16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I let the wind and random insects do most of the work since most of it happens before the blooms even open. I might rattle some cages now and then while in the garden or finger-flick a cluster of blossoms as I walk by but otherwise mine do just fine without brushing their teeth. :)

Dave

Tomatoes are self pollinating. The female part (stigma ?) is wrapped with the male parts that provide the pollens. Probably they don't even need winds since the pollens are right there surrounding the stigma. And probably there are thousands of them where just one is needed (like sperm in mammals). That is why crossing tomatoes is very difficult task.

Here's another photo from an Early Girl plant. It's hard to see, but the two fruits just below have brown splotches covering their skin, and some brown raised patterns on one of them.

Here's a closer look at the brown splotches on the Early Girl fruit.

I suspect it's a nutrient deficiency, and that you could solve the problem next year by adding some manure or compost to your soil. What kind of Miracle Grow did you use? I know that they sell one that is a compost.

Mulching the surface would also help to keep the moisture in, and something organic could be dug into the soil to add more nutrients for the following year.

Linda

Thank you seysonn, and labredors, for your comments,
As far as the Miracle Grow, I just chose the one I could afford, not sure the name other than Miracle Grow, and that it had a lot of the nutrients that I needed to bring the pH balance to match the label of the seed.
I have gone back an checked the pH again and it's still were it should be for the two packs of seed I bought, I also bought three large plants, one Big boy one Beefsteak and one hybrid. They may have been planted below the 6 inches of Miracle Grow, because they were in large ten inch deep pot, I removed them from the pots and have always use the potting soil that came in the pot leaving as they came...
So far I'm not too worried because the tomatoes though small are really good, I can live with them being small.
I do have a bag of compost that hasn't been opened but that shouldn't be add to growing plants, right?
Thank again,

Thanks to the 2 Lindas! :)

I've been fighting the EB too, and the plant that seems to get it the worst is the husky red cherry tomato. My other plants are susceptible but that plant always gets it worse. The other plant that was really susceptible was the Bonnie patio tomato (which is gone now, RIP). They both have bigger thickish textured dark green leaves. My yellow pear cherry tomato doesn't seem nearly as susceptible and it has very small, smoother, delicate leaves. Maybe those bigger leaves take longer to dry after the rain because they collect more water, or the size reduces air circulation for the whole plant somehow?

The patio tomato wound up getting stripped of all it's leaves and then I killed it and made fried green tomatoes with whatever I couldn't get to ripen. I have been able to keep the EB in check on the other plants by picking the diseased leaves off as soon as I see any evidence, and I spray the whole plants down with copper spray until dripping. I have also brought out a fan onto the balcony to increase circulation, which seems to help.

seysonn - thanks for all the info!

My tomatoes and I are very much looking forward to the coming heat wave. I'm hoping to finally start seeing some ripen with the higher temps. Have you harvested any yet? I have lots of fruit, but no signs yet of ripening.

robhan,

I have picked a single BB so far but a lot more any day now, with this warm weather. The nice thing about the heat is that it cools off at night down to 58 to 63F. So the plants get a good night of rest.

That side of the house faces South and gets full sun all day long. I watered the very next morning upon returning from my trip and my newer blooms are looking better already. It probably was a case of not enough water.

They don't look like they dried out enough to drop the blossoms. No yellow leaves or nothing like that.
And the pictures do not show blossom drop... blossom drop is when the entire flower falls off at the knuckle, no. Yours are still attached and just look like the flowers have run their course. Are you sure there are not small fruits inside the dried flower petals?

I've developed a little bit of a system for transplanting (or maybe I've discovered something everyone already knewlol). I like to move my plants out into the parking lot to get full sun and so I don't want to have to move a big pot until I have to. I've been using the black plastic pots that you buy for 89 cents or whatever. I buy them in several sizes. When the plant outgrows the pot, I water the plant really well and then I cut the bottom off of the smaller pot and place the whole thing in the bigger pot. Then I cut down the side and peel the smaller pot off completely, and fill up the rest of the big pot with soil.

Right now I have a yellow pear cherry tomato plant in a 5 gallon bucket and it has clearly outgrown it, but I am scared to death to attempt to transplant it. It is 6 feet tall, in a tomato ring cage and like 50000 bamboo stakes to supplement that stupid wimpy cage. It looked so small when I got it and since the tomatoes are small I thought it would be fine in a pot! (Which, now that I think about it, makes NO sense). Turns out they grow up to 12 feet high. whoops.

Thank you gues but I think I miss said. Few things the leaves were curled b4 I changed pots I got it like this and moved it to bigger pot because it was in a 1 gal ! Think it's just because it's hot!?

I have that for the first time ever this year. They attack the big red (or just turning red in one spot) "Mortgage Maker" tomatoes which are about 4-5" dia right now, only the ones near the ground so far but they ripen first anyway. I am sprinkling sulfer powder on the ground, putting out water for them, and most of all I check daily and pick the ones just starting to turn before they get deep soft red. Putting them in a paper bag in the house lets them ripen fully without being eaten. They do try to bite green ones too but with little reward. Last year was the hottest of any state ever in Oklahoma but this year looks to make up for it. Everything lush.

What animal eats only the red ripe tomatoes. These bites are big. Not rabbit or squirrel size. Today while looking at the deck I saw a big animal in the bush outside of the deck. It was big. Didn't look to be a raccoon but as big as one. It looked like it was trying to either get on the deck or back down this tall leafy weed. This creature looked big enough to take the big bites out of the red tomatoes. What is it and how do I get rid of it? Thanks for your help!

Lol yes they look like a smile! thanks dave i'll check that out.

They are still edible if you cut the bottom part off when slicing it. They will still taste just as good.