16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Maybe more like a ugly muddy brown. :)That represents an unblemished form of optimism and thereby promotes encouragement and enthusiasm on my part. May try Vorlon x KBX... I have babies of each and both are PL's. Maybe call it ForlornEx. How many F1 seeds do you want for 2015 season ?... with expected demand, I will need to ration them prudently with all due diligence.
Reggie
Leaves as they age will often develop scars and damage but it isn't always possible to know the cause.
In this case I would need much more info - what is your soil mix, is the white stuff perlite, what have you fed them if anything and how often, how often do you water and how much, how old are the plants, are there any signs of insect pests, are they indoors or outside and if indoors have they been outside, etc.?
The issues of NPK are very different for seedlings than for plants in the garden and NPK is not the only issues when it comes to fertilizer. So which are these - seedlings inside or plants in the garden.
Have no idea what UN32 or AZ Best Tomato food are so can't help you there other than to say neither are common fertilizers for tomatoes. Miracle Grow, diluted to 1/4-1/2 strength is often used on young seedlings but it is only one brand of many available.
The goal is to use only a balanced fert with a ratio of approx. 5-2-1 or close and that also contains micronutrients.
Hope this helps.
Dave
I got Tx Wild Cherry seeds from Native Seed Search several years ago and only planted one but it grew into a very large plant that produced profusely. They are a small tomato about 1/2 in. diameter and did taste very good imo and if I remember correctly withstood our very high temps pretty good until late summer when most tomatoes succumb to the heat here anyway.
I should also note, the red cherry was sending up lots of suckers from the dirt line and before the main stalk had a chance to grow well or establish a good root system. So I pinched off the dirt line suckers and clipped several of the lowest leaves that were crowding the container. I also pinched the blossoms off when I bought it from the nursery. Now that it is established, I'll let it have it's way. Same goes for the younger SS100 tomato.
So my response to the original poster would be: Do what floats your boat. I like your idea of making it a grand experiment to see how they do that close. And it sounds that, like me, you may be short on dirt real estate not trellising power. I think that changes how a person chooses to grow their plants.
Also, if there was just one, right, good, proven true method for growing tomatoes, there wouldn't be so many varied opinions on the matter.
And hey, maybe my tomato bucket will not reach it's full potential, I certainly know what a fully grown, fully productive SS100 tomato looks like, so if it doesn't work this time, I will know. But isn't that the fun of gardening? Trying new things, experimenting and finding a personal favorite method for growing things?
Sounds to me like you proved to yourself last year that what" some people say" about removing the so-called suckers and losing all that fruit production should be ignored, right? I sure would. :)
Lots of tips linked below.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning FAQ and discussions
I think it also depends on the variety of tomato. My Super Sweet 100s are sprawling and crazy productive when left to their own devices. I only pinch off the first suckers and flowers until the plants are about a foot high to ensure good root development and then I let them go to town. The same goes for my heirloom pear cherry tomatoes. But, my dad grows bigger beefsteak type tomatoes and has better yield and seeing the fruits fully mature when he prunes off the suckers.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to help me! I ended up getting everything stabilized and they are mostly back to normal. I had a few things which all contributed to the edema issue and then a period of over watering after transplant. As I said, the big closet they are in gets pretty warm and humid due to the door being shut to keep the cats out. I had a fan on them and with the furnace running, it was keeping the room cooler and keeping the humidity down. After transplant, I did a heavy watering. For the next 5 days, I didn't run the fan and it has been warming here, so the furnace hasn't been circulating the air to keep the room cool and to remove the humidity. I think this caused the edema and the lack of water evaporation which caused the wilted leaves from the wet potting soil. After I figured this all out, they all stabilized and are looking much better. With the nicer weather, time for them to start transitioning outside. Still 4 weeks to go. Next year, I will be waiting 4 more weeks to start the seeds. They are getting too big, but I had spring fever. :)
Edie, good to see you posting again. Edie is the peson I referred to in a post above who is a relative of the Estler family,
I wish you'd have let me know about seeds for the Estler one b'c I was offering fresh seeds in my annual seed offer elsewhere, but had you Pmed me from here and included a return em address we could have communicated,
Poor Edie is sick of the white stuff and is moving to Alabama, Ok, look for the ice storms and tornadoes in Alabama, ( wink)
Carolyn
Seyson, just for comparison sake, I will be interested to hear when you harvest your first tomatoes. My MLs usually go in the ground mid-May with my first harvest about mid July.
Edie
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good to see you back. We like to hear fro you from Alabama, The beautiful.
I will let you and everybody know when I get a ripe red from my ML. I wish I could find your Grand Father's version too to grow side by side. Maybe next year. But I believe that the two are just sharing a name but they are two different tomatoes, in many ways.
Anyway, my ML is already planted out but due to COOL weather it is not growing yet. But hanging in there with the rest of the gang (about 20 so far).
Our weather is about NORMAL for this time of season ( 42 to 62F, average)..
