16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I am also growing GZ for the first time. But mine does not have any ripe fruits yet. I am anxious to see and taste it.

Be patient with them... they tend to ripen slowly. My experience is that the tastes vary quite a bit from one that is just ripe vs. one that is very yellow and softer.

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.

Zach, OK, it's a deal ! Bib, at least tell me they're for tacos. Or salad. But still...

I prefer mine in the fridge, Taste just as good but mine don't last long in the fridge, Maybe a day or 2.

Well, the first picture is definitely wrong because it is sideways. The second picture is of basil - could also be sideways.

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

Closeup maybe better pic

Healthy neighbor 2 ft away, same variety

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!

Like Carolyn I don't have a smart phone or a digital camera but maybe soon. Don't be jealous guys just grow a big pink.

I grew Bear Claw for the first time last year, it's a very nice tomato! Healthy plants with good size fruit, great taste, among the earliest of the bigs. It'll be a while before they ripen here, but looking forward them again this summer.

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

Seysonn, the many home gardeners making crosses are not doing it for the money. they are doing it to get the F2 seeds to sow the next year and make selections and continue making selections at each generation until the one selection they think best is stable.

Keith is not a full time breeder but all those he bred, and is still doing so if you look at his website, are also available at several websites and he gets no money back.

His variety Purple Haze F1 is not that available other than plants and any money received from those sales go for autism research since his son is autistic.

And often they , the amateurs,come up with something great as did Sam with his initial cross between German Red Strawberry and D.r Wyche which is now called Sweet Ozark Orange, which took him about 5 years to stabilize.

And I could give you other examples aswell.

I send seeds to several places for trial, so do others, and such new varieties often end up being sold here and there, and the persons who did the original crosses receive no money at all, just the pleasureof doing what they do and finding something successful.

it's quite different for commercial breeders such as Fred Hempel withhis Bumble Bees and Mark MC Caslin and Bill Jeffers and more,b/c sometimes, at least for the first two I just mentioned,there is always a contract involved.

if you look at Johnny's, TGS, Jung's and many more you'll see Fred's varieties being sold, for instance.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

Carolyn, ..I was talking about the commercial breeders, not the home hobbyists. After all, I suppose, the process must be the same. An it sounds very involved and time consuming even when a person is trained and experienced. .. One has to do one flower, one crossing at a time.

And what amazes me is that the so-called "hybrid" seeds are sold at about the same price as the open pollinated ones.

I see only two leaves and each one has just one lesion. I can't see the internal structure of the one on the right, but the one on the left looks like the beginning, possibly, of Septoria Leaf Spot to me, a very common fungal foliage disease,

Because of the way it's spread, via wind and embedded in rain drops, no doubt it would have affected ALL your tomato plants unless you bought just the one being shown and it was infected where you bought it or where whomever raised the seedlings that sold them to a nursery, farmer's market, etc.

Carolyn

To be on the safe side, I would spray with fungicide, as already suggested. Actually you should spray with fungicide on a schedule. I have done it couple of rounds already myself.
Prevention is easier than fighting disease.

Seysonn, if you go back and read the FAQ here you'll find that bagging with tulle is one of the main methods suggsted for absolute purity of saved seed.

5%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Yeah. But I was talking about that article, not FAQ or other sources!!. I am done.

The article from Jeff only discussed geographic isolation, no other methods of helping to prevent cross pollination, which is why I suggested reading the FAQ here at GW that Dave linked to for other methods such as bagging blossoms with tulle.

Carolyn

seysonn, since you chose to call out people's posts....you are actually mistaken and somewhat rude....that was the title of his post.
what he did say in his text was ....." my concern is that they seem small for their type- the largest is bigger than a golf ball, and the smallest I have are maybe slightly larger than a ping pong ball. Am I doing something wrong?"
That is why my quote you posted.. was answered the way it was...his concern for under-sized fruit. Digdirt did the same.

isn't that Miracle Gro too high in nitrogen

It can be but the thing with containers is the nutrients wash out everytime you water the plant. So they need to be replaced regularly. Many report good success with MG diluted to 1/2 strength weekly or even diluted to 1/4 strength every time you water.

If using a self-watering container or if using drip irrigation and fertigation with containers it can be quite effective as it is always used in a diluted form.

Dave