16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Dave, while I was typing you posted, so I'm glad we agree on our answers.

Carolyn, and now back to the mens tennis semi-finals from the French Open. I do have my priorities when tennis is involved. LOL

Thanks for your answers. I am encouraged. I have a few cuttings I am trying and I have several plants that have stems damaged just below the soil that have nice looking tops. I am in the midst of rooting them in potting soil and will later put them out.

that will heal up fine. you can seal it if you want to eliminate any drying around that area. not necessary....really

OK, here is the before and after. I warmed the wax between my fingers and tried to press it gently but deeply into the wound.

Dave, I would like to look up foliar feed regulations and risks, any suggestions please...all google links I keep getting are about cannabis LOL

They aren't "regulations", Linda. No one is going to come arrest you. :)

They are simply research-based guidelines. many of them we talk about here frequently:

~well-diluted formulations only,
~use only low-salt index products to avoid leaf damage
~use only high atomization spray nozzles
~no mixing of different products due to possible interactions,
~light misting of both sides of the leaf rather than drenching the plant,
~not in the direct sun or the heat of the day,
~water-based formulations only to avid stomata occlusions or cuticle coating,
~apply only at appropriate stages of plant growth to avoid triggering blossom drop etc.

I'm sure you are aware the foliar feeding in and off itself is a somewhat controversial practice with naysayers and research supporting both sides of the argument.

Nutrient manufacturers, of course, come down heavily on the "it's great" side of the argument but their reasons for supporting it are sometimes questionable. Some horticulturists argue there is simply no way it can work given plant anatomy but their claims are also undermined by research.

So as with many things, the truth lies somewhere in between. That's where I am and I do use and advocate foliar feeding - in moderation..

It isn't a magic cures/fixes all, nor should it be practiced helter-skelter especially by the under-informed. While it has some documented benefits when done correctly, it can also harm the plants when done incorrectly. All of its benefits can be achieved by other less-risky methods like root drench, Just not as quickly. But then quicker isn't always better either. :)

Articles to explore:

The Myth of Foliar Feeding by Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D.

Midwest Labs:Foliar Nutrition

Haifa Group - Foliar Feeding Note section on limitations.

For a fun but informative look at both sides:

Farmer Fred Rant: Foliar Feeding: A Waste of Time and Money?

A&L Canada Labs: Leaf feeding vs. Foliar Feeding

Hope this begins to answer your questions but much more info is available.

Dave

Dave,
Thank you! Great to know info. I think with fertigation, hydroponics and now cannabis growers we seems to be getting more and more quality liquid fertilizers and while general issue of foliar feeds still remains controvercial it gets better and better. I have found it very beneficial for intensive type of gardening like veggie gardens but then I follow already predetermined calculations and mixes from quality products.

I think the flower is called a mega-bloom. If it does form a tomato it's likely to be misformed. They are fun to look at though. The foliage in photo 2 is regular leaf, and the foliage is called potato leaf. I never heard the term potato top before, but it probably refers to the foliage. It kind of looks like the foliage of a potato plant.

Potato Top was formally changed to Limbaugh's Potato Top Legacy by Doug Oster ( Ostler?, I forgot how to spell his name) as explained in the link below and there are other names for it was well,

Last I knew folks send seeds back to Doug and he sends them out to those who request seeds and there have been quite a few folks who have received seeds that were crossed that had beenn sent to him;;

I forgot to look when I fetched the link but I think there are several seed sites that list a stable Potato Top as well.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Potato Top, etc

You could try pouring some hydrogen peroxide around the stems. People say to dilute it 90 percent HP to 10 percent water for little seedlings to prevent damping off on them. It might just do the trick!

Linda

Put soil over the stem above where it toppled over and water it every day or so as you would a brand new rooting. It will survive but it will take long time for it to thrive again. Few of my tomatos toppled with damping. I did that and after a month or so now they are starting to grow. If you want to just buy new transplants from garden shop and plant them, that will save you time.

As far as the peat pots. This is for the first time I bought few "bonnie brand" plants in the 4-5" peat (I am saying peat but I don't know what they use) pots. That is the only thing they are selling now. Home depot, lowes, walmart they all had only that brand of plants. Any way, none of those plants have grown even an inch and they all look sick. I had taken at least some of the pot pieces off before I planted them. Today I dug up couple that looked really horrible to take them back for a refund. The roots have not grown at all in places where the peat was still intact and grown little bit in bare areas. So, next year, no peat pots.

Edwater has good suggestions. When it comes to liquid/water soluble fertilizer I also do 1/3 to 1/4 strength with almost every watering. ( I keep reducing as the season gets older) This way you know what your plants are actually getting the right amoun almost regularly. Too much fertilizer either is TOO MUCH for the plants or most of it will end up beyond the reach of plants (= leaching)

OTOH: I suppose there are many ways to skin a cat.

Nice looking plants, well done! Good luck with planting out.

I found some kind of cucurbit seedling growing out of my front lawn. I'm guessing someone spit a melon seed there.

Tomatoes are hardy little buggers!

I hope I don't gross anyone out with this...

I work for a sewer company and you would not believe some of the places that tomatoes grow and do extremely well! Some really good looking tomatoes but we don't eat them! ;)

They grow on top of floating aerators, which is basically a big motor mounted on a float with a propeller that stirs the water.

They grow on bar screen rakes, which is even more amazing because the rake travels up and down from 40' to 100' at different sewer plants. They get sun for about ten minutes, then they travel down into the darkness for 5 to 10 minutes at a time.

I would've liked to grow one. But it is too late here. Maybe next year. I like novelties. Orange Roma would qualify.

