16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

but my HZ is 3. Sure feels hotter than that though :)

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Yeah. Heat zone 3 can be hot too but only a for short time; (8 to 14 days over 85F) It can even go to 100F. But statistically it won't be longer than 2 weeks during the whole summer.

I think your HZ is near PERFECT for gardening.

"Update: Wait a second, is that supposed to be days per year above 86F? I am definitely above 7. It would guess 2-8 weeks, depending on the year. "

Johns coastal patio: You're in SoCal on the coast, correct? There is no way in hell that you have even close to 4 weeks(28 days) of >86 temps. This year you might get close because of these SPRING Santa Anas, but I'd say it's closer to 2 weeks, at most, in normal years.

I've lived in San Diego all my life(50 years) and the only time(except for the odd year like this year) it gets mid 80's(or above) on the coast is during the October(or so) Santa Anas.

So figure it out. 3-4 Santa Anas per year in the early fall, at max. 3-4 days of heat each one.

I agree about 20 miles inland though. Totally different climate than ON the coast. Been dealing with the heat of the valleys almost my whole life..

Kevin

Well, we all gotta use what's available to us.

Have you considered mulching with woodchip, often available for free from tree services?

http://aswcd.org/Woodchips.pdf

https://freemulch.abouttrees.com/#!/home

I'd be concerned about termites or other wood loving pests. I have used rotted wood bark and the soil turned into something really nice but that was more the result of cleaning up an area and planting a garden where wood had been laying around for years.

Another thread gave me an idea to contact area farms who might have old straw. Straw is safer and gives soil a great feel after it rots. In that post the guy got 36 bales for $10. New straw is about $8-$9 around here.

So far I picked up 2 bags of cow manure.

Tell you one thing I can hoe most of the bed without stepping on it.

Saw another thing at Home Depot I want to look into, high desert sand. I was thinking maybe in small doses mixed with cow manure and some peat might give my tomato and pepper hills nice drainage.

Thanks for the replies! I have three beds of tomatoes, so I may try a different mulch in each of them and see of there is any noticeable difference. I'll continue to add leaves and grass to all of them in the fall, but use it as mulch in only one bed this summer. I'll try hay or straw in the second and wood chips over newspaper in the third bed.

I'd choose straw over hay. Hay can contain a number of different weed seeds that would just love to germinate in your nice rich soil. Cardboard under straw is awesome.
Edie

Suggest removing affected foliage immediately, and spray with a fungicide, maybe Daconil.

As I suspected. Albeit, a little befuddlling, given recent weather conditions - essentially no rain, until today ironically, and I really have watered very sparsely. Weird that it seemed to originate on my well established, well mulched rose bush as well. Dang.
I believe the rose is too far gone. Thinking about deadheading to the ground and disposing of it all, in addition to the mulch below.
As for the maters, as suggested, I removed as much affected foliage as I could, and thinned out below and between plants. Really had to butcher a couple badly. Then, since it finally dried up today, applied Daconil. Don't have high hopes, though. Been too busy, and let it get out of control before diagnosis. :(

Thanks, all!

Hello,

I have a question, this is my first year growing vegetables in a home garden. I am doing a raised cinder block bed and using a square foot garden method with 15 squares and strawberries in the cinder block holes. All of my plants seem to be doing great except one. I have five different tomato plants (roma juliet, big boy, black krim, roma, and red beefsteak). All my tomato plants have been growing, flowering, and growing tomatoes except the beefsteak. The beefsteak is about 4 feet tall, has tons of flowers, i am not sure if they are being pollinated but i go in and pollinate myself with a paint brush. After the petals drop i see a tiny tomato but they have been like that for weeks they wont grow from the pea size. Everything is watered evenly and it gets plenty of sun and once a week i apply plant food. I live in houston so the weather is warm right now not too cold at night definitely not in the 50s. Should i cut off all the pea size tomatoes. I have looked for diseases or bugs but cant find anything on this particular issue. I am thinking the pollination or temperature is an issue but will the tiny tomatoes begin to grow once its happy or should i just cut them off and shock the plant a bit. The pea size tomatoes look a lot like the ones pictured above. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

Topsoil as potting medium is not a good option. The reason being that it compacts under its own weight , when it holds too much moisture. But it can be amended by adding some perlite and pine pine. I have potting with garden soil in the past. It can be done but not very successfully.

Perhaps seedlings of giant pumpkins? I'm under the impression that the average gardener wouldn't know where to obtain seeds of those varieties. You could put together a list of tips for growing them, and hand those out with each purchase.

