16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Change doesn't happen through selection.

Change happens through mutation. Selection eliminates poor changes.

Adaptation is a mechanism to improve the chances to survive ( carry on the survival of the gene) A black rabbit cannot survive near the north pole. Also a white bear might die of hunger, To be white they have a better chance of survival. We are not talking about mutation, not even a major change. Polar bear is just a bear.... a Tomato adapted to Siberia is still a tomato. Call it NATURAL SELECTION or SURVIVAL OF THE FIT(to climatic conditions), it is the same.

Those tomatoes came out of South America and some ended up in Siberia and few learned how to cope and survive. That is what I mean by adaptation.

what size pot is ideal for this plant? how often do you guys water your tomatoes?

Since you don't know what the variety is there is no way to know how big it will get or what size pot is "ideal" so a lot of this will be guess work.

The minimum recommended size container is a 5 gallon bucket. Bigger is much better for the plant and less work caring for it. So get the biggest container you can afford to buy and fill with a good quality soil-less potting mix (no soil). Then transplant it. If it survives that, buy a big tomato cage and a 5' stake for the pot.

Watering is "as-the-plant-needs-it" which can mean every 3-4 days some places or often means daily in some hot climates, less often in other climates. Take that wood dowel in the pot and stick it in the new pot 6-8" deep and use it to check the moisture level at the root level to know when to water.

Buy some water-soluble fertilizer and feed it a 1/2 strength dose once every 7-10 days.

Good luck.

Dave

I have extras here in Vacaville. You are welcome to them!

Really you should repot, but I hesitate if they were over a foot tall (leggy) b/c you could damage them in the process, best to just do it once (at transplant) than twice (repot and transplant a couple of weeks later). Best I can recommend at this point is to water sparingly, make sure they don't get soaked with rain, and try to harden off and get them in the ground in the next couple of weeks. When you plant, plant them deep again - they're not likely to have much of a root system so be careful taking them out of the containers, the soil is going to fall off of them.

I hope you have lots of drainage holes in the bottoms of those yogurt cups - if not, try to take a drill and put some in.

I will defer to Dave's experience - he may have a different opinion on the best approach. But you may find yourself buying new plants no matter what.

Whoa sorry I'm bit reading carefully on the phone. You reported when they were 3 inches tall not 13? When did you start them? I'd repot even if in individual cells if 6 packs or something about 2 to 3 inch diameter and 3 inches deep so you can fit them under lights and let them grow abut. Harden them off the end if May and plant after the 7th of June should be about right.

thanks jean and dave! it is in a 18" high raised bed, filled with native soil (sandy loam in the LA river floodplain) with lots of composted organic matter worked in before planting, open bottom to more native soil. hopefully stabilizing the water will help. san marzanos must be more sensitive to it - my sweet 100, sungold and first lady II so far are okay though in same conditions. (so far....knocking on wood...)

All paste types are more prone to it due to their shape.

Dave

Then since any compost will continue to decompose and shrink and your soil level will fall as it does, using that high % of compost means adding more of it each year will be necessary.

Dave

I re-use my potting mixes...adding fresh material to it every Spring. Two things: do not re-use any mix material that grew a diseased plant. Also, keep in mind for the container grower...material breaks down and starts to restrict water movement through the medium. Avoid this "fine particle" situation when container growing.

Those are not the classic leaves of CMV (tightly rolled, string leaves). Nor is it the lime green mottling of TMV (which is a very uncommon disease anyway in the US).

The mottled appearance and the otherwise overall healthy appearance of the leaves is more like early mildew or a micro-nutrient deficiency, probably manganese and magnesium.

This is based on just the pic. Would need more info on plant and a photo of it as a whole to be sure.

Dave

Actually since I took the pic it has grown rapidly and the new growth does not have the pattern. It seems to be mostly at the bottom now on the old growth so whatever it is it looks like it is growing out of it. Strange that it is the only one. I was ready to pull it. seysonn, I was asking a question not making a statement.

This post was edited by fairfield8619 on Fri, May 16, 14 at 16:54

I would spread out on plain paper plates, put in a dry, warm area for a couple weeks, then store as others suggest in very small ziplocks until you wish to start up.