I'd never heard of it so checked Tania's page and then did a Google search, and based on the two was going to look at some old SSE YEarbooks, but don't have time for that right now.As in mens tennis semi-finals from the French Open. ( smile)

So below is the link to the Google search, and it might help;

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Orange Roma

Dave, hmm, interesting about this stress and leaf damage that newly transplanted plants get from foliar sprays ... totally not experience I am seeing. What I am seeing when roots are not able to do the job yet for one reason or other foliar sprays are far far more effective in delivering right things to the plant that any soil drench I used to do in the past. Plants just come alive after foliar spray drink. I use Neptune products and it takes less of it for foliar feed too than usual soil application.

Edweather nailed it, I think.

Congrats, Hudson. Good job. I am sure you did a lot of planning and work and it sure has paid off nicely.
Enjoy !

seysonn

I am so impressed. The greenhouse is beautiful and your tomatoes are gorgeous! I only hope to be as successful as you. You have put a great deal of thought and work into this. Congrats!
Sharon

I have several cages made with 2x4 welded wire mesh. You just take some wire cutters and cut several random, scattered 4x4 or 4x6" holes in the cage. Works fine.

Dave

This year i have two each of 8 varieties. I picked the flowers off half of them. so far there is no noticeable difference in plant growth (both are thriving) and a few of those original flowers set fruit and are sizing up nicely. Others seem to have aborted. Since it doesn't seem to have affected their initial growth I will probably leave the flowers on in coming years, but I may do the same thing next year as a second test.

The varieties I planted are below. All had flowers or buds when I transplanted them on May 3rd.

Cherry Roma (seemed to abort many of the early flowers, but there are a few tiny fruit).
Park's Whopper (seemed to get fruit from all (most?) early flowers and is sizing up nicely),
Black Krim (some fruit)
German Pink (No fruit yet)
Marianna's Peace (no fruit yet)
Kosovo (some fruit and sizing up very nicely. this one might be my surprise winner for early toms)
Opalka (no fruit yet)
Italian Heirloom (most flowers seem to have aborted but I have one tomato)

Those that I pinched the flowers off have no fruit but have lots of new flower/bud trusses (trusses?) so, even though the growth seems to be similar, perhaps they will set more fruit later in the season. But, I really haven't paid close attention to which ones have the most flowers. I suppose time will tell.

-jon

ps. i really appreciate all of the regular responders on this forum. I have learned so much. thanks.

Good job on #1. On #2 they aren't the wasps you see. The parasitic wasps are very tiny ones of the family but as you apparently have them - then go wasps!

#3 has some problematic assumptions in it.

First, Lime if it doesn't screw up your soil pH which is easy to do when using it can be a good source of calcium if you use the right type - there are several different forms. But no, you sure don't need to re-apply any more of it.

It should never be applied without first knowing your soil pH. For example my native soil has a pH of 8.4. If I added lime nothing much would grow at all. Sometimes in our enthusiasm to fix one issue we manage to screw up even more things so well-informed baby steps usually work better.

Second, most soils have sufficient calcium already in them, calcium poor soil is very rare in the US and when one does find low-calcium soil there are much better ways of supplementing it.. Extensive testing has proven that tomatoes with BER also have sufficient calcium in them. It is just poorly distributed. That poor distribution is tied to - wait for it - watering as explained in the FAQ. :)

Also, the soil where they are planted is always really moist and I water well.

Is not necessarily good. Overly wet, poorly draining soil and over-watering contributes to BER just as much as under-watering or overly dry soil does. Most inexperienced gardeners way over-water and more plants are killed by over-watering than by anything else.

The goal with tomatoes is consistency of a low soil moisture level. That usually means watering slowly, deeply and less frequently and only watering when the soil at the root level 6-8" down needs it. Obviously container plants will require more frequent watering than in-ground plants. The containers also require regular nutrient supplements.

So you may well need not only find out what your soil pH is and fix it but also to do some more research and evaluation of your watering regimen and soil permeability/drainage.

Dave

Just want to add - do a soil test not only to check pH, NPK, Ca but also Mg. If you need to raise the pH by adding lime, you will get Ca from calcitic lime but also Mg from dolomitic lime. My native soil is very low pH (around 4.9 -5.0) and a little low in Ca but high in Mg so when I lime I use calcitic never dolomitic.

As a general guideline, container plants require regular feedings as nutrients leach out of the soil every time you water. So while you definitely need to stop the daily watering as Ed said above, you also need to regularly replace the nutrients.

Many, myself included, find that liquid supplements that can be mixed in with your water work better than any dry/granular supplement. A common recommendation on the Container Gardening forum is to use a full-spectrum, liquid fertilizer, diluted to 1/2 strength weekly.

All fertilizers are not the same. Sustane is an organic compost-based supplement intended for use in in-ground beds and on lawns where there is an active soil micro herd in the soil to convert it to usable nutrients. It is not intended for container use as there is no soil bacteria/soil food web to convert it into plant-usable nutrients.

If you only want to use organics then there are literally 100's of organic liquid supplements available that will work far better for your plants - fish and/or kelp mixtures, compost teas, worm castings and teas, (see link below for just a few examples). Otherwise use one of the many synthetics available that are intended to be dissolved in water.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: examples of liquid organic supplements

Thanks Dave

I said elsewhere that I've had noticeable fungi in one particular bed for maybe two months now. I'll include the pic again. Same bed, maybe the same fungus. It seems to always be an artifact of actively rotting wood shreds. This bed is full of flowers and it's a jungle. The fungi are all part of the system.

CANNOT get rid of them, are they bad for the plants?

Runner22-

The point is, as was explained before you posted your question, is you don't need to get rid of them. They pose no threat to you or your plants in any way and are generally considered a good sign of healthy soil.

Dave