16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
I have 3 plants on the driveway about 2 weeks old. They are about 2 weeks into the 5-1-1 recommended by Al on the container forum. Mine are big because they were suckers from my garden but Al says that some BER is nearly unavoidable. I put a little lime in the mix like he recommends and when tomatoes first appear I water in a very little bit more to supply the calcium. Last fall I had two plants from suckers and no BER whatsoever.
OMG...I'm in East TN (Knoxville) and I have been fighting fungus non-stop. So much effing rain, and for days on end. All the containers fill up, and I'm dumping gallons of water off of my balcony every week. I have plenty of early blight and fungus gnats. I've had success controlling the early blight by removing leaves the minute they show symptoms and then coating the plant with copper spray. I wait a few days and then do it again. I spray them until they are soaking wet, dripping. It seems to subside after that.
The problem for me has been that it rains multiple days to a week at a time. Then it seems like a waste to spray because it will just be washed off the next day, but in the meantime the rain is just feeding the fungus. I've been waiting out the rain and then just spraying aggressively when the weather clears up. I also have a fan out on the balcony running to increase air circulation. It seems to help.
This post was edited by aphidsquish on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 17:31
Well, what you have stated could be due to other reasons than just sun; Like, soil type, variety, nutrients ... Plants with less nutrients in poor soil tend to ripen fruits faster. But the plants and the fruits will be smaller in size. Probably , you are caring too much for those with smaller, green fruits and growing lots of foliage !
In my garden I start getting direct sun after 11: am.
Morning sun (shining at a low angle) is less intense than mid day/afternoon. So if you sun exposure is short, afternoon sun is more effective.
In pots (depending where the pots are (sun, shade) and temperatures , the contents of the pots (Soil and roots) can get heated. That is why potted plants will readily and it takes them much longer to recover. Problem can get even worse if the are too small and not watered thoroughly and frequently enough.
Zylo,
I wonder if your pots are too small for your plants. If they are big plants, it is possible that they simply cannot suck up the water that you give them.
It happened to me when I grew a yellow cherry in a 3 gallon container this winter. The plant is normally 6 or 7 feet tall, so I knew that the pot was too small, but I thought I would grow it anyway. I was home all day to water 2 or 3 times a day if it drooped, but it reached a stage where it simply couldn't get that water right up to the top of the plant...... At least I got some tomatoes off it!!!
Linda
Was reliable with good production for me. But I have few better ones now. One of my new favorite is producing loads in small containers. It is Early, does not take much space and good for canning and salads. Juice is just right.
Here is a link that might be useful: new favorite
If too much juice ( and reducing it) is a problem in making sauce, there are several method. I propose a very simple one here:
== after coring, dice your tomatoes and put them in a pot.
== Get a potato masher and LIGHTLY press the cubed/diced tomatoes. This will the most of the juice in the seed pocket out.
== Strain, to get the juice out then put it back in the pot and continue processing. In this process most of the seeds will get out too.
You can drink the juice or cook soup with it. Never throw away.
== cook until tomato is softened. Use a stick blender and blend/puree in the pot. Then sift/strain through a tight colander . This should get the skin, remainder of the seeds and any pulp out.
== simmer for desired consistency ... proceed with canning.
I find this method very handy and dandy in dealing with a lot of tomatoes at peak harvest time, short of begging friends and relatives to take some of them : lol
BTW: in this method the original volume is reduced by 2/3. and jar/can just 1/3 of raw volume. Some people freeze whole tomatoes. I find it a waste of freezer space.
So Amish or not, you can make sauce from any tomato and it is simple.
I personally like to foliage feed once the plants have been established. However, I also foliage feed seedling we start in the cold frame with a diluted very low number kelp solution concentrate, it helps with the development and weather distress if you will.
This AM 6 weeks after the seedlings were transplanted to the garden : (winter squash , tomatoes , potatoes plants and sweet potatoes plants these were foliage fed- as there has been rain and humidity so the foliage feeding was done early in the AM 8 :00 allowing time for absorption. I would agree that the ratio of solution and the time window is very important - We practice organic methods for our gardening
I personally like to foliage feed once the plants have been established. However, I also foliage feed seedling we start in the cold frame with a diluted very low number kelp solution concentrate, it helps with the development and weather distress if you will.
This AM 6 weeks after the seedlings were transplanted to the garden : (winter squash , tomatoes , potatoes plants and sweet potatoes plants these were foliage fed- as there has been rain and humidity so the foliage feeding was done early in the AM 8 :00 allowing time for absorption. I would agree that the ratio of solution and the time window is very important - We practice organic methods for our gardening
Carolyn, as I garden in limited space community veggie area, I have no way of rotating my plants, they are all nightshades, so if this one is vercillium which probably is, so my option is to graft next year to rootstock like Celebrity which has at least some resistance to vercillium and 2 types of fusarium just in case...
Fungal issues are run abound at community gardens but there is no resistant to Septoria and Early Blight rootstocks... not greatly familiar with subject so my way of thinking might need corrections...
Just broke down and finally bought aerated compost tea brewer, pricey one from KIS. Hoping this will help as well.
Here is my tomato haul, Noir De Crimee, Bychie Serdse, Koroleva and Biyskaya Roza. They probably need another couple of days of ripening...
Dwarf Rosella Purple is supposed to be as tasty as any black tomato, but it's larger than a grape or cherry tomato.
I really like cherry tomatoes too, and there are several early red and yellow varieties that do well in containers, but apparently no black ones.
You might like the taste of black cherry, chocolate cherry or black plum, but they all seem to be indeterminates. At least it will be fun to grow them on your balcony! One suggestion would be to grow them on strings that can be lowered and curled around, as they do in commercial greenhouses.
Linda
http://www.heirloomtomatoplants.com/Small%20Plants,%20Patio%20Garden%20Plants.htm
There are two black varieties listed here that are short, although larger than a cherry.
Linda
It so happens that as you know, SanMarzano is a BER prone. It has nothing to do with the containers size. But on the other hand you should've supplemented your potting soil with some form of calcium. For example, MG Shake n Feed granular slow release has calcium in it. Or adding some dolomitic lime could also be another option.
But Your plants look very healthy and happy, to me.
I don't want to hi-jack this thread, but I'll respond quickly and say that I did incorporate dolomite when I "prepped" the buckets in mid-March. When I transplanted in mid-May, the dolomite had distributed nicely within the moist mix. I think my localized climate with cool nights at the time of first blossom set (mid 40s) combined with very warm days nearing 100 contributed more to the BER than calcium. All in all, no complaints. It's fun learning what works well and what doesn't work.
And check out the FAQ here on BER too for more details.
Dave
Thanks all for the diagnosis I was in panic mode foe a minute. I believe I can straightn this out.
Thanks again
Randal