Try Craig's list under Free or Farm & Garden sections. I've given away my extras that way before. I would also try local but larger greenhouses & nurseries for a variety of different tomato plants. Maybe give them a call first and explain your situation and see if they'll donate or sell for a discounted price. You may want to check with local gardening clubs or even gardening friends to see if they have extras of unusual tomato plants.

I'm baffled! I took my 6 grafted heirloom tomatoes that were growing healthy scions (tops), and half of the tops just fell right off when I finally moved them.

Now, it seems to me that if the tops were growing healthfully, the graft had to be functioning. But they arent. After 3 weeks, if they aren't then, they never will.

I gave the grafted scion darkness for a week, I kept them humidified. No signs of fungal problems.

6 of the 15 grafts seemed to thrive. I let them be exposed to light very gradually for over a week after a week of darkness. Most of the grafts just fell apart when I tried to move them gently...

If the scions were growing new leaves, they HAD to be connected to the rootstock, So what did I do wrong?

And I will say that I am very glad I planted enough so that there are plenty of regular-growing heirlooms!

So when are your seedlings too small to plant outside? I have lots of seedlings that seem to be stalling out inside... granted, this is the first year I've tried growing from seed and I don't have all the proper tools like fluorescent lighting, etc. I think they aren't getting quite enough light inside so I would like to move them out as soon as possible. I've been setting them out in the late afternoon / early evening for sun exposure. They all have just started their second set of leaves and they are pretty small.
I do have other plants already in the ground, but I just wonder if these seedlings might just do better outside or if they are still too fragile. I'm hoping maybe another week of hardening off... sorry I don't have pics handy. Thanks!

Daisyjoy,

I don't think seedlings are ever too small to be planted outside! After all, they often manage to sprout all by themselves in people's veggie gardens (if left to their own devices).

As long as your air and soil temperatures are warm enough, and you are there to water and protect them, I think they will do better outside.

Linda

>> How often do I water them now that its turning summer (its hot where
>> I am (florida))?

Just to illustrate that there are no hard and fast rules for tomatoes, I live in climate sorta similar to Florida, except it's dry (we get as much rain in a year as you get in a wet two days) and the temperature swings are larger because of that dryness. I water toms on a slow auto drip every single day. Here, it works but in many other parts of the world it would be a bad idea.

And take the "days until harvest" numbers with a BIG grain of salt. The numbers have some hype built in. Again, your climate and techniques dictate reality. Wing it!

I'll stick with the racoon part of the question since the answers to all your other questions are found in many, many of the existing discussions here - lots of homework reading to do including all the FAQs here that cover all the basics. For example just type 'cages or stakes' in the search engine at the bottom of the page or 'watering'.

But racoons I deal with weekly. Electrical fencing is ideal of course. If that is out regular fencing is better than nothing especially if it is lose, floppy, and angled out. The repellents work but have to be applied regularly and after every rain. I find coyote urine to be the most effective. Life trapping and relocating is very effective - Have A Heart traps. And if you are out in the country, a .22 works too.

Dave

On Cherry Tomatoes:

I have several SUNGOLDS that I have started from seed. Today I was at Fred Myers Garden center They have Sun Sugar. The price @ $1.99. was right for a nice 6" sturdy plant, BUT:
I realy do not have more garden space. Is Sun Sugar any better than Sungold ? If YES, I might squeeze one some place.

They had so many different nice varieties That I would've liked to grow, if I had space : LIKE. Anna Russina, Caspian Pink, Black from Tula, Indigo Rose, Red Zebra, Ananas Noir, Juliet, Jet Star, German Johnson, Amish paste, Kellog BeefSteak ... and few more.They all were from another grower, NOT Bonnie

So what do you think about Sun Sugar ?

Well, I can't be certain until seeing the fruit. :)

But the store calls it "Golden Sweet Cherry" and the picture that the store put on top of the shelf is of yellow cherry tomatoes (spherical, not elongated) as pictured in the Johnny's Seeds webpage.

The store has a picture and a brief description of each of the tomato varieties that they sell. I recall that the description for this variety mentions something about the tomato being developed at some research center called the "Week Center" or something like that.

" I could list maybe my top 5 if you wanted me to"

Carolyn
I and probably many others would love to hear your top 5 hearts.

Mike

I was in Fred Myers Nursery today.
The had Anna Russian plants @ $1.99. Good sturdy, about 6".
I don't have anymore space otherwise would have bought one.