16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Most any source of stress can trigger blooming on a young plants. Being root bound in its container is the most common IME. Ambient air temps that are too warm is another. Inconsistent soil moisture levels another. Pests and over-fertilization another although it doesn't sound as if you have been doing that.
So rather than just removing the blooms you do best to ID the source of the stress and eliminate it.
Dave
Thanks for the replies. My air-temp is in the mid 60's. Don't think they are root bound yet as my containers are 3" square and about same for the depth. I don't let the soil dry out to the point where they wilt (which they have never done) but even though the soil is damp/moist to the touch it isn't like it is after just watering. Only 2 varieties out of my 17 have put out blossoms. Identifying the source could be difficult under the circumstances that I've listed. I guess the next best thing is to just remove the blossoms. I plan on putting them outside to stay around the 2nd week of May which isn't far away. Thanks again for taking the time to try and help me out.
i meant that i use miraclegro half and half with old soil or garden soil when repotting new plants, unless im planting them in the ground where the soil is good quality.
I think you missed the point missingtheobvious was making above. You never use soil/dirt in any amount or any type in any container. It compacts, drains poorly, retains water far too long and causes root rot and other diseases.
You are just asking for problems with plants if you use anything other than a light soil-less mix in containers.
i dont think the tomato has outgrown the pot yet, because it hasnt grown much since i bought it. and the container it was in originally was much smaller
Top growth is not an indicator of whether a plant is root bound or not. The bottom line is your pot in the photo is far too small. That is obvious by the scale of the plant to the pot. It is too small for for 90% of the tomato plants out there. So transplanting it into a much bigger container after stripping off all the affected leaves and filling the pot with a proper potting mix might save the plant.
Of course if you knew the name of the variety it could make a big difference. Can you go back to HD and find another one of them and note the name?
Dave
Sorry to hijack a thread, but I think this relates and it would be redundant to start my own thread.
I put my indeterminates too close together. I don't know what I was thinking. I have 4 plants, a foot between each (in a square shape).
I don't want to prune (did research and I'm of the non-pruning opinion) ... but I'm wondering if in my situation I'm going to NEED to prune?
I'm in a dry, dry area so I'm not too worried about rot from lack of airflow. I'm training them up long poles and tying them away from each other. If they weren't already 1+ foot tall I'd just move them.
Did the OP mention anything about production per sq. foot? I don't think so. Sq. foot production may be of interest to you but it isn't of interest to many, if not most, gardeners. Production per plant is.
f it does not appeal to you plant JUST one in 3' x 3" (=9 sf)
I don't know where you are getting your measurements but assuming you mean that 3 feet x 3 feet (not inches) = 9 sq. feet is one spacing option you are right. That is because the average indeterminate tomato plant is at least 3-4' wide.
But you can do the same test using any plant spacing you wish within reason and get the same results.
And yes in a 3' x 6' bed I would probably plant only 3 (not 2) stagger-planted indeterminate varieties, caged and unpruned. And assuming we used the same varieties and provided the same growing conditions I would get 2 to 3x the production in both weight and numbers you will get from 6 plants in that same bed. You might get a few ripe fruit earlier and might get a few that are somewhat larger but your overall production in numbers and total weight will be much less than mine It is simple anatomy of a tomato plant as it grows.
I can say that because I have done it in my own gardens many times. In over 50 years of raising tomatoes I have tried just about everything at least once if not more just to discover for myself what works best. One never knows unless they give it a real try. Otherwise it is just guessing.
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Macer - yes IMO you will need to prune them. A 3-4' wide plant just can't grow well in 1' of space. Personally, even though they are a foot tall I would be tempted to try to transplant a couple of them. Alternative - root cuttings off the center 2 and then snip the mother plants off at ground level and plant the 2 rooted cuttings with better spacing.
Dave
THREE plus years later, BUMP !
I am growing something that I believe is Pineapple.
I got the seeds out of a HEIRLOOM that I bought from store.
Here is a picture. The one that is sliced.
So I am interested in the faith of my plant. But I suspect that it should be fine, otherwise WHY one would grow it commercially.
These toms were started from seeds indoors as were the basil and marigolds in the same bed. Is the daconil organic? Is there something else I could use, compost tea perhaps, if it is fungal?That is all I'm using thus the neem oil that I sprayed. I haven't seen any slugs and I've been looking, I do have caterpillars and grasshoppers though. The tomato was still attached to the plant and I removed it. I appreciate the replies, thank you.
~Viv
Good luck, Ron.
As I said in my previous post, in Carolinas, GA, weather warms up much faster than here in PNW. I am in zone almost 8 and our LFD was about April 1st, but temperatures are lingering between 39-43 for lows and 53 to 64 for highs. Eg, tomorrow will be 60(day) to 39(night). By next Monday things should improve. My tomatoes have been either planted or are in temp pots outside with no protection. Surprisingly, they have been growing and some have buds/flowers. Not holding my breath but it shows that they are doing ok.
