16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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

I like John's idea if you have the space. I had a bunch of tomato plants zapped by a late freeze and did just that: bought some new, but left the zapped ones (I don't have a huge number of plants and there was room for both Teams A&B). Some of the B Team expired, but some are now vigorously producing.

After 2 months of no care while stuck in a cell pack? Sorry, I agree with Jean - toss them. They are well-stunted and their circulatory system is severely damaged already. Even if one was to survive it would be very prone to pests and diseases and wouldn't be a productive plant or worth the time and effort of trying to save it.

Dave

Yes! Leaf-roller it is! Thanks for that suggestion!

Surprisingly, I couldn't find much by Googling "leaf roller caterpillar" and "tomato," but I did come up with the GW thread below with a pic. The monster in the pic is much larger than the ones I squished this morning! The ones on my plants were even slightly translucent, mostly dark green.

-Bruce

Here is a link that might be useful: Leaf roller thread

I get them about the size of yours.... 1/2" to 3/4" but not on my tomatoes. Mostly on my blueberries, raspberries, and apple trees.

Third image. It's hard to tell, but some of the edges on lower leaves have small dried-up edges and/or little dried-up spots.

This post was edited by Stella_z6 on Mon, Jun 2, 14 at 13:56

Hi, just posting again to knock this post higher up the thread. Still wondering if anyone has any ideas what might be causing this group of tomato plants to curl upward, look stunted, and have some slight darkish discoloration.

Maybe it was early exposure to cold weather? If so, I imagine I'll just have to wait and see if these plants bounce back? I'm tempted now to replace them, since I don't have scads of garden space, although I'd be sorry to give up on these plants.

Many thanks again.

Harden?

Harden?

To gradually accustom a plant to more difficult living conditions

Plants need to be "hardened-off", an adjustment process that takes 7-10 days to gradually adjust to a new environment prior to transplanting outside.

So were these plants purchased or did you grow them from seed? If bought were they outside or inside? If you grew them did you move them directly out from growing inside to the outside rather than giving them a period of adjustment?

Dave

PS: are you sure there was no damage to the stem done when transplanting?