16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Thanks Sharonie, for clarification.
I am happy that JBT is a great tasting tomato. I am also growing Kumato and Cherokee purple in that category. I have grown CP before and liked it a lot.
moosemac, you may have unveiled a secret. Sometimes original color might not indicate ripeness.
Growing Indigo Berries this summer, just started harvesting them last week.
They started out very dark purplish, but when fully ripe, are almost a rose color with little splotches of dark brownish coloring on the "shoulders". So they don't really stay indigo once they are ripe and at their best to consume :(. Seems to defeat the purpose, unless you like growing them ornamentally so that they can look pretty on the plant before they mature.
Flavor wise, they're okay. Not terribly sweet, but a good strong tomato flavor.
Overall, I wasn't impressed. Probably won't be growing them again.
You don't say where you live and garden which is important since Curly Top Virus is only found in western states, is transmitted by Beet Leaf Hoppers and is a real problem for folks who especially live near sugar beet fields.
The leaf hoppers descend ,not just on one plant,but usually almost all plants in a garden.
So no, I doubt CurlyTop Virus,
Curly leaves, upside down leaves, etc., can be due to several reasons , but methinks I'll let others describe those since I'm still recovering from lack of sleep from the wicked storms of yesterday and days before and am going to take a nap after I'm through at GW right now.( smile)
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Curly Top Virus
Thank you so much Carolyn!
I do NOT live in western US. (NorthEast actually) Phew! Well, that at least eliminates 1 virus from the list. Lol.
Sadly, I've had such poor luck with my tomato plants this year. Up to date I have lost 3 seedlings. 1 to heat stroke (maybe??) and the other 2 were malnourished and perhaps infected. I of course helped their demise by overpruning them.
Now, I am left with 5 tomato plants. All of different variety.
2 were from the previous batch (which have been pruned...but seem to be thriving)..and there are 3 newbies.
Of the 5 remaining, the Celebrity (which I purchased for it's disease resistence) is the only one with this curly leaf issue.
It has been relocated, but still same amount of care.
I am washing my hands between care of the plants (just in case).
The other 4 plants are
husky cherry red, patio, big boy, and yellow gold.
HOPING at least 1 of the 5 produces an edible batch of fruit to enjoy during it's season.
Hence my username. LOL.
Wish me luck, and thanks all for the support!
Happy and healthy growing to ALL! :)
The herbicide theory is not convincing, the way you have outlined it. UNLESS the county/neighbors used herbicide that its drift touched your plants.
One of the such herbicide contamination tests is to plant tomato seedlings in it . It will show better because the younger plants are more sensitive to it. Now your plants have been there for months and the herbicide residue was hiding somewhere !!
First CP I picked was a double bloom fruit and was big for that cultivar. It was my first ripe tomato...sweeter than I remembered that type being but good none the less. I have 17 of these and they all have done well. The neighbor behind my home is addicted to the Indian tomatoes and he is past 80 so I grew xtra plants just for him. One of his relatives is a missionary and took the seeds to Africa so I will be eager to hear about those.
I'll get more pictures in the morning. Not chance of weed killer that I know of. My garden is close to the buckets and there are no issues with those plants. They are in my yard and I don't use herbicides and the no one lives next door. The fertilizer I used is miracle grow for tomatoes18-18-21. I have no clue what else could be causing it. I have 6 different bucket and the all did the same thing on the same day. The weather at night has dropped about 15 degrees and 10-15 during the day. From what I read it looks like some type of stress. I haven't overly watered of anything I have slowed down some watering in the buckets.
Leaves curling like that can be due to various causes.
1- Soggy soil : this is not the sams as overwatering. If your medis is well drained you can water as much as you want. The only drawback will be washing down then nutrients. In this case a pale/yellowish foliage will be an indicator. Sogg soil keeps the air/oxygen out of reach of the root system, causing stressful conditions.
2- Certain varieties are prone to lave curling. I know two examples: Black Krim and Indigo Rose. There can be others.
3- Pests: Some pests also can cause leaf curling.
Herbicide seems to be an easy target, to me. But it is not the sole cause.
Check out Cornell University research paper- Managing late blight in tomato and potato- An essential part of gardening.
www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/late. Check out Cornell chronicle as well on Iron Lady tomatoes. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/03/ready-plant-iron-lady-tomato-punches-out-blights
There are other articles that support this position, however I am certainly not an expert, just looking for answers too
I buy a skein (or whatever it's called) of avocado color yarn and tie my plants higher up as they grow, using cedar stakes that are super tall. Maybe 7 feet. The skein lasts forever. I like the yarn because it matches the color of the leaves. Any guys reading this are probably rolling their eyes. LOL.
I grew several of them last year but this year I decide not to be bothered with S100. The fruits were mostly too small for me and the plants were like out of Dr. Frankstein's lab. I am growing a bigger red cherry and Sun Gold. So far, SG fruits are quite larger than cherry.