May I am in the central part of the state a bit north of Austin. If the plants are large you most likely get fruit off of them before the heat sets in. Think of the growing season here as two seasons.
Early season is from last frost till the heat kicks into high mercury mode of highs over 95 with lows over 80.
Once the heat gets to triple digit level keep the plants watered. They will survive. If you see them flower just note they may not set fruit. That is normal.
Once the heat breaks the plants will set fruit again. It is just a matter of if they get to fatten up enough before the first frost hits.
If they get to the point that they are full fattened up, but still green. You can harvest those as well. Wrap each one in a sheep of news paper, and put them in a box in a warm dry place. Check on them every few days after a month. You will have some nice ripe red tomatoes in the middle of winter.
If not then fried green tomatoes can be tasty as well.
Thank you guys very much, im very grateful for the feedback. I did stake them and am going to build a tomato cage for them starting this week. I am going to do my best and hopefully ill get some results. A shade cloth does sound like a good idea so i may try that as well. I never really planned on getting giant tomato plants but i think it will be a very interesting learning experience. The only thing i still really have a question on is pesticides and fungicides. Do you use them regularly or only if you see problems? Are there any really good brands to use? Thanks again guys!
Last pic sure looks like powdery mildew to me. Fungus spores are visible. Strip off all affected leaves to help slow the progress.
Treatment is fungicides. There are both organic (copper, sulfur, Neem oil) and synthetic (Daconil) fungicides available.
As to homemade concoctions, some claim a diluted peroxide spray 1 part to 10 parts water will help. Others claim sprays made from baking soda or aspirin also work. Personally I have never found them to be very effective.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Natural fungicides controls
My mother grew Big Boy in her open ground garden in zone 4 for decades as her main variety. She never pruned them either or staked em, but she did fertilize the transplant water with MiracleGro and fertilized about half strength when she watered after that. I do not remember her ever having a crop failure with this variety. This was a farm garden and got a good spreader full of raw fertilizer plowed down in the fall. And then was retilled in the spring. It was also a clay based Iowa black dirt that had been garden for decades before I came along too; so it had to be handled carefully especially when wet, but we got very little BER. Try augmenting the soil with dolomite or epsom salts and if you use Peat Moss try switching to Coir for better pH which will help with the calcium and magnesium uptake problems that lead to BER.
I have been very impressed with Burpee's Fourth of July for an early snack tomato and Parks Better Bush ISI (I never saw one plant set so many slicer sized tomatoes - the squirrels around here got em all, too; so I didn't even get a taste test). For heirlooms try Delicious. IMO the Brandywines are over-rated and under productive on top of it. Recipes for cooking squirrel would also be appreciated ... (only about half kidding)
IIRC Burpee started the whole "Boy" line of hybrid beefsteak tomatoes in the first place, I see nothing wrong with them continuing to develop it. Or anybody else either for that matter.
I have several problems with cages. OR to me they have several disadvantages:
----- Good and Functional ones, if you buy them ready made, are expensive.
---- Good and Functional ones if you want to make yourself,require a lot of work (transporting, cutting, forming). If you make them out of PVC, they are made up of so many pieces and fittings, gluing ....
--- Winter storage is yet the biggest disadvantage of cages, unless you have a big barn or something.
They do offer, however, convenience, (once made, or paid for) during the season as compared to staking.
For the reasons above , I prefer staking/weaving combination. It require some extra maintenance work (tying , weaving), but they are easy, to make, cost less and are easy to store( be it wood, Rebar, EMT ..)
YMMV
Whether to stake, cage, trellis or even just let the vines sprawl is a matter of personal preferences and circumstances. Some people enjoy building a cage, others are willing to pay for a ready-made model or spend their time pruning and tying a staked plant. We all also have different space availability, soil, rainfall, wind, temperature, etc. All these things factor into a home gardner's choice of tomato support.
For me, I do find it fun to hunt for material to build different types of cages (and other garden structures like raised beds and trellises). So, this is what I did.
The one important thing is just to have the chosen method work more or less as intended, along with all of the associated costs and benefits, instead of suffering a nasty surprise-- like the support being too small or flimsy for the plant or get blown over by wind due.
It is basically benign but it still shouldn't be ignored as it is a definitive sign that the soil in the cups is being kept too wet. It is easy to eliminate - and to prevent in the first place - but it poses not long-term threat to the plants. There is more of a threat to them from the overly moist media.
And they definitely need to be transplanted into individual containers before the roots become even more entangles and the transplanting kills them.
Dave
Better chance of survival by far had it been done several weeks back. At this point survival is doubtful IMO. If you have the time and room and what to see what happens, fine. They won't do anything like that so thin them out substantially and see what happens.
Personally, I'd probably pull and pitch them and use the space for something with assured productivity.
Dave
Looks like you have flowers already. You can taste test some in just a little bit and decide to pull them later if they are yucky. I too would have a hard time pulling such healthy plants :)