16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I will try to take a photo and post. I've been unable to take pictures the last couple of days because it's been raining. I'm confused by the bugs -- mostly I read to knock the aphids off with a blast from the hose -- this seems to make sense with normal aphids but does it work for flying ones? And also seems to conflict with advice not to wet the leaves in order to curb spread of fungal diseases. Any advice on this one?

Gardening is a balance. Nothing directly conflicts with anything else in reality. It is all in the timing and the context :).

Sure you don't want to wet leaves anymore than is necessary - so avoid doing the watering with an overhead sprinkler when possible. But the rain has already wet the leaves. So hitting some aphids with a water hose isn't going to make any difference, right? Had it not been raining then blasting the aphids with the hose early in the day when the leaves have plenty of time to dry out - no problem. Ok?

And yes it works on winged ones too as it destroys their wings.

Dave

What are the growing conditions, in ground or containers, what mix are you using and what type of fertilizer? That, plus weather, all affect how they grow. How much su are they getting?
Thanks,
Sharon

Too much nitrogen would produce healthy green, bushy leaves with no fruit.....

Linda

Yes, big time. Currently am studying worms, soil food webs and permaculture on line. Also am taking Philôs Nauta Smiling gardener academy. Great stuff and mucho learning!

Posted by ddsack z3MN (My Page) on
Tue, Jul 15, 14 at 9:59

The internet can be great if you use critical thinking skills and can be selective in what advice might work in your location, and most of that comes from experience. So many forget that what works great in the south, might not work in the north or in high altitude gardening
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Well said.
You cannot take any article, You Tube video, blog etc at its face value. They can be a source of confusion sometimes.
I started learning the fundamentals about soil chemistry ( pH, nutrients) , Soil physics ( water drainage, retention), micro herds/soil web, . Then start learning about plants in more specifics. What one can learn is never ending. I learn something almost everyday.

Thanks to everyone that has commented. I started gardening about four ears ago, and have learned a ton, but trial and error can be a slow way to go! I may have another question... or twenty! Appreciate all the feedback!

I got some of my metal T-posts at an auction, But got most of them free, A crew was doing road work and when there done they were going to just throw everything away so I asked for the posts and they said sure you can have them, So you might want to check construction crews that are doing road work and let the tax payers buy them for you.

I was just going to post the same thing. I will read the link and be patient!

Thanks Dave

Great info........wait

Thank you so much, Dave.

Your input really helps.

I kinda put it all together (after hours of looking at pictures last night)
that what is going on IS bacterial spot/speck.

I removed the plant away from the others and intend on purchasing a copper spray today.

Unfortunately the weather has been uncooperative the last few days dreary/rainy/wet leaves. I've been pretty diligent/careful about not watering the leaves.

I have learned quite a bit from my tomato growing trials and tribulations.

Just hoping to have one tomato plant survivor (of the 5).

Also, if we could just PLEASE have a few sunny and dry days...that would help a lot.

I think next year IF I do grow them again, I will definately do things differently.

Most likely I will buy LOCAL from a tomato grower and also prep their bedding a bit better.

I should have mulched and should have put down straw.

Soil is good/ good nutrients now.

Also, having a raised bed would make gardening a little bit easier too.

Thanks for your help, wish me luck! :)

Happy growing, to all!

Just wanted to update...and ask another q..

I pruned/picked off all of the speckled leaves of the infected plant and sprayed it with Daconil (home depot was OUT of copper spray..grr) and left it overnight. Last night it did not rain. but it did a little bit today. Should I, can I respray?

Or is it too soon?

Sadly, it appears that the infection spread to the rest of my tomato plants except for 1 (so it appears). I pruned/picked them off also, and sprayed them.

Weird side note, I looked at some of the weeds growing on the ground, and it appears that there are speckles on them too. Could THIS be where my tomato plants acquired their illness?

I also pulled as many weeds up that I could that seemed infected. Not sure if there is any correlation or not..

So, to respray or not to respray...that is the question.

Next year I'm going to put my tomato plants in a bubble! HA!

Thanks for any input or advice..

Happy growing!

And Green Zebra is not an heirloom as the tag indicated,

Carolyn

You are right. But it was sold as "Heirloom " in the supermarket . I bought the tomato, saved seeds an planted.
Now what ?

I would have picked them totally green and added them to my Green Tomato and Green Peppers Relish. It's a sweet relish that goes well with hot dogs, beans, anywhere you use chow chow, and some places to be determined. You can add hot peppers to give it some heat and the pickling spices don't care if you use good or bad tasting tomatoes because it flavors everything.

I agree with Linda. Waste not - Want not !!!

This post was edited by containerted on Tue, Jul 15, 14 at 15:09

I don't cook. I'd be scared to death to can. I don't eat meat so no stews. There weren't many tomatoes. It did cross my mind to give them away but how could someone transport those huge bushes? They were in bags. Well, I have my Red Robins which I love and can always count on.

