16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
All plants need some source of nutrients to use throughout the growing season. No way to get around that part.
In ground soil, well amended prior to planting, soil that has lots of added compost, manured compost, and other organic forms of nutrients can do well all season if there is a an active soil food micro herd in the soil to digest the amendments and convert them to nutrients the plants can use.
New beds or soil that hasn't been well amended first, hasn't been well maintained over the years, has no active micro-herd etc. cannot feed the plants adequately and you have to supplement it regularly with N-P-K and the needed micro-nutrients. The only way to know what your soil needs is to have a soil test done.
Container grown plants is a whole outer ballgame.
So the simple answer to your question is yes, you do have to fertilize/feed your plants assuming you want them to be health and productive. How you do it is your choice.
Dave.
Thanks so much, your advice helped me a lot Dave! Sorry if I miss worded the org. question I was trying to ask how often to put the fert. on the garden. I had already added the 10 10 10 2 weeks ago and it was looking better so I was orig. trying to find out how often to add it. Being that the garden really got better after adding it I know now something was missing (the tomato plants have 10 new baby tomatoes!!)
>> What's wrong with MG?
Big target. Miracle Gro is Scotts which is joined at the hip with Monsanto (Round-up), the biggest middle finger chemical company on the planet.
I won't use it, but there's nothing wrong with it. It's just chemicals, as is all its competitors. If someone won't use it or any other chemical fertilizer either, that's fanaticism. My kind of fanaticism, actually.
If someone won't use it but will use another chemical fertilizer, that's only unfounded bias. To single out MG is stupid.
I find that most spell it as Rosa de L'omio and I'm going to give you a Google link below which you can look at the links for it.
I checked Tania's page for it, nothing, I checked Ventmarin inFrance, I checked my latest SSE YEarbook, and nothing.
There is a thread at another message site where someone wasgrowing it in 2008 and said it had wispy leaves so was possibly a heart, but that was not confirmed.
From the Google search I found origins for it said to be from France, Spain, and Mexico. Sigh.
Any variety with a de, usually is from either France or Spain, sometimes Italy, so do have a look at those links.
Hope that helps,
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Rosa de L'omio
It is rather wispy:
I will post an update once it has fruited. Thank you, Carolyn, for your input. I thought maybe something was amiss with the name, so I tried "Rose de l'Omo" but didn't think to try "Rosa". I don't even know where Omio is, but I have a little piece of it growing in my backyard!
Elisabeth
Is this normal for homegrown, organic tomatoes????
Normal? Not at all. If it were then millions of home gardeners wouldn't be growing tomatoes in their garden, right? :)
They are a result of gardening methods, not the plants or fruit themselves. While home gardening can sometimes result in less than perfect-appearing fruit, that in no way means damaged or pest infested fruit.
Fruit cracking is caused by inconsistent soil moisture levels and that is grower controlled. But no most don't eat the cracked areas as they are usually contaminated by bacteria. Just cut them out.
And the caterpillars and black spots inside are a result of insufficient pest management by the grower - tomato fruitworms and/or hornworms. Organic and synthetic controls are available for both but they have to be monitored and applied by the gardener to work.
Dave
I just remembered that Organicide was listed as a fungicide and recommended to me by CAES when they thought Ester Hess had powdery mildew (which when they cultured it, it didn't). Thought I had to rinse it off b/c sun would scald it. Please don't beat me over the head for mentioning it.
And I did leave the plants outside all month after the discussion on Sue's thread about the in and out, when you said only take them in (to unconditioned space, never the house back under lights) when there was severe weather. So they got wet last weekend/beginning of the week and had not dried out by the time I finally took them in on Thurs b/c the weather was getting worse. They were already thoroughly soaked and I was afraid the roots would rot, though I didn't notice leaves were wet it was certainly damp and overcast on Wed. I did pot some things up (Gem State and others going into containers anyway) on Thursday just to get them into dry mix. I do have light in the garage, but no fans. I just made the comment that the particular flat must not have been in the best spot (I really don't remember where it was - I was pretty sure I put anything in cell packs up on a table, and the larger potted plants down on the floor) since it's the only 1 to have problems so far. Sat was the first dry day - Thurs was drizzle, but Friday was a downpour, and I put them all back out where they would get some sun. Doing the best I can.
Thank you Carolyn, I did read that last night, I was also reading that this can spread very quickly through a field and so was wondering if I should cut my losses (I really did want to try Dr. Carolyn) and throw these plants out rather than risk the ones already planted in the row.
Ironically, I was trying to get these last plants (started April 6 and set out June 2) some sun exposure before they were planted, we literally did not see the sun from June 3 - June 13 (except for the 7th when DD had friends over and I couldn't put the plants out in the middle of the back yard for sun - they weren't ready for afternoon sun by then anyway) and it rained 6 of those days.
I will remove the affected foliage (as much as I can, some of them don't have any unaffected leaflets), keep these cell packs isolated and see how they are the end of the week. I'll be sure to cover them tomorrow night since it's going to rain Tuesday night and Wed, I'm sure that won't help. What I read was that temperatures under 60 at night may help retard the spread, we have had cool nights but maybe that flat was in a warmer area of the garage ;-) Unfortunately the next few nights are going to be slightly over 60, but then we're dropping back to our normal 50's so all I can do it cross my fingers.
I am going to try the copper spray if I have any left - I have some powder in the cabinet, I think it's copper from 2012 b/c I'm pretty sure the Bt I bought last year was in liquid form, that would be the only powder.
This post was edited...
I had a few in pots that needed some foliage stripped, but other than the Cheeseman's, only 1 cell pack of Gardener's Delight looked bad. I've already planted all I want of those, so I can throw the extras away.
