or a couple of weeks?
Thanks everyone.... Yea I trained and pulled suckers last year but had to go back and forth a lot from my house to my parents so was unable too keep up. However I sniped off a lot of the long stretchers. He'll some were 6ft long going from the back of the garden to the front. I even pulled 2hole plants out that seemed to be slacking due to no light getting into the hole garden. While my other tomatoe plants are breaking the metal cages and my hot peppers are not hot so. Maybe to much water That's my next issue also
Haha great minds think alike! Excellent read, right?! I'm midway myself..
Teaming with Nutrients is on Amazon! They have soooo many excellent books.. You'd probably benefit from "Compost Tea Making" as well - with your current endeavors.. I just got it and am cheating in between the "Teamings" lol..
"Compost Tea Making" - (copy and paste)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1452822972/ref=mp_s_a_1_sc_1?qid=1405646337&sr=8-1-spell&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70
I just discovered that Casady's Folly is a wispy leafed variety.. Is that what you were referring to as "skinny heart?" I'll tell ya, although the leaves are smaller than average, they're sooo numerous that the surface area is surely comparable.. Of course there are so many wonderfully different varieties so perhaps you had a particular one in mind...?
Here is a link that might be useful: Teaming with nutes
Sudenly died down.
peakchua, ..can you post a picture of your plant ?
I am growing one from an store bought tomato, which I thought was some kind of costoluto. It has potato leaves. Maybe I mistagged !!
PS.
Costoluto (meaning ribbed) sounds like an adjective ?
Also, any ribbed tomato can be alleged to come from a known Costoluto ? That is more likely the case with my plant. But I will have to wait until the fruits ripen.
This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Jul 19, 14 at 14:41
They look grape shaped to me and I've grown both Santa F1 and various generations of the hybrid which looked the same.
The F1 and the OP version taste the same to me which is a very good taste, but I'm not committed to a particular shape for a cherry sized fruited variety and there are others that I've grown that are not grape shaped that I like much better.
Santa F1 got the reputation it did b'c it was the first grape shaped one that was made available to the public although there were others before Santa that were also grape shaped, but not that available.
Carolyn, who right now has no time to make lists of this or that so thank you in advance for not asking.( smile)
I do get similar leaves on my plants ( the very lower ones). They get yellow and the start drying up. Hot weather speeds up the process. I don't think that is a disease. But I just remove them. It is also getting close to my third round of anti fungal spray, as preventive measure.
I know nothing about it and have never even thought of it.
The only relevance I can think of is knowing exactly what the airtemp is to be able to think about what an increase in14 Fmight mean.
The upper leaf surface has many components that are made of protein and high sustained temps would denature those proteins and essentially kill the leaf.
In addition, leaves transpire, as a thermal regulator and I don't know how that is relevant to what you ask.
Summary?
I don 't know anything about it, never saw what you posted, never thought about it and am not going to think about it now.LOL Also thinking of ALL my tomato friends who grow tomatoes in high heat areas and as long as they have access to water they do just fine and some do use shade cloth,
Carolyn
I asked because I know that when air temperature reaches 85 degrees the stoma under the leaves begin to close. By 90 degrees they are closed and photosynthesis essentially shuts down as no CO2 can enter the plant as stoma are closed. Southern growers us shade cloth to lower the air temperature around their plants. A 40% shade cloth can lower the temperature by 10 degrees. Misting can add to that. This allows photosynthesis and thereby tomato growth to continue. With direct sunlight in summer a tomato plant only uses 50% of the light energy available. So with a 40% shade they still get enough light for growth and are yet have a better chance to be cool enough to have their stoma open. The reason I asked about leaf temperature is that I wondered if someone here had an interest in it and knew anything about it and its effect on tomato growth. Think about it Carolyn. It is just another piece to the puzzle of knowing all you can. My puzzle has a lot of pieces missing.
See the more detailed info about how and when to collect pollen in the link below.Click on CULTURE first to find that info.
Keith also discusses genetic segregation and how long it takes to stabilize selections.
The website is a wealth of information, so look around and you'll see many links, and much more information.
Carolyn ,just noting that Keith is not an amateur and has bred several well known varieties, and those are pictured there with the parental inputs and he also shows what he's working on now
Here is a link that might be useful: Making crosses
I would have started it early, topping the mains and letting lower laterals to take over. But probably it is not too late. It is only early summer.
The winds knocked down my Mortgage Lifter. Its branches were like 8ft but only 6ft supported. Now, I let them drape but I pinched all its growth tips. I'll see what happens.
Cherry tomatoes especially will do that. You can give them a wider space to grow rather than straight up in the future. Trim or pinch or let them go as others have suggested, whatever you want. Not a problem that many of us mind having :)