16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

my guess is that your Frankenbush is different then the other two plants. a out cast seed got into your pack of seeds.. :)

Boston, I was kinda thinking the same thing, I'm sure it happens from time to time. I'm just not sure if that would explain the twisting leaves...

However the changes I have made this week seem to have helped, I changed to a stronger mix of the nutrients, and switched to the H.P.S. bulb. I changed the light yesterday, but today they look better...Not sure if related or just luck...

Thanks for the reply, and Happy growing,

Bruce

I am itching and getting into planting mood.
If it is not raining, I will start planting, a half a dozen or so this coming weekend and following Monday.
Our highs are hitting 60s and lows are in low to mid 40s. This is a typical PNW spring weather
I am going to try the "cool tolerant" like, SIBERIAN, SILETZ and LEGEND among others. I will plant only in one bed. So in case of very low nights, I can put my portable hoop over them. I am also making small cages from rabbit fence and wrapping them with bubble wrap. That should work similar to WOW.

FINALLY HAPPENED

Today I planted about 10 tomatoes. The seedlings had been hardened off already. Now tonight they are on their own, in their own home in the garden. Tomorrow is supposed to rain. So the day after I will plant some more.

TEMPERATURES:
Not very warm. Lowe are around 42F and highs about 62F(average/median). We are getting more sun and less rain. Thats a plus here. If i have to wait til it gets real warm, it will be like in June some time. That feels like eternity to me :)
I know that tomatoes can tolerate cool weather, though they might not grow much but I could not baby my seedlings inside anymore. They were close to 10" , some even taller. Once it warms up a bit, they will take off.

I aim at having some ripe tomatoes to celebrate The Fourth. That is not easy here at the PNW. Our zone number is just meaningless when it comes to summer gardening.

I don't know, I figure at least 3, so you have to start more in case of poor germination, problems hardening off, cutworms, etc. Anything I think I may want to take to market, at least 6 of each variety. I usually grow about a dozen each of a dozen varieties, give or take (125-150 plants) each year.

Thanks ajsmama, that's what I had in mind so I'll go with that.

I have always heard that the rust is beneficial for your garden as plants take up the iron. Don't know if it's true or not but I know plants need iron so it sounds good anyway.

I have always heard that the rust is beneficial for your garden

Agree. Rust is just iron oxide which is a normal component of all soil.

For those rust bothers it is always just an appearance issue. Plus in this case the most likely place for rust to develop is at and below the soil where it is in direct contact with the damp soil. It wouldn't show there anyway.

Dave

Swissmiss, Your seedlings are actually doing pretty well considering conditions. They need more light intensity and the soil mix needs to dry out quite a bit. They are also showing some signs of nitrogen deficiency. Here is what I would do:

1. reduce the amount of water you are giving them. Let them dry out until they wilt just a bit before watering again. Be sure there are drain holes in the bottoms of the cups.

2. Move them closer to the light fixtures and/or put reflector foil around the fixture to get more light to the seedlings.

3. Raise the temperature to at least 65 degrees. 50 degrees F is too cold for seedlings.

4. Consider giving them some extra nitrogen next time you water. This would be 1/4 teaspoon of miracle grow 15-30-15 in a gallon of water or about 2 tablespoons of seaweed 2% nitrogen emulsion in a gallon of water. Apply once every 2 to 3 weeks.

5. See if you can put them into more direct sunlight for a short period of time each day. Don't overdo it, the leaves will get sunscald very easily. Start with 1 hour and increase by 30 minutes per day for a week.

Hello all,
I did have draining wholes in them :-). At least one thing I had done right.

Fusion_power: Since I re-pored them with MG potting mix, do you think I will still need extra N? I just don't want to over do it..

Although I think the lights are pretty low already, I will lower them a tad bit more.

I also left the heater on overnight to hopefully ease the transplant shock a little.

Most of the seedlings have recovered well when I checked this morning, I have 2-3 that are "questionable" to recover..

Thanks,
Ursula

The "BEST" in this case is subjective. But in general any tomato that is good enough for you to slice, should be good for sauce or canning too. It is like asking" the best wine to cook with". It is the same wine that you can afford to drink.

I found that you need a year to grow varieties to find out what grows best in YOUR soil to get the taste you want. Ones grown in sandy soil are different than the same ones grown in clay soils, etc.

Then you need to decide what you want to do with them, and your taste preferences. I like acidic tomatoes, others like the sweeter ones.

If you want slicing toms for sandwiches or wedges for salads, once again how do you want them to taste.

If you want them for sauce you need to choose the ones that have more 'meat' and less seeds and juice. The paste ones are for sauce, or they can be used as superb sandwich or salad toms. They are just better for sauce than the slicing ones.

Cheri

Hi there bardamu,

Romas and Black Krim have pretty different leaves when you really look at them--and I have seen a multitude of each of these popular varieties which I love and which I sell more of than almost any other plants save Sun Gold.

Romas are determinate and early on show a stout bushiness and are a little more yellowy green and more rugosa-like in leaf than most other tomato seedlings. They are very distinctive.

Black Krim leaves have just a slight hint of the weepiness found in all those deelicious heirloom "paste" or oxheart types, and also have a bit of silky hair or halo on the darker green leaves.

Hope that helps.

Vine

I appreciate the responses. My seedling mix media was peat moss and vermiculite. I made a new mix with existing mix and amendments: plenty of perlite and a tiny bit of composted material. As soon as I transplanted tomatos and other seedlings to the new media, even ