16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
My soil is roughly 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite in a 14-16" raised bed. The native clay soils here are the reason for that. Good location and at least 8-10 hours of sun per day. The plants are green though I did lose one. I am under the assumption a critter found it because the soil looked disturbed and not much was left other than the roots. The rest appear to be taking their sweet old time. Temps at night have been 50s and maybe lower. I love the way everyone wants to help here! So cool for a newbie like me to learn!
Edit: Is there a simple fix I can do to keep temps up over my plants overnight? Like using gallon jugs that are halved or something? Temps here at night are looking to stay about 60 for the next ten days.
This post was edited by ApacheRosePea00 on Sun, Jun 1, 14 at 19:25
Looks like Downy Mildew in the second pic. Probably other issues too but would need more info. Container size, mix, nutrients, etc.
Is all the damage only on the lower, older leaves or new growth too? Strip off all the affected leaves, bag and dispose of them and spray with a good fungicide to see if you can get ahead of it. If it has an unaffected, healthy growing tip I'd take a cutting and root it so you have a replacement ready to go.
Good luck.
Dave
Good idea about a backup, didn't even think about that.I pinch off the yellow leaves and leave them on the soil so guess that's not a good idea, I'll remove. Thanks.
Yes, new growth look good - green, no curling, healthy looking though not as large of foliage as the bottom. But the curling and yellowing sure are catching up fast.
Container is 5 gal (or 4.75 if I did the math right), I know it's a bit too small. I saw someone's Gardener's Delight in a 5 gal pot and it did well but I know many factors can affect.
Mix is Kellogg's organic potting mix (specifically Patio Plus). I didn't add anything else other than Jobe's fertilizer (4-4-4) when I first transplanted it from the 4x4 container @ purchase to the 4.75 gal container, that was 6+ weeks ago.
Wonder if I will kill this plant after all. Man, I thought I was doing well.
I don't see anything wrong with the plant in the photo other than putting that tiny cage on it was a waste of time and effort as it is already outgrowing it. But as others have said a day or two of partial shade after transplanting is usually all that is needed for the plant to recover.
If it is a Big Boy it is going to need something far more substantial and 4x taller than that for support, but I have to say that plant was very likely mis-labeled. Based on the photo, Its growth pattern and node lengths certainly don't look like a Big Boy. It has the appearance and growth patterns of a determinate variety, not an indeterminate.
Dave
Nice, healthy looking plants Ellen!!!!!
I have some interesting plant protectors that I bought at a Gardener's Supply sale some years ago. They are about 2' tall opaque plastic "surrounds" (like a plant pot or a lamp shade with spikes cut into the plastic to insert into the soil. They also come with tops that snap on and are like an upside-down colander. I wish I had more of them! I put two on a couple of my plants to keep them a bit warmer and to see if they would do better than the other plants, and I think they have helped!
Linda
Very nice, Linda. That plant looks great.
I think WOW is a means of sheltering. I made small cages from rabbit fence and wrapped them with bubble wrap, They work fine but I did not do a side-by-side study to see how much of a difference it made. Certainly, if WOW works for you then that is all it counts.
Have a good season !
I wonder if a pot-in-pot setup would be useful here. Get a bigger pot. Fill it with a few inches of potting mix first. Put this pot in. Drive 3 stakes into the space between the pots and fill in the rest with potting mix.
How big is this pot anyway?
Alternatively, if you can't drive stakes into the ground, and you don't mind building stuff, you can put together a cage with whatever material that can stand on its own.
Someone here shared a design for a pvc tomato cage, for example:
Here is a link that might be useful: Pvc cage.
If you want to use the cage you already have, i think you could just stick it in now - won't cause too much root damage i don't think. and i would just leave the other one there. however, i agree that you may need more than that down the road - and a single stake inside that pot may not be very stable.
the pot-in-a-pot idea might be the cheapest solution - if you can get a big cheap plastic pot.
another forum member just built a trellis on a patio - see link below -
Here is a link that might be useful: johns trellis
Forecast low of 42 here for tonight, strong radiational cooling. I'll go into the upper 30s. Arrr! I seem to have been able to control some early blight on my containerized plants with judicious pruning, Daconil, and moving them to keep them dry. Ground planted indeterminates have no signs of disease, though they're still getting their twice-weekly mist of Daconil, too.
It's been a bad East of the Hudson Valley" spring. So while Edweather in central NY is doing fine, we're swimming in damp cold. Just the pattern we have. Today is another example. Low pressure meandering off the Cape and throwing back showers today to, well, right about 50 miles west of us. But our day will come!
Patrick...very nice description of your weather pattern. Hopefully it will change soon for you folks. Yes we have been fortunate in our little doughnut hole this year. Usually have huge May flooding rains, but not this year. Our nights have been chilly but the days make up for it.
I take all buds and blossoms off my indet and det seedlings after hardening them off and setting them outside at 6-9 inches.
The blossom cycle is abuot two weeks so I would not see blossoms again until then.
In the intervening time all energy produced from the plants will go into developing stems and foliage and a better root system, the vegetative cycle, instead of energy being shunted to the sexual cycle of blossoms and fruit set.
Carolyn
Were the plants all the same size in the 6 pack when you bought them? If not, it is possible the 2 stunted plants had been stunted due to injury or exposure before you bought them.
Is it possible that the stunted plants were more than 1 stem in the 6 pack? The plant on the left above is clearly 1 main stem but can't see the stem of the one on the right. Sometimes multiple plants will sprout in the same cell and if the extras are not removed all of them are stunted and some develop fused stems.
Are there any signs of insects on the underside of the leaves? Both aphids and especially Psyllids can stunt plants.
There are a couple of viral diseases that can cause stunting but if that was the cause one would expect the plant to look discolored and wilty too.
And can you tell me where you are located and how long the plants have been in the ground so there is some idea of the effects of weather if any?
Lastly, when planting was there any signs of soil dwelling pest like grubs etc. that could be damaging the roots of the 2 plants?
Thanks for additional info.
Dave
As I look at your plants ( 4 in the picture) they all appear very healthy, though different in size.
Other than what has been said:
Plants are like humans in a way. They are not 100% identical. If your Romas are hybrid, it is possible that maybe they came from different fruits or source or the seeds were not true.
I have about 4 Siletz that I have started them from seed and have planted them the same time, in the same bed. Some are more vigorous than the others.
But I would just take them as they are. If they are determinant, then it should fine to grow bushy.
Growing indet varieties will invariably lead to green fruits being on the vine during first frost. I have yet to see big improvement from topping plants and cutting off new growth etc in terms of speeding up last few greens to maturity. However I am very curious to know if I can play with growth vs fruiting fert requirements like adding extra soft rock phosphate with liquid calcium nitrate, tiny bit of ammonia in July but then again in beginning of August... I am not familiar with this type of game but am thinking out loud...
I can play with growth vs fruiting fert requirements like adding extra soft rock phosphate with liquid calcium nitrate
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Thank Linda. I have never heard or thought about that method to improve fruit ripening.
End of season (around first frost) we all get tons of green tomatoes. Few near color break might ripen inside. Then I make some nice green tomato pickles. But I end up composting bucketful of them. That is why, on suggestion of MANDELL, i experimented topping toward the end of season. I will do it this season too, more conservatively: say top any new growth, buds from 45 days remaining to FFD on. This way I should end up with enough green ones to pickle.
This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, May 31, 14 at 5:51
Build your soil. That is most important thing to do for any gardening. Am working on mine and yeah, science is getting there, so much excitement!
Canôt help but be on pins and needles to try my new fert Urban Farm Texas tomato fertilizer. Have heard tons of great reviews about it. I am pretty much Neptune person and love the products. For NPK I have used in the past Amaze from Intern Ag Labs. Great stuff because it has soluble Ca and phosphate. Canôt use it till tomato fruit is set though... From Urban Farm I ordered one pre fruit set and one for after. We will see and compare.
She does look amazing--thanks for posting the pic so we can stop speculating.
Lots of green growth. If it were mine I would do some pruning just to redirect some of its energy to ripening fruit. Or just wait it out--I've seen alot of BER and blossom drop in other tomatoes in the beginning of the season, esp. during heatwaves which the 90's is around here. But like someone said above Juliet is usually foolproof...
I think your mgrow was poss. too high in nitrogen. I would get some fishbone meal scratched into the top to give the roots some phosphorous which will definitely help the fruits ripen.
Cheers!
Lots of green growth. If it were mine I would do some pruning just to redirect some of its energy to ripening fruit.
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That has been exactly my thoughts before you (vinemaple) posted.
Then I know of some experts who would probably say : Don't touch it!, It can cost you production.
This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, May 31, 14 at 6:04
I know Daconil very well. The attachment sites for the fungal foliage diseases are on the upper leaf surface and when Daconil is used at the right concentration it binds to those attachment sites and prevents the fungal spores from attaching.
So I don't know what's going on with the destruction of blossoms.
All I can think of is that if the wrong concentration of daconil was used and theleaves were wet with dew, that when the sun came out that holes were burned on the foliage and you should see those holes, and that b/c what's on the leaves acts as a prism, concentrating the sun's rays.
I have heard of that when other products are sprayed on the foliage, I can't remember which ones right now but I know that soap is one of them.
So no, I know nothing special about either german Queen or Persimmon as to sensitivity to Daconil, I've grown both but no way can I remember if I was using Daconil when both were grown.
But in the past I've used Daconil with thousands of varieties and never a problem. Daconil iis the most widely used anti fungal in the world and more data is known about chlorothalinol, the active ingredient in Daconil, than all other anti=fungals.
Carolyn
Since they were planted more than 2 weeks ago then it sounds as if they are on track and behaving normally. So no I don't see any reason why they would need to be replaced.
If you feel it is stressing the plant for some reason then you can always pinch off the blooms but usually, once transplanted, there is no need to remove any blooms that develop. If the plant can't support them then they don't set fruit and the plant drops them. Which is common with the first flush of blooms.
Dave
If these cherries are indeterminates, their normal growth pattern is for 3 leaves (compound leaves), followed by a truss of blossoms. That pattern repeats until frost.
And of course a new branch is likely to appear in the angle between each leaf and stem.
Determinate and semi-determinate varieties follow other growth patterns.