16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Everything the plant lost was newer growth, and it lost all the newer growth it had at the time. However, current new growth is healthy and damage-free.
Only leaves were damaged; stems were not damaged. [I can't tell whether younger fruit were damaged or not.]
What does that?
I'm leaning toward edweather's Can't help but think something got splashed on it -- and yet, the stems weren't damaged....
I can't imagine what could have gotten on it! An acid rain bubble directly over that plant? ;)
I did cut the babies off last night and re-tied the stems so we'll see how it goes from here.
*side note: picked a few greens from another plant and had our 1st batch of fried green tomatoes for the summer. Mmmmm.
Could you please clarify/confirm a few questions please?
1. Only pinch suckers below new flowers?
2. When to start pinching?
3. Pinch all suckers or just some (since caged)?
4. Top off....pinching all new growth and flowers when it's reached the height you want?
5. How often to fertilize?
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Before I answer your questions, I have to give a brief introduction.
There are two schools when it come to growing tomatoes:
SCHOOL 1: don't you dare to touch that plant ! :-)
SCHOOL 2: Prune the heck out of that plant and keep it down to size. lol.
SCHOOL 1: let the nature do its work. Tomato plant knows better than you do how to grow, what to grow.
SCHOOL 2: You are the master of destiny in your garden: You should decide , not the mother nature nor the plant.
It is no secret that I am a student of SCHOOL 2. So what I will say will be according to the principles of that school. Also, let me make it clear that we are talking about INDETS.
1st question: " Only pinch suckers below new flowers?"
I make a distinction between "Branching" and "Suckering". By that , any lateral growth under any flower cluster is a sucker. Branching take place above all flowers. They(branches) are as strong as almost the main. So I would pick and keep those.
Question 2: "When to start pinching? "
Earliest is the best. This way there will be no wasted energy and the plant will not get shocked.
Question 3: " Pinch all suckers or just some (since caged)?"
I already answered it in part 1. But it is up to you if you want to keep some EARLY ones, if you have enough space and long growing season.
Question 4: "Top off....pinching all new growth and flowers when it's reached the height you want?"
It depends. There is a matter of your convenience and your growing season. Do you mind getting a ladder to look for tomatoes ? The other factor is the length of your growing season. Let me just tell you my case. I have 5 months of growing season (plant out to FFD) It takes almost 2 1/2 month to get the very first ripe tomatoes. Now then I have another 2 1/2 month (= 75 days) left. Studies indicate that under favorable growing conditions it takes about 50 days from bud to ripe fruit.
So this tells me that ANY GROWTH and ANY NEW BUDS AFTER 100 DAYS INTO THE SEASON (50 days before FFD) ARE JUST WASTEFUL.
Knowing that, I give it another 10 days (benefit of doubt) and start topping my plants.
DISCLAIMER: This is the practice that I have adopted after some years of experience and with the reasoning that I have behind it. So , in NO WAY I am claiming this is the best method.
This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 1:50
I grow Patio almost every year along with other smaller varieties in (real) EarthBox containers. Commonly sold cages that are typically about 40" to 44" tall and apx 14" square fit in the EB very well, and are also good for in-ground use. Since these usually have 8 legs, I end up cutting off 4 legs that would be outside the EB, but for in-ground use, I naturally leave the cages intact. Cages control Patio and even larger bush or ISI varieties like Better Bush, Husky Cherry, etc. very, very well.
-WC2K8
Here is a link that might be useful: typical standard size tomato cage
My Patio tomato is about three feet tall and bushy. Loaded with green tomatoes that I hope will taste tangy beefsteak-y good. I had it propped against a patio roof post but a gust of wind blew it over. Luckily no stems broke. I tied it to the post top to bottom. It's so bushy and the stems so thick it's hard to part the branches looking for tomatoes. One tomato has some color and I have my salt shaker ready !
Should I cut off the leading growth after the blossoms,
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I have seen that happen. The end of truss becomes like branch.
It is your choice. I would let it be there. It is not going to get real bog anyway. What you can do also is to pinch off its leading growth tip. This way you will have it contained.
Hi Carolyn-
Thanks! Google is where I also started, but found no reference to the breeder other than the UK reference. I want to see if they have a red version in the works. The habit of the yellow junior is ideal for my purposes, but unfortunately, the tart taste is not to our liking. I start these in February, and by mid-June, they are producing like crazy. For me, some have a bit of sweetness, but most are nearly sour. These grow very well in a 12" basket.
-WC2K8
Found it! Unfortunately the breeder is mostly working on indeterminate varieties with no "Tumbling Junior Red" in the works at this time. Looks like back to "Tumbler." I've started some original Tumbler and Tumbling Junior seeds side-by-side so that I can compare their growth habits. If necessary, I guess that I can prune Tumbler a little to keep it under control in the cold frame. Anyway, Tumbler is always very early for me, so maybe this is the best choice.
-WC2K8
Are you referring to plant growth being faster for cherries, or if cherries ripen up faster than non-cherries,
Fact is that many cherry varieties have DTM's, meaning time to ripe cherries, have DTM's that are way longer than larger fruited varieties.
It all depends on which specific cherries grown and which specific large fruited varieties grown
Carolyn
There are also bush and dwarf type cherries. But, I think indeterminat cherries like S100, Sun Gold grow somewhat lanky, faster and taller. But again, there are slicers that also grow real tall. So your question does not have a simple answer. JMO
For those who bought the short rings and need something taller, one possibility is to attach a second (same diameter) short ring to the first, but upside-down. Attach them with 3 cable-ties (aka zip-ties).
GWebber rnewste does that with his homemade EarthTainers. [I think he uses the short ring-cages because the long legs (which usually go into the ground) are how he fastens the cages to the tops of his containers. And since the legs are entirely above the growing medium, he can use the entire height of the cage to support his plants.]