But of the ones that have been planted, almost all of the full-sized tomatoes in the east bed (where I had green beans) showed signs of disease, as did 1 SuperSweet 100 in the west bed (that was planted in tomatoes last year). I also had quite a bit of foliage I had to remove from the Brandywines and Mark Twains that were the first to be planted in the new bed in the (uncovered) tunnel, so this must be wind/rain borne, not seed or soil borne. Everything I planted Saturday looks good.
I'm assuming that copper is not a good thing to spray on a bright sunny day (I do have a few ounces left, will have to weigh it), but will spray everything this evening. Then hope it doesn't spread with the rain/overcast days predicted for the end of the week.
Thanks for the help.
Tomato flowers don't last long -- maybe only one day? -- before they are past the window for pollination.
If pollination hasn't taken place (for whatever reason), the blossom will fall within a few days. (Don't mistake the yellow petals falling for blossom drop. If the end of the stem -- the part with the green sepals -- breaks off at edweather's "knee": that's blossom drop.)
Unlike many other plants, tomatoes are usually self-pollinating. Many tomato flowers are shaped so that insects cannot access the pollen. Bees or other insects may be able to pollinate some tomato flowers, but pollination usually takes place without them.
However, if the air is particularly still, a bee or other insect investigating the flower may, by vibrating the blossom, shake pollen loose from the anthers onto the stigma. [Some GWebbers -- on the "Better safe than sorry" theory -- visit each of their plants daily and give the stem (or the stake or tomato cage) a little shake. Fans serve the same purpose in a windless greenhouse.]
Once a tomato flower has been fertilized, it will be several days before you notice the growing fruit.
But more than pollination may be needed: sometimes even after successful pollination, the plant isn't ready yet to support a growing fruit. Maybe the plant was too recently planted, and lacks a large enough root system. Or maybe it's a variety with a longer DTM (days to maturity) -- the average number of days from the time a tomato is set out in the garden until the first fruit ripens.
Temperatures too high can result in pollen that clumps, which will prevent pollination. Your daytime temps aren't too high yet; I'm not sure if the 50* nighttime temps are a problem.
I did notice webs on my other tomato that I didn't show pictures for. I think that the one I showed has a bad aphid problem, and the other one might have a spider mite problem. They are about three feet away from each other with a sidewalk in between, and I've been making sure to spray water AWAY from the other tomato plant so I don't blast the aphids/ spider mites from one to the other. Is that enough distance or should I scoot them further? I've been blasting both since neither one looks "healthy" to me, and I've seen signs of insect plant parasites on both.
I've been spraying the foliage everyday with a firm water jet for the past few days (focusing on the bottoms of the leaves, since that's where the sucking insects tend to... suck). I'll keep it up until most (90%?) of the leaves aren't curled. It's probably still around 50-60% curled right now, but most of the curling is improved with a few days to a great extent.
I might try the diluted soap in a sprayer solution (1 tablespoon in a gallon of water) if it's not getting noticeably better after a few more days. In the future, at least, I'll know the symptoms and treatments.
We had a hot dry stretch, and then we had a rainy week. Oddly, my other plants are looking great (except for the sunflowers), but my tomatoes have been looking worse and worse for maybe 2 weeks. I think I over-fertilized at the start (making them more attractive to aphids), in my ignorance-- I'll be more careful next year.
Thank you for the advice, jerijen, jean, and digdirt. :)
This post was edited by livreosa on Sun, Jun 15, 14 at 0:15
I have noticed the same thing. Since tomatoes need warm soil I assumed the warmer soil in the pots and the looser growing medium were the reason. However, mine on the my driveway, and I did find last year, that the garden plants catch up and outperform the potted ones later in the season, which I believe is because the pots on the driveway actually get too hot for the roots. I have placed 2" thick boards under them so they are not in direct contact with the asphalt this year and we will see if it helps. I have a small lot and I just don't want to kill my grass by having many heavy pots on it all summer, so on the driveway they go. Maybe when it gets too hot I will see if there is room for them dispersed
among my flower gardens. :)
Was this a recent thing of some time back. If recent then I agree with Lucille, call the company or have the neighbor call the company and make them dig it out.
If this happened some time ago then you are likely too late to claim damages or repairs and will have to dig it out on your own.
You don't indicate where you live or even you garden zone so it is impossible to know if you already had plants planted there or what.
Either way it is your property so someone other than you has trespassed to do it.
Dave
then why do people do a fall planting? Is it because by August the plants are 10 feet tall and ravaged by pests and disease?
Amount and type of care will determine the health of the plant when the cooler season arrives. Some prefer to just rip out the older plants and replace with new ones if their season length allows. Less work. And with determinate varieties not much is gained by trying to keep them going.
But with indeterminate varieties or in shorter growing seasons, it can be worth the effort to keep the plant well-fed, watered, affected foliage removed, damaged branches trimmed, and healthy until the weather breaks.
Some will trim the plant back to trigger new growth, many will take cuttings from the existing plant and root them. Lots of ways to insure a later crop.
Basically it boils down to your choice.
Dave
Dave is spot on. There are a few tomato plants in my garden that once the ripe fruit is harvested I will rip out. I will then plant fresh plants there. The ones that are being removed are dying off from producing fruit, and the heat is taking its toll as well. Not to mention some issues of blight. While the plants would survive, and maybe spring back a little. The output they would give once the weather cools here pales in comparison to plant that is more healthy.
Also production of new fruit takes a nose dive for most of the larger fruiting plants here this time of year for a couple of months due to the high heat, and humidity. A fresh plant will grow very large though that weather. It takes the cooling off to get fruit production going.
Oh and in my experience cherry varieties tend to be able to set fruit when the larger varieties shut down. The trade off is they seem to take a long time to ripen in the heat though.