16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
You/ and I mean general YOU as human being/ will not die happy from old age. You will die slowly and painfully circulating between nursing home and hospital for most of your retirement.
Adding big corporation to big corporation makes them law unto themselves. Bon appetite!
Time to start looking for homestead.
Couple of seemingly unrelated links
Ticks and agriculture practices
/http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/lawn-chemicals-and-cancer-in-dogs/
and never mind most grain crops being poisoned by Roundup...
Hi Hawkeyext,
I'm so happy it worked out and you didn't have to go pulling any plants out of your hybrid set-up and got to go forward into a fun season! Also, that the suggestion was useful! I just thought of your post this morning looking at some of my undeveloped tomatoes on my plants (blaming the heat).
One thing about the tomato plant you can count on. If the tomato fruit growth gets suspended at a tiny size like this but looks like a miniature tomato, if is likely the plant can eventually send it a signal to grow again when it has the energy. If something happened to it, the plant will naturally abort it in the next week or so and you'll see the end turning pale green to yellow first, before it eventually gets naturally cut off and withers, and falls off.
I've had one tomato I can remember that was tiny just like yours and took about 2 months to actually get the message to grow. But it grew from about 1/4" to marble sized and then shut down again. I think in its case two things contributed to that, and it was the exception to the case. First the weather was very hot, and second I had a leaf mold attack and removed many of the leaves in that area, leaving it bare.
So if we put ourselves in the shoes (roots) of the plant, a good guess would be that the plant waited till it had excess energy and then tried to get moving. But that was a particularly hard case for it and it probably signaled (or signal to grow was absent) that there were not enough leaves around it to support the development of the fruit after all when other fruits began draining energy/nutrients. It is just an anecdote, but I think a good one. Most of the time they develop into fruits even after a long suspension, but occasionally they naturally abort. Perhaps the plant can calculate to preferentially abort fruits that have few seeds/poor fertilization. This would be an interesting topic for the guys working on seedless tomatoes.
OK, back down to earth, congratulations on growing the large plants indoors. That is quite a challenge for anyone to do! I forgot but did you ever mention the variety?
Cheers
PC
Posters above are right in that there's no hard-and-fast rule, but from my own experience 47° is doable. Once the plants are in the ground and growing well, I'd heard that a layer of mulch around the plant and a late afternoon watering will keep the ground moist and relatively warm through a chilly night. Not that I've tested this hypothesis myself but it makes sense to me.
GL with the plants once they go in! :)
Check the stem at the soil level. I've had some kind of rot which has caused exactly that problem of wilting during the day and reviving overnight.
You could salvage the top of the plant by rooting it in water or you could try mounding soil up around the base of the stem to encourage more roots to form.
Linda
I have heard this can be normal and have seen it in my own plants. In my case, it's only the top of the plant that wilts, but yours might be getting more sun. The fact that it's the whole plant and it's stunted compared to the other, well, that's concerning.
Hi PC
Thank you so much for your reply. I am so impressed with your expertise in this subject.
As you explained in your message the Sweet Rosso variety can be purchased from Marks and Spencer's and that is where I purchased them from as I live in the UK.
Would you know what name the Nebula variety of tomato would be known as over here?
Best regards
Georgina
Hi Georgina, Nebula is the correct variety name worldwide since Syngenta actually decided to name it for the benefit of their marketing department and growers worldwide.
Just to be clear, Sweet Rosso (TM) is only a trademark that Marks and Spencer is using at the moment to give the impression to consumers that they have an exclusive, in partnership with the UK grower who has the real exclusivity. In fact M & S doesn't have an exclusive and you can buy the same tomato at ASDA that is also selling it, where they are more transparent and usually list grower information on the package which should include the name Nebula on the informational label as the variety. Here is a picture of ASDA's Nebula from the same exclusive UK grower, and note the variety name is kindly in fine print on the label, being sold in ASDA under the brand name "Tomtastic Tomatoes"
The UK grower behind this is Melrow Salads' facility for Flavourfresh Salads brand in the Lancashire area where Andy Roe is the Manager that has the contract with Syngenta for the UK.
FF has a huge high tech specialty glasshouse hydroponically growing tomatoes year round, heavily using intense artificial LED light in winter. That vision is a lot different from the painting Flavourfresh gave M&S of the Nebula variety for marketing purposes, which suggest the traditional Italian Riviera LOL. Got to admit these guys are fantastic marketeers and quite innovative. Brings back memories when I was there doing this. Click on this link to see the Nebula variety of tomatoes growing in the Flavourfresh glasshouse in the background:
Flavourfresh gift to Marks & Spensers
Hope that helps a bit more. The closest you can get to a plant is by visiting Flavourfresh and asking Mr. Roe for a tour of the Lansdale nursery ;-) But like I mentioned earlier, you can grow more flavorful tomatoes in your home garden in the Summer since they go straight from your garden to the plate and will be at their very best. The best OP red cherry tomato that is tried and true might be Gardener's Delight, available here in seeds, but now is transplant time so you can pick up (and maybe Sungold too) transplants at a local Nursery catering to home tomato gardeners.