I started my main batch March 31st and April 2nd, which is just about at the tail end of my normal sowing time. We still have a lot of snow on the ground, but the temps are finally supposed to get in the 40's and 50's this week so hope it melts fast so the ground gets some sun to start warming up. I'll have to shovel snow off my raised beds to put in early spinach and lettuce and try to set up my plastic hoop frames. I'm also hoping the night temps will stay above 25 degrees in a couple of weeks, because I don't trust my overnight greenhouse heater much lower that that. It's not too bad carrying in a few trays overnight, but after I pot up it's too hard on my knees to traipse up and down my steep hill to my greenhouse fifteen or twenty times. I started around 65 varieties or selections, most from 4-6 seeds each, but about 1/4 of those are 8 to 10 year old seed, so not expecting all to germinate.
It's always a mad rush to get plants in the ground by the first week of June, especially when the weather is cool with near frost nights. We have annual reservations for a week long fishing trip on my husband's birthday the 2nd week of June, and I have no one reliable to fuss with pot bound seedlings that need daily watering by that time, so they have to go in the ground and hope for the best. I've had some cukes with frost damage, but have lucked out with tomatoes in recent years. I can only hope that once the weather finally warms up we will be back to a hotter than normal summer pattern, like the last 10 years have been here.
I have not looked here since I posted last...that was April 3rd..today is April 14..still have not started any seeds yet.
I plan on starting the oldest ones on the 27th..as I am going away until May 5th..that should give them a chance to germinate..then I start the others..very very late for me..
But..the snow is just melting and we are expecting some more snow tomorrow!! I can't even plant my peas as the garden is
thick with snow and ice under the snow is like rock..
So a late season with patience..
Good to read your posts Carolyn..
cheers to all ;-> Martha/zucchini
I would take off all buds and blossoms when planting out my seedlings and planted out 6 to 9 inch seedlings.
I think it's a good thing to do since it gives time for vegetative growth of roots and stems and foliage, all energy being directed that way, before allowing them to go into the sexual cycle of blossom formation and fruit set.
The blossom cycle is abut two weeks long, so soon it starts again, randomly on each plant, and of course those I let go on to fruit formation.
Carolyn
Some hardening off is required anytime you change the plant's environment. The greater the change, the more gradual the process needs to be.
Going from in the house to a hoop house is still a big change if only in terms of light exposure and air temps so try not to cut corners. It can end up with lots of wasted effort getting them to this point.
Dave
I agree and disagree. In mid May and beyond when the light is more intense, they will need to be hardened off. I have found that in March and April the plants don't seem to be stressed at all when we move them out of the house and into the high tunnels. Now if it is going to be very sunny and hot, then we harden them off some first. We also like to plant them out on a warm, cloudy day. I will be planting our tomatoes out this week in 2 of our tunnels. We will move them out of the house and plant them directly and water heavily. They seem to take off and not look back. We have been doing this for the last 7 years.
Jay
My salsa recipe calls for "tomatoes" but doesn't specify a variety. I like to take Dave's suggestion and mix it up. Since I practically live on home made salsa during the summer, changing around the tomatoes is a good way to keep it fresh and different. That way it never gets old, and the taste blend can be more complex as well. A mix of colors also gives it some additional visual appeal.
The one thing I find most important is to avoid grocery store tomatoes. Farmers market tomatoes and the ones from my garden work very well no matter what variety. But grocery store tomatoes and anything else are just tasteless.
Angie
For fresh salsa (NOT CANNED) I like juicy, tangy, some sweet tomatoes. Now that I grow different varieties, colors, I can incorporate them. Same goes with the pepper varieties. I like to add cilantro, maybe little chopped basil too. How about a little YOUNG garden fresh cucumber ?
To me salsa is just some kind of salad, without lettuce and any leafy greens.
It is all about personal taste and preference.
After my Dad died in 2010, I was cleaning out his freezer and found several different variety's of OP tomato seed that Mom had saved in the freezer. I know she saved them because of the handwriting. She died in 1998 and was disabled for 5 years prior to that.
I had 80 + % germination with those seed. I wish you luck and I believe you will have good luck with that young seed!
Carolyn,
Yes I drove up to NC just for the tomato fest. I was so into tomatoes, I loved the fresh flavors! I have so much garden space compared to what I had in Fla.
I have the seeds soaked and into soil, so I will let folks know what I get. I got some new Mexico Midgets from Craig last year, but they are somewhere in my piles of stuff, lol.
I have some Italian peppers that are 5 yrs old that took, going to narrow down so that I only have a few that I like.
Cheri
I'd have to check Guilford but shoreline is 1 USDA zone "warmer" than the hills of NW CT (I'm at 1000ft). So your last frost date may be early May, not mid-May like ours. Though who knows this year.
Do you have the plants already? What variety(ies)? There are lots of "heirlooms" so it varies, but at least 2 months and maybe 3 after transplanting.
You want to put tomatoes out 1-2 weeks after last frost (so start hardening them off around your frost date), some people say peppers can go out the same time but they really don't like nights under 50 when tomatoes will be fine, so I wait another week or 2 for them (and eggplant).
Looks like Guilford is 6b so last frost date is Apr. 30th with plant out around mid-May. So if you have the tomato plants - you don't say - then how do you plan to grow them? In the ground or in containers? If in ground, what garden soil prep have you done? If in containers, what size containers and what container mix will you be using?
If you haven't bought them yet - I assume you will be buying them since it is too late to start them from seed - do you know what specific "heirloom" varieties are available for you to buy?
Let's get them planted correctly and actually growing before we worry about when you will have fruit as that all depends on the variety and the growing conditions you provide for them. :)
Dave