Then of course, I realize that we have different taste and preferences. So go for it!
hey Linda,
It makes no sense for me to find out whether it will breed true or not though I don't mind offering you some tomato seeds, the weather here is same all year round as I live in a tropical country which is hot and humid, humidity is around 90% all year round. So my tomatoes plants won't die, a tomato plant can live at least 5 years, and if I need new plants, I can just cut off the suckers and plant it and it will be true to type as it is part of the old plant. And if I do grow and save seeds and with my original plants, assuming if it is not true or it is a f1 hybrid, there is no way to know because the flower or pollens will mix so I won't be able to tell the difference, assuming if indeed mine is a F1 hybrid and i give you the seed and you plant again over and over again, you will know the difference, so I won't mind sending you seeds if I have extra seeds and if I want to send that is for you to test it out. My one month old tomatoes plants now have around 10 flower buds each plant and i have six of them and they are growing real fast because tomatoes thrive in hot weather.
http://www.gourmetgenetics.com/tomato/aperitif.html
According to the above link, from the company who bred Sweet Aperitif, it's NOT a hybrid, but some seed vendors would have us think that it is - sigh.
Thank you Monashguy for your very kind offer to send me some seeds, but I have quite a collection of tomato seeds that I'm keen to try next year, and enough room to grow them all.
You are so lucky to live in the tropics where you can grow tomatoes year-round! I am very envious!
Regards,
Linda
Are you two having a good time teasing me about my non GMO chicken manure? These babies are free roaming and do their droppings where-ever they land, however, during the few months of winter they need to be grain fed. Over 90% of the corn and soy grown in the US is GMO, that be said, there are sources that do sell non GMO feed. My source is a local farmer who sells eggs and chickens and believe me he was grilled by yours truly before I purchased them or took any of their valuable jewel droppings. Have you seen the photos of the rats fed GMO food, they had tumors all over their bodies some of which were the actual size of the rats. How gross.
I'm teasing Dave, not you.
No, really, I am interested in the non-GMO feed - but you don't own chickens, you got the manure from a farmer, so you don't know the brand of feed he uses? Or did you buy the chickens from the farmer and you feed non-GMO? Not sure if you just buy eggs and manure from him.
I'm sure my uncle buys whatever is cheapest at Tractor Supply, I'd rather eat eggs from his chickens anyway instead of store-bought eggs that are a month old. But once we have our own chickens I thought I'd like to feed them non-GMO (though not necessarily organic) feed. I don't buy a lot of produce (except frozen veggies and I'm trying to reduce that) due to GMOs, pesticides, herbicides. I have a small (noncertified) organic farm, just fruits and veggies for now, probably won't ever expand into livestock for meat and milk.
Forgot to link this, this is the Web site I'm using for a reference, and my leaves look like the ones in the photos. Plus like I mentioned, I saw the bugs this time. The spiders must be my friendly predators trying to help!
Hi Seysonn--I am adding extra stakes, and that's pretty much all I can do. Which is at least something. The tomatoes look pretty healthy at this point--popping out seemingly from nowhere.
Of course, we may have strong wind and hail this afternoon. I'm worried. During garden season, I'm always worried. I'm like the Debbie Downer of gardening. :)
Seysonn - oops! My gardening enthusiasm gets the better of me - just disregard my jumping in like that. :) Had to look up what CP was - Didn't know that stuff was called cattle paneling.
ILoveCucumbers - all my beds are raised beds, if you look closely at the pic - just not very high. We till, and then I rake up the loose dirt from the paths and throw it onto the bed area, which doesn't get walked on then for the rest of the season. Next year we repeat the process, rotating crops.
Quote and picture from "Too Many Tomatoes .."
Camo's 2010 Taste Test-Barlow Jap
This Pink Oblate tomato was one of the first to show green tomatoes on the plant and plenty of them. They are ranging from about 9 oz. to 12oz. so far but many out there that look larger. Once you slice into this tomato, the first thing you notice is how meaty it is. This is a solid tomato without many seeds. It has a thin skin and a small core, both good characteristics in my book. Still it is reasonably juicy. The first bite reveals the somewhat sweet taste that is quite refreshing to a person like myself. This tomato tastes very good without adding a thing to it, but a little sea salt improves its flavor even more. Grabbing the bear and adding some Zatarains, I found myself almost overwhelmed by the wonderful flavor. The texture is perfect, the taste unbeatable by almost all others so far. It doesn't have that winey taste that DDR has but it's very close to being the perfect tomato. I think it would be a wonderful tomato in sauces, but this was gone much to soon. It's going ahead of the Tarasenko6 in taste, slipping right behind the DDR, for now. This finished the year last year in the #6 position, it's at #2 right now. This is another highly recommended tomato, especially if you favor a slightly sweet taste. Would be great in salads, on sandwiches, or just eating out of your hand with juices running down your chin! Many will recall this being "Too Many Tomatoes" Grandfather's tomato from WW2, it's a keeper! Will always have a spot in my gardens! If you get the chance, give it a try!
It looks like what you have.
Thank you both. Okay, so Brita Barlow IS Toomanytomatoes! I thought so but now I'm sure. Yes, that pic from her does look just like mine. I also saw how the ones on Tatiana's site don't have the green shoulders.
The shoulders don't go away when ripe on mine.
I see this thread is now 6 years old, but wanted to add a bit. I just started using the MG soil, purchasing it at BJ's. Regular price was $11.99, it was on sale for a week or so in mid to late May, $9.99. Sale only lasted a week, so one needs to keep their eyes open. As the original poster stated, it gets very confusing with different amounts in different sized bags. Most places were selling a 1 cubic foot bag for $8.99 in 2014. Big bags are most definitely worth it.
probably you sliced them too early ?. Let some stand/sit for a while and then see what happens. This can be done both on and off the vine. IMO, color alone might not be the sole indication of ripeness.
This post was edited by seysonn on Thu, Jul 10, 14 at 14:44