PC
I go around collecting straw bales after Halloween (people buy them for decoration then toss them; wasteful) and they sit outside all winter and spring until I'm ready to use them. At which point I break the bale open, spread out the straw to dry for a bit, then run over it with the lawnmower. Chopped/shredded straw stays in place better for me.
Rodney
Easy? By zip code?
I think not. I don't know what kind of area zip codes cover in your are but here in the NE and also with my own zip code they cover a very wide area. And within that area there's all kinds of terrain that can influence weather at any time. Freda is here right now watering stuff outside, major lack of water coming from the sky right now and we were both laughing at the time it was pouring rain in the backyard and the sun was shining in the front. LOL
But don't let me stop you from getting another app for your probably smart or dumb phone to do what you want to do.<G>
Freda just came in from watering outside and I told her what I was posting about and I won't use the exact words she used, I couldn't, but close enough is when she said....that person has too much time on her hands and yes, Freda has a so called smart phone. LOL
Carolyn
I do live in an urban area with fairly small zip codes. But you are absolutely right, if I really wanted to calculate acccurate info for MY garden, I would need a thermometer here measuring the highs and lows each day and do the calculations myself.
The app is very simple and just gives you cumulative GDDs by month, and compares them to last year. At the very least, it would give you an idea, with no work on the user's part. I mean, it's not like I need to know when my tomatoes will be ready for market, which was your original point :-)
Our neighbor says we can't grow tomatoes or pumpkins here. It's too hot in summer and the soil is too alkaline and too much drainage from decomposed granite. Would love to prove him wrong. Weather is pretty weird right now. It's rained for 2 days off and on.
We have one Big Boy tomato that we purchased at HD. It's in partial shade to protect it from the hot summer sun. Happy to see 2 little tomatoes on it. It's lower branches look pretty scragly and ugly. We may cut those off.
We've been relaxing in front of the fireplace so there is lots of ash to use. I see no reason not to try this!
Hi Barbara, I agree with Sey and Dave. Save the seeds for next year; they will still be good. For this year, go back to the garden market and try and find some small tomato plants.
Put them in the ground if you have an appropriate space. If not, use containers at least 40 liters. If you use containers, get some potting soil as well. I would also look for some fertilizer you can mix with water, and also some stakes or tomato cages for support when the plant gets big.
That's really all you need to start! Good luck and keep us updated.
On a side Note:
I am growing a tomato variety of Belgian origin. It is called Ananas Noire (French name = Black Pineapple). It is my favorite tomato. I have 3 plants growing.
On the plant size: get one that is about 15 to 20 cm tall. That is the optimum economical size for planting.Also make sure that the fertilizer you use has Calcium and Magnesium in it ( in addition to N,P,K ), IF you intend to plant/grow in container. In the garden, your native garden soil might be rich in Ca and Mg already.
Good luck !
Sey
Yeah, right wormgirl. There is a huge space of GREY between black and white.
But generally we have the perception of determinant as short compact plant. I have a Polish dwarf that is over 2ft already.
Talking about RG, I have already installed a 5ft cage around it just to tame it. It is surrounded with short dets.
I agree w/ PC. The description of Determinant is very shaky from the very root.
It is supposed the branches to end with flower cluster and say good bye ! But I have seen my Dets (siletz, Legend) keep fruiting till the end of seasonn just like indet sisters. , gradually, NOT ALL AT ONCE.
So it is funny, how WE, THE GARDENERS, try to DETERMINE how a tomato is supposed to grow and we make rues for them, haha & LOL
You could bring them in at the end of the season, but I do it to get a head start at the beginning of the season. These are started in mid-Feb and, last year, we were eating tomatoes in mid-June. By the end of the season they've got diseased leaves and are looking the worse for wear.....
I'm growing dwarfs this year too!
Linda
Last night I had to put straw over the plants and tarp them. Earlier in the week I had just put containers and I lost of few tomatoes and had some pepper damage. It's not uncommon for us to get frost in June, so I took a risk this year when it was so nice. Probably wasn't the smartest in retrospect.
My mislabelled plant's fruit is looking more like little plum tomatoes rather than pear-shaped tomatoes like earlier. It would be funny if I got a Black Plum. If it happens to be Juliet, I won't be too sad either. Some complain that Juliet has tough skin but I love to cut them in half and saute them in butter and add to green beans or asparagus with a little parmesan. It is all good! Oh, I can't wait to taste a good tomato again. The store and restaurant stuff is so bad right now.
I have liked Juliet. It was prolific and the taste was fine too.
Thick skin has advantages : It won't crack, won't spoil and can be kept for a long time. It is also a good canning tomato , whole similar to San Marzano. I am growing a similar one from store bough which I think it is either mini Roma or Juliet.
I am also growing Black Cherry from store bought tomato. So I shall find out how they compare in taste and productivity.
Sey
Golden Garden Spider,,, beautiful artistry in her web.
I have not known that spiders of this/similar kinds to do any harm in the garden. Probably they are friend, as the catch insects like mosquitoes. An some of them weave beautiful/amazing webs in couple of hours.
Sey