16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Cuttings? Cuttings? If anything is salvageable, root it in water!

Linda

If the roots are still in place, it may recover. Those Sungolds are very vigorous once they get going! Hopefully it will pop back quickly and still give you lots of tomatoes by mid-summer.

I have saw some tags switched before. Most likely by a customer with poor eyesight that pulled it out to read and stuck it back in the wrong tray!

Last year I saw some potato leaf better boys, according to the tag! :)

My biggest worry with BB plants is disease and pests. If I buy plants, which I rarely do, I get them from a local Mom and Pop greenhouse that has a great reputation. The price is close to the same and sometimes cheaper. And they are much healthier.

I used to occasionally buy a plant or two from my local feed and seed until they started carrying Bonnie.

The problem is the varied and fluid definition of "heirloom." Your idea can be far and away from mine in what constitutes that description. But as was said its an awsome marketing tool so it can be overused.

That being said, if you are concerned look it up. Tags are *usually* correct so if you think a variety labeled as an heirloom is dubtful you can always research that variety and find out if that variety fits your criteria.

Brought them in to the "plant doc" today and they did full imspection for mites and couldnt find any. they said from what i told them (same as i told yall) they said it was most likely fert burn. give them a good flush with plain water and Ill keep my eyes on. I will also check for mites again though just in case.

If it was insect or disease damage, it would be varied and patchy. If it is a soil problem, it would be consistent on all the seedlings. Best luck in solving this.

One of my favourite paste tomatoes...

My sweet golds did that. Are they weak too?

Wispy doesn't mean "weak". I need to be clear about that. It is just a plant appearance thing. And production for me has always been quite good.

So your Sweet Gold did what? Turn yellow from over-watering? Or appear wispy? Or what?

I have never grown it but I none of the reviews I have read about it describe it as wispy in appearance. Non of the photos of the plant I saw on Google Images appear wispy. Rather it appears to be a huge strong plant.

Dave

You can look up WOW, wall of water, good option. My last frost date is around same time and generally my plants are going into WOW around May 1. I have hoop house so plants have been in and out of it for couple of weeks, unfortunately our night temps drop pretty low yet. You might need to play around with moving in and out of cold frame for a bit as posted above.

There is no "best" way to do this and the odds are you will lose some of the plants, especially given their size and age. Make note of that for next year so you do't start so early. :)

All of them will have to be hardened off first and that is a gradual process over several days. There is a BIG difference between the protected environment of in the house vs. out in a cold frame

Then, assuming your cold frame is already up and running and warming the soil, I'd suggest planting a couple of them directly in the ground there and see how they do. Leave the rest in their pots.

Assuming you can be there to monitor them carefully throughout the day - and it it doesn't have auto venting for heat and some source of heat for warmth you will need to be - you'll know within a couple of days which approach is tolerated best.

Personally if I already had 12" tall plants and still 5-6 weeks before I could plant them out I'd root cuttings from those plants to plant in the garden at the proper time, keep them indoors, and pitch the rest of the existing plants. That way I'd have proper sized transplants without all the problems and work of the cold frame.

Dave

Agree. Pot them up, much safer approach than letting them get root bound.

Dave

OK. I potted up to 4" pots. I had to put together a kind of cold frame against a south facing wall because the newly potted up plants were not going to fit back in my indoor plant rack. Had a couple of glass patio doors and some translucent plastic sheet, so the toms have a kind of greenhouse now. I think they'd be safe in there even if we have a mild frost. Thanks for the advice.

Chuck

If I may suggest something... Plant 2 of the weaker-looking ones at one spot outside when the weather warms. One will probably do better. Snip the other.

They're all in the ground now, and seem to be surviving the transplant process. The smaller ones are improving.

Thanks for the advice.

I think you will have to replace them. Tomatoes are tropical plants and cannot stand frost.

But IF you really want to try and save the ones you have, see what wilts the next couple days and snip that off. You may get regrowth from the remaining plant.

But I'd go with new ones. Sometimes cold stunts tomatoes the whole season.

It all depend on how bad the frost bite was. I think it is worth to baby them for a while and see what happens. Chances are that they might bounce back.

Probably, by the time you read this post you've already determined the fate of your plants.

Carolyn

I'd be very grateful if you'd share with us which varieties are those "many other large pinks, tastier & more productive" than Caspian Pink?

BTW, any advice (books, info., etc.) too on growing cucumbers?

Looking forward to your response to this, Thanks a Lot in advance,

Iñaki Aguirre

Caspian Pink is a fine tomato. I've grown it. I just like Brandywine and (especially) Cherokee Purple better. Among the pinks, I recall Ponderosa Pink (from my Dad's garden) being a bit better. But he had decades of saved seeds adapted to the spot (sadly lost) so I'm not sure it is what you could find today.

Here's my simple approach.

I also use 72-cell Jiffy pellets. Follow directions about how much water. Heat under pads, about 5-6 days after majority have germinated. Remove pad, place entire tray 2 inches below 16-hour fluorescents. The late ones will come up eventually if you keep each cell watered regularly...not soaked, but moisturized. Once most have
developed 4-6 total leaves, transplant to 100% MG potting
soil with "6 months fertilizer". Ideal room temps 60-70 F.
After 7-8 weeks, will look like heaven. Good luck !

How warm does your heating pad make the water in your trays? If it is over 75, you are cooking them. While tomato seeds germinate at 75 well, the seedling grow best at 60-something.

They don't want serious fertilizer when young. None until a couple inches, 1/2 strength after that, full when you transplant them deeper to larger 3" pots when they are 6" tall.

Heres a photo of my tomatoes in cages wrapped with row covers. They made it through two nights of temps in the mid-30s and went on to produce very well. We discussed this in another thread I'll link to from last year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes at 37 degrees

I used to use wall o waters and other "warmers", but now I have my doubts. It seems to me that they get stunted for the whole season by being chilled just once. So, I think it is better to just wait a couple weeks. Let the tomatoes be transplanted into warm soil on warm days.

So many seeds planted directly outdoors after it is warm seem to catch up and surpass those planted inside and transplanted out too early. Best to plant them inside and delay transplanting a bit...

That's ok even tho it is organic. Organic liquids can work in containers even without the soil food web most require to be effective. Dilute it to 1/2 strength.

Dave

Could be a matter of warmth when they were planted. Tomatoes germinate best above 70 but grow as seedlings best at 60-something. So I germinate mine upstairs and bring them to the plant stand in the 60ish basement after that.

But I disagree about size of planting area. Plants don't know how much soil they are in. The only thing a small container does is cause the roots to circle and that's never a good thing.