16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Request a "basic soil test with recommendations for growing vegetables in a home garden."
Around here, the approx cost is $30 to $35.
It's a good investment to have that baseline otherwise you're guessing what you need and how much. thus will likely waste time and money .
so I finally got the analysis, but I can't find the 6-24-24. The analysis is below. I appreciate any comments. thx
The pH value of this soil is slightly acid in reaction and is satisfactory at this time. The levels of soluble salt are safely low in this soil.
The fertility analyses show low nitrogen, potassium, sulfate and boron in this soil at this time.
Preplanting should include the following materials per 1000 square feet of bed area:
Gypsum 50 lbs
Ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) 10 lbs
6-24-24 mixed fertilizer 25 lbs
The above amendments should be thoroughly incorporated into the upper 6-8" of the soil profile.
When the plants begin to produce fruit, it is recommended that higher rates of potassium and nitrogen be used by applying the following fertilizer materials per 1000 square feet:
Ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) 5.0 lbs
Potassium sulfate (0-0-50) 10.0 lbs
The above fertilizer materials should be watered in thoroughly.
Yeah, we pretty much went from high sixties and low seventies to nineties, skipping eighties entirely.
August and September might be in nineties and hundreds, even by the cost.
Between now and then we typically have "June Gloom" with a wall of coastal clouds. Fungal diseases can strike.
(This year is my first with a drip system and timer. It is definitely helping me, and probably the number one improvement over past attempts at container tomatoes. I have been watching soil moisture, and perhaps erroring to the dry side for the tomatoes. The young peppers and eggplants get half as much as thevtoms (nonadjustable emitters) and are probably a bit wet.
Plants are growing gangbusters, and except for the Reisentraube (with one!), setting fruit.
Next year, I am going all adjustable, for sure.)
Spots develop on leaves for many reasons and the majority of them are nothing to be concerned about.
This is just what is often called "environmental damage" from growing conditions - in this case indoors with artificial lighting, inconsistent soil moisture level, in a small container, and poor air circulation etc. etc.
The odds of any plant developing any of the common tomato diseases while growing indoors is practically nil. Not IMpossible but very improbable.
Plant them.
Dave
Oh good. I'd forgotten about Tatiana. I need to start a new file. That lead me to the Rutgers list. Wish they posted a mature leaf with the photos.
Here is a link that might be useful: rutgers.edu
I'm actually looking for plant anatomy.
This is a start i suppose...
Here is a link that might be useful: ucdavis tomato plant anatomy
Peat is an excellent germination (seeding) medium, even straight up.
Peat as one component of a good, balanced, soil-less, seed starting mix is ok for seed starting IF it is properly wetted first. Peat straight up is not as it has all the issues detailed above.
Peat, as one component of a good balanced growing mix is also fine. Transplanting young seedlings into containers of dirt is not a wise move because of damp-off and water retention issues.
Dave.
They look like some of mine that got a bit of 'food shock'.
I re-potted in maybe 6 stages due to time and took some quick notes.
The first tray of mine had that slightly crooked stem. I just called it a confused 'core'.
Unbalanced potting up in a light potting mix...And fed at that moment. I think i over-fed.
(i have no idea what i'm talking about)
I stuck a note on that tray, "don't feed". (for a while, at least a week)
Second tray i potted dry plants into warm wet potting mix and bottom fed water till saturated.
I waited to feed the very dilute fish/seaweed a few days.
My best and healthiest tray so far.
My fan, across the room, runs almost all day. Set so they dance and jig a bit.
All looks good now and the early tray has recovered.
-i did lighten my potting mix that felt light at first, then compacted rock hard within a week.
I started about three weeks too soon, and now have an extra 'insurance' tray to pot up.
About half the size of the first run. Will be interesting to see it they catch up with the elders.
-I do not put in ground till June 1st or week of. Aprox have room for 60. The rest go to good adoption homes.
Sorry, I misread that all 3 were in the same pot, not same sized pots.
Cilantro gets about a foot tall in my garden but may not in a pot, esp. in your heat. Best to move that to a shady area. Sounds like basil could do with less sun too (and in picture looks wilted a little, maybe it needed watering then).
Leaf miners shouldn't do serious damage to the tomato. How bad is the septoria? If that's not basil in the bottom of the tomato pot, then you've got some very low-hanging trusses that should be removed. And it looks like 4 main stems?? How many plants in the tomato pot?
The first link on the page Dave gave was to Cornell - they say use fungicides containing maneb, mancozeb, chlorothalonil, or benomyl. University of Maine gives some brand names - Daconil is one that I've heard spoken of highly, though I grow organically so have only used copper (probably too little too late).
Is it very humid there? Septoria really only likes it in about the 70's for temps, and 100% RH. I'd think that it would be getting hotter (if not dry) in FL by now, so removing the affected foliage, separating the plants (if multiples, may have to cut a couple off if too big to separate), bottom watering or carefully watering at the soil surface and not the leaves, and allowing plenty of sun and good air flow would go a long way toward controlling it.
