16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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.

when we were kids and granny sent us to gather tomatoes none were so good as those unwashed with a bit of dust and mud oh, you mean does the soil affect taste? Just kidding. Sometime I've a longer story about carrots.

"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)

Daconil is not organic. Now might be a good time to research a good organic fungicide. Those are nice plants and it would be nice to keep them that way.

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.

Yep.

Instead of removing the branch/sucker from the plant, you can disable its growth end, leaving the leaves intact for photosynthesis. I do this when the sucker is over grown.

Thanks, wardda, seysonn, and Ohiofem.

Yes, I saw that thread, thanks, seysonn, and I'm in awe of the production, especially in Hudson's later photos. Most folks around here just grow celebrity or whatever bonnie plant caught their eye in the checkout line at HD, so it's hard to choose when you have very limited space and not much chance even to sample the fruit from other varieties.

Well, I hope the OTV's taste better than they look.
I have quite a few of them now that have blushed and I picked them~~~but they sure are ugly~~~but I'm anxious to taste them.

Gary

That's one BIG leaf! Are you getting fruit set too?

@ ncrealestateguy
Yea plenty of blooms, but with my particular climate I have the luxury of pinching off until I'm ready for fruit.. I like to let them get to at least 3+ feet before I allow them to put their energy towards fruit production.. It's just about that time..

I agree that they may not die but they likely will be damaged permanently in some ways.

But I also agree that there is no excuse for using Roundup anywhere near a vegetable garden.

Dave

I had what seems to be a mild version of this on one of 14 plants this year. I had tried to get rid of about 8 hard wood weeds. I cut them to about 6 inches, put red plastic solo cup cuffs around each stump, brushed each stump with a foam brush dipped in a bit of round up. Closest "stump" probably 30 feet away. So far the plant has survived. Probably the stumps will too.

This post was edited by nanelle on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 17:22

ut I should pinch off the stems that will be under the new soil, right?

You can but you don't have to for any reason. Less chance of injury to the plant if you just leave them alone.

Dave

Thanks Dave!