Well, when Op talks about "out of control" it means something at least not very convenient, As a gardener you must be the master and keep things as you want and like. This true about growing flowers, roses, shrubs and TOMATOES.
If you are 5'4"(example) and tomatoes are 7',6", that is inconvenience. Plus you are running more risk of the plants falling off, breaking at high winds etc. There is nothing wrong with topping but it has to be done early on. So the plant will have more side branches and can stay shorter. This method is easy to be used with cage than stake.
"Agricultural extension specialists in New Jersey that an experiment there using seawater on tomatoes also yielded better flavor."
I live a long way from the ocean. But I read somewhere, maybe here, that some people add salted water to their plants. I'm not that brave though!
I do add Epsom salt, I'm not sure that it helps but it doesn't seem to hurt!
Now when I planted the tomatoes I always plant deep.You know like they said deep they'll put out more roots.then after planted we put down the red plastic.I couldn't believe all those tomatoes and as big as they were on one plant.We did it again this year.The one plant hardly has any leaves but theres about 6 tomatoes in a clump about 3" round 4-5 tomatoes.I did pick a red one last weekend from that clump.Its working for me.My hubby loves tomatoes.
Ok, I have another theory, but I'm only half serious about this one. Maybe the red plastic tricks you into thinking your tomatoes are ripening. We are growing tomatoes in those bright orange Home Depot buckets and the bright orange reflects onto the bottom of the fruit making them ALL look like they have just started to blush. I drives me crazy.
There is a wealth of information about need for light by tomato plants but little is known about absolute thresholds for growing. I acted against the advise of a plasticulture expert and Horticulture professor in using shade cloth over 2 high tunnels of tomatoes last summer and the results were great. I will repeat the method again this year, not to limit sun but to hold heat (produced by sun) to a more tolerable level.
as for plants producing a few ripening fruits and taking a break I see it now in many potted tomato plants that I have remaining for sale. Stress will cause many tomatoes, peppers and other fruiting plants to ripen the few fruits established rather than putting on more vegetative growth- Carolyn knows that since she just commented on it a a recent thread. It is not a big issue with cherry/grape varieties and it gives the plant buyer/grower the unique opportinity to see what type of fruits the plant will produce.
Thanks everyone, for taking the time to comment. I've been reading a lot on these forums in the last couple of months and you have all been really helpful.
I know that the tomatoes need heat to ripen rather than sun, so I figured that it wasn't that. The break in ripening and flowering happened around the same time we got a bunch of rain and I was fighting fungus gnats and then early blight on all of my plants. Since I have been getting those two things under control they have been blooming more. It was probably the stress of that.
On the flip side, I have been trying to stress out the patio tomato so I can be rid of it already. Every day I go out and cut off a few more leaves and stab the soil a little more while saying "vee have vays of making you talk." It is ripening two now, and it looks like a couple are going to start. We have designated that corner of the balcony Plantanamo Bay.
As far as maximizing the sun goes, I mirror might work. I tried to make a reflector out of what I had on hand (cardboard and foil) but my one cat found the corners too delectable. Cats are supposed to hate foil, but this cat, well, she's our "special child."
At this point I'm going to stake them with longer stakes to support the high branches so they can continue breaking into the sunnier areas.
This has been a pretty funny, and interesting thread. It kind of amazes me how different we all are and of course how very different our experiences are on any given day.
Raptor, it seems like you have put in some effort and time to try to research how to go about growing these plants but at this point, I would be asking myself if I really wanted to pursue it.
What sticks in my mind, is that your original reason to impulsively bring home these plants was to 'save money' growing your own vegetables instead of buying them. I think most of us start out with that intention. Are gardeners really 'saving money' growing their own vegetables? I think I’ll start a new thread on that topic.
If you had gotten the plants home and dug a hole in the ground and found great soil then it might have been a piece of cake. Once you dug that hole and found all that thick clay, it becomes more problematic. You can overcome that, for sure, but it will require more effort and time and money. If you have become more interested in the activity of gardening, then it may be worth it for you to pursue it, but if you are only trying to ‘save money’ growing vegetables, it might take an initial investment that would take some time to recoup before you were saving money.
I hope you will continue with it and as Lucille said so well, ‘Learning to garden is a process. Chill, read, and join the community here and by next year, you will be ready to grow big bowls of beautiful tomatoes and veggies.’
How about for the others that are ready to plant, you dig your holes and mix in some additional soil and compost and call it a day? Forget about all of the other things for now and just get them in the ground with a minimum of ingredients.
I'm by no means an expert gardener - it's my second year, really, but I have already learned that it's pointless to stress over things... they will grow or they won't. LOL. You may be surprised at how hardy they can be, and if they don't make it then you know what not to do next year. :)
Good luck!
(PS, I live in GA and we have lots of clay as well... I mixed in some top soil and compost and that was it, and mostly everything is growing great)
My plants did great in the basement this yr under the shoplights and were quite large when I planted out first week of May. They have fruit up to 3inches but the blight is gonna be early again. But I will have late tomatoes from a neighbor and the three driveway plants so all is not lost.
If you are ORGANIC, there is NEEM OIL .
I have both Daconil and Neem oils and use them both.
Yellowing and eventually aborting leaves is the plants natural response to its limited resources. Lower leaves get the pink slip first to reduce the burden on the plant.
A well fed young plant seldom will abort leaves.
sometimes, after a few cool overcast days, when the sun shines bright, new growth wilt a bit. But they will bounce back and get adjusted.
some wilting may be caused by lack of water too.
Yeah, if the mix is very fast draining, and the plant is large, it can dry out in a hurry and the plant will begin wilting from the top.......but recover very quickly after a good dousing.