Here is a link that might be useful: U of Maine septoria page
Thank you. Yeh it's getting hotter here entering into Summer, and humid. I'll attach some pics as I think teh Septoria is getting worse. There's 5 main stems and one or two look bag, like even the stem is turning the off gray/blackish color and that's also the one where the flowers just die and fall off where as the other side you can see the flowers in yellow and starting to bloom. Not sure if when i move it to the larger pot, should i just cut off that stem and throw it away? I'll look into copper as I saw people recommend that.
I think that would be strong and it's clean unlike the other stuff I mentioned. I'd say the opening is fine at 6"x6". Although I've grown tomatoes that big most are much smaller. And you should be able to reach in and trim whatever you need or want to trim.
It is your choice as long as you understand it will cost you production.
Sounds as if better cages are needed especially since it is normally a much taller plant ranging 8 feet easily and most of us just let the extra growth drape down over the outside of the 6' cages and keep on growing. Circulating the needed water and nutrients poses no problem for the plant. It just grows more back up systems. :)
Many discussions here about 'topping' and what happens to the growth if you do it. Unfortunately "bushing out" isn't what happens with indeterminates as those lower nodes are already sealed off. it just stimulates new top growth - usually doubled from the nodes just below the cut.
Dave
OK. I think the point is that topping won't encourage bushing out. That's a bit surprising, as there are plenty of suckers, and I would have thought that topping would just encourage them to grow more. I wasn't expecting lots of new suckers to form.
As I said, there are no incentives in this climate for letting the plant grow very tall. When the summer heat gets fierce, it's the heat that effectively "tops" the plant. I see that on many plants.
With my hybrid cages, I can manage 6 feet, which is probably where I'll lop them off.
As a general rule mixing different suspensions is not recommended. Without details from the manufacturer we can't know the effects the ingredients will have on each other or the effect the mix will have on the plants. In this case the M-Pede label says:
Always determine the compatibility of water, pesticides, and other additives prior to mixing in the tank.
It then goes on to discuss testing on various plants before application, the damage that can be done to various plants, etc. etc.
In this particular case since the goals of foliar feeding and the purposes and goals of pest control are totally different, especially when growing organically, mixing the two would be strongly not recommended.
Aside from the fact that pesticides are never used prophylactically, especially when gardening organically as they kill beneficials as well as any pest that might happen by, you need to learn more about M-Pede.
First it is not just a pesticide but also a fungicide and is composed of mostly fatty acid salts. It works by coating the leaves. If you mixed it with a foliar feeding spray how would it be absorbed through the coated leaves. And the fungicide benefits would be neutralized by the salts.
Second, as the label states it only control aphids when used in conjunction with other aphid pesticide products.
See link below.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: MSDS - M-Pede
Haha. Just carried my first tray out for some shady bright hot weather. Maybe a few more trays will get some nice weather...yesterday, after so much rain, during the rain, i was even wearing a scarf, and down vest under my raincoat, giving my evergreens some food.
Indoor winter air is usually low in Relative Humidity, whereas a commercial greenhouse is highly humid. So the plants (in commercial greenhouse) do not need those hairs , trying to get moisture to compensate for moisture loss. To me those hairs are similar to thorns grown on some desert vegetation like cacti.
Just my theory.
And if they don't produce fruit, it doesn't really matter :)
Seriously, she's right. The one does smell different.
The stake fell out of the row of SS100 early on and when we found it, I didn't replace it. I wasn't feeling well yesterday when I finished transplanting and when I yanked them out of the little flat, I realized the stake was loose and didn't know which row it had come from. At first I thought it went with one, but then I thought I could see the indent at the head of the other row. Anyway, that's what happened and the row with the indent seems to be Sungold.
I've been using Peters 20-20-20 on everything. I grew Brandywine, Black Krim, Maskotka and these 2. All new but the SS100 so we'll see.
Diana
Yeah I was going to suggest that because it shoots out runners like lemon balm. Some times plants can do amazing things. Had a dirty pond, threw some straw on top...clear pond. Had mosquitoes...tossed a shovel full of lemon balm on top and the vampires went away.
I'm on one site right now and it says peppermint oil. They also mention ammonia soaked cloth.
Of course I left out the obvious choice a cat.
It was named Wheatley's Frost Resistant tomato. Yeah seeds for it are still around from some sources.
An indeterminate cherry type that is claimed to withstand temps down to 25 degrees if I recall correctly.
It never really caught on for some reason. :)
Dave
I would go with the Bt, which is organic. Spray it every few days. Otherwise, hornworms fluoresce a little under black light at night, so you can spot them with a UV flashlight if you get real close.
It also helps to try to eliminate the moths if they congregate around a light at night.
Try a bird bath in your garden. The birds are my gardens best defense against hornworms. Watching the birds fly out of the plants with hornworms in their mouths is a common site. As long as there is water for them they don't peck at my tomatoes.