16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
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.
Agree. Harvest forum please.. It is direct linked on this forum but I added a direct link below.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest forum
I wonder why this question cannot be answered right here !!!
I am no expert in canning but i know that if you have canned properly (BWB or pressure canner) It should be fine for years. Otherwise it would not be good for even few months. It is that simple.
If it's just the one plant put a liberal sprinkling of ground cayenne pepper around it. If you have several plants consider it a peace offering and let em have it if they want it. Rabbits and other critters will often take a bite , spit it out and go on their way. This often happens to my lower tomatoes.
Looks like they're sitting on mulch, no need for anything else under them
This post was edited by DBrown2351 on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 21:31
It is one of the fungus diseases, most likely Alternaria. Treatment is the same for all the fungus diseases - strip off all the affected foliage and dispose of it away from the garden and begin a regular fungicide spraying program.
Dave
Got 14 Might Mato "Mortgage Lifter" and "Brandywine" plants. Plants are now over 8 ft tall, but, BUT not even 2 fruit set!!
Stay away from these. Plants have thrived, but blossoms just DO NOT set. Also, what fruit I have got to taste so far are pathetic - almost flavorless.
I have heard the Mighty Mato company does not have good reviews, but can't say if the plants produce since I've never tried them. If the plants are 8' tall you should at least have flowering if not lots of tomatoes forming. We bought our grafting seeds and clips from Johnny's. The price for 50 seeds was around $23! Very pricey. We started half and around 20 germinated. We then started seeds for plants we wanted to graft onto the rootstock, mostly Heirlooms. We went to a workshop and got valuable info there and there is all kinds of info on the web. The grafting is simple, just "marry" the top of the heirloom plant onto the bottom of the rootstock and secure the clip. However, you need specific conditions for the graft to work, moist, humid & warm. We set up a small table top greenhouse and put the plants in them. The only problem we had was grafting when both plants were not big enough. We had a lot of failures but enough to grow. Next time we will wait for the plants to be larger and about the same size each. As posted earlier the plants are very robust, so much so that we have to constantly prune out suckers. They are way ahead of our regular tomato plants and have more tomatoes on them. We won't be able to make a final determination until all plants start producing and just how disease resistant they are compared to our standard ones, especially at the end of the season. So far . . . so good and the plants are definately way ahead of the standard ones.
As far as grafting for disease resistance, that is a big part of it, especially for market growers who use high tunnels but also for in the field. Another big plus is more and longer production than standard tomato plants, especially Heirlooms which most market growers want.
Again we will have to wait for the end of the season to decide if the cost of the seeds are worth the extra effort but we are encouraged!
I don't know anything about "fish head" or fish filet for that matter. BUT I know one thing for sure about EGG SHELL. It takes months if not years before it decomposes into a form (Ca++) to be available to plants. Not all calcium in different compositions is digestible by plants. It has to be in an IONIC form (like in CaCO3 = Ca++ ...). same goes with N,P,K, Mg, Fe, etc.
Then adding to "HOLE" is another subject. It assumes that tomato will grow roots just in downward direction; which is not true. Just scratch the soil around the stem of any tomato plant. You will encounter roots.
As for some references if one looking to learn about soil and how stuff works, Dr Elaine Ingham Soil Foodweb.com is good reference.
Also am reading book by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis " Teaming with microbes", highly recommend.
Some nice reading here as well
Here is a link that might be useful: soil food web
My tomatoes just seem like they really want to produce fruit off the suckers instead of the main stems.
Yep, that is their nature. :)
Or would it be ok to let the sucker grow and trim off the leafy branch underneath it on which no flowers or fruit form? I wouldn't take all of those, but just thin the foliage a bit
That is the best way to go if you have to do some pruning. Just don't over-do it. The plant needs those leaves to produce energy and to shield the fruit from sunburn. Where you live (need to include that info) will determine how much sun scorch protection your fruit needs.
The two varieties you planted are two of the biggest plants out there by far so keep that in mind for next year when it comes to choosing varieties or method of support.
Dave
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.