Have you tired using actual cages (not the 3 ring things) on them rather than stakes? Much better support and lateral containment. I too grow some plants in Earthboxes but find the support system they sell to be useless. Using 5'6" CRW cages many of us make ourselves (lots of discussions here about them) works 100 times better.

As to varieties - if you grow your own from seed then you have hundreds of choices but if you buy your transplants then your choices are limited.

Tatianas Tomatobase lists several hundred tomato varieties suitable for containers, dwarf, determinant, semi-indeterminant, etc. but the majority of them have to be grown from seed.

Personally this year in containers I am growing Bella Rosa, Bush Champion, Bush Early Girl, Principe Borghese, Japanese Black Trifele, Better Bush, Margo, etc. just to name a few.

But in my Earthboxes I grow only 1 plant, not 2 and most of my containers are 15-25 gallon tubs.

You should also check all the tomatoes discussions over on the Container Gardening forum here for more suggestions.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: TT - Container Tomato varieties

agreeing with dig on the containers, etc. Support is a major issue that often is not thought out by people ahead of time. I use the 4'x7' crw panels...suspended between t posts. It works pretty good. dig...how do you construct your crw cages?

If you go the court route, be sure to take photos of the damages.

Rodney

I suggest not taking legal action...and making the best of a poor neighbor situation. This country is sue happy...and it has changed the way we deal with neighborly issues. Perhaps you can splice the damaged tomato branch back together....and it will grow like a graft. In any event...it sounds like this problem might ultimately be small tomatoes...hehe. You may mention to your neighbor that you are glad the damage to your stuff was not worse than what it was....and you are working to restore your stuff.

Seysonn - It is worth a try - you live in a cool climate - BB has done well in our GH at cold temps. It sets fruit well at temps over 50 degrees and is the first to ripen of all the varieties we plant - no cat facing or BER. The fruit is plentiful and has a good mix of fruit size without pruning fruit. The variety may not perform for you in your outside garden and climate but I think it is well worth - at least trying a plant or two. It loves to climb and has done well with heavy and/or light pruning. I have not tried growing the plant without pruning suckers. It does need a good support system and is heavy stemmed.

Sharon - please keep us posted and let us know how your BB's do at your place. Are you growing them in a GH? It will be interesting to see how they compare with our plants. They are also a great tasting, good sized and attractive looking fruit - I think?

Hudson, I'm in awe. Mine are outdoors in a 20 gallon smart pot in a soilless mix. As a seedling it was very robust. I'm getting good fruit set, and I'm wondering about pruning some of the smaller toms but for now I'm leaving everything as is. I am removing some lateral growth. I planted out a bit later than I had hoped and we had some intense heat and humidity for a stretch but now my tomatoes seem to be going in the right direction. I will keep you updated for sure. I'll tell you, if I love these, no more brandy wines for me. I'm growing brandywine otv this year and boy is it slow!!!!and not very productive at least for me.

Oh wow I really should have done the sip water system. You're great, Linda. Thanks!

I dont believe in using sand in potting or in the garden. It has to be at least 35% if you want it to help drainage. Then it is too heavy and can make the soil compacted.

Perlite does a better job in container. But Adding things like peat moss, vermiculite is defeating the purpose of the use of perlite.

I would suggest that you look into 5-1-1 mix. That is what I am using in all my potted peppers and tomatoes ( close to 25 pots)

Those clinging blossoms on developing fruit will fall of eventually, so just leave them alone.

They have nothing at all to do with catfacing since that occurs when blossoms are pollinated under several circumstances, and without pollination and fruit set you wouldn't have the nice immature fruits that you have right now. ( smile)

Carolyn

Thanks, I figured as much. Also heirloom tomatoes aren't meant to be picture perfect as far as I can tell.

If you read the FAQ here at GW,linked to below, you'll see that indeed as Lindalana just said, only to be used in cold weather.

That means in areas where the temps are too low toallow for normal pollination such as the PNW/

There are many different formulations of Blossom Set, and different hormones are used. And as said in the FAQ and I'll add a few words of my own, since hormone mediated fruit set is abnormal, fruits can me misformed and also the fruits can lack seeds.

No different really, from parthenocarpic varieties, many of which were bred by Dr. Jim Baggett in Oregon, which also allow for abnormal fruit set with the same problems.

If temps are OK for normal pollination and fruit set, and pollen is not clumped and there's been no sustained high heat or humidity, then look elsewhere for the reason for the blossom drop, also discussed in the link below.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: GW blossom drop FAQ

Forget the set spray and go buy yourself a $5 battery operated toothbrush. Place the vibrating brush near the tomato flowers and voila, you've duplicated what the wind does. I do this all winter long in my greenhouse to pollinate the tomatoes.