Most will likely germinate.

i had the same problem but with MANY seeds... (darn weather man called for clear, and it dumped buckets while I was sleeping) They dried out on their own in their bags, and i planted them with MUCH skepticism... but around 75% of them germinated. About the same rate I got with seeds that had no issues with icky weather. tomatoes, cantaloupes, and watermelons... even a few types of beans. Give it a shot, the worst that will happen is nothing, but at least ya tried, rather than just throwing them away with out knowing. :)

Hail? I'm in Phoenix AZ - in May. A falling stick from a tree? Not that symmetrical repeatedly. Jeez, you think I'm stupid or what?

This problem presented in the last two weeks. If I had the time to take away from my business to go get a soil sample tested, I would not need to ask for advice from a gardening forum.

Gee whiz, now I remember why I stopped coming over to this forum. It's that sanctimonious attitude. Excuuuuuse me Dave. and good bye.

Whoa! Sanctimonious? Was merely talking in generalities of what can cause such injuries and conditions such as in your pics and why people always assume it is a terrible disease rather than something that can be fixed.

All I knew was you are in zone 9, not specific location, and yes there are hail storms and falling sticks all over zone 9. Likely some even in Phoenix AZ.

But then that wasn't even the point.

You asked, I answered with what I hoped were some helpful suggestions to consider. But if you'd rather assume the worst about both me and your plants that's your choice.

Dave

Timber rot will commonly infect stems of older plants and the symptoms may be mistaken for Damping off.

I had newspaper collars wrapped close around the stem to prevent cutworms, and the lack of air circulation and constant damp is a perfect breeding ground for fungus spores. Be sure you keep any mulch away from actually touching the plants stem.

Dee, what you posted ab0ve is what I was going on.

rather than saying adult damping off, which I like, How about post emergent damping off. ( smile)l

Yes, some of those damping off fungi could be in the soil, aka real dirt,,but the most common occurence of damping off,as you know is either preemergent when the darn seeds dont even germinate or if the germinate they go down quickly;

Summary?

you are convinced that what you show is "adult damping off and that's all that reallymatters. Most of the same pictures in my tomato pathology manual are also shown at TAMU, last I knew and maybe they might even show the 6 pak in my book showing post emergent damping off of those 5- 6 inch seedlings.I didn[t check that 0ut at TAMU.

Carolyn

The last average, I say average, frost date in my zone 5 is about May 15th, and from years of experience, ahem, I would never plant them out until the first week in June when hopefully any late frosts, yea snowstorms, both of which have occured after that May 15th date are hopefully no shows

John, I don't know how many plants you are putting out and I don't know how big they are now, but when my plants got too big I stripped off all the foliage except for a tuft at the top, watered them sparingly when needed, kept them in the shade, all to slow down growth, and then planted them horizontally, leaving just that tuft of foliage exposed. Which would straighten up and make a nice plant

Carolyn

Not at all cold or extreme in our zone 5-6 NY CT right now. Tonight just tuck under a deck or garage, shed. I missed a tray of younger starts last night that i meant to slide into the garage...they got hit with this mornings hard storm and are probably much happier than those i gave cover. (they seem happier, : )
-i have deer, turkeys, bears, and all state forest creatures. I like to bring mine onto a table in the garage to avoid a meal for critters.

I'm getting flood advisories right now for tonights storm on my radar alert.
I've only personally witnessed very high winds and very hard rain/hail destroying toms.
Pid-ly storms without 'seek cover' warnings are smooth sailing for tomatoes.

Probably that tool is for cutting copper tubing. Can cut PVC too, but EMT (steel) ? I am not sure. You can use a hacksaw instead.

But aside from HOW TO CUT, EMT is a good choice as steak. You will need to develop an especial process to make cage out of it.

Could be that it is too small, or soft.

I am space constrained, and plan on doing kind of a greenhouse technique in future, with grow bags and plants trained to a stem or two. This year it is just for the part over the ~40" cages.

Amazing that [oops 10'] of steel tube costs the same as 8' of 2x2!

This post was edited by johns.coastal.patio on Thu, May 15, 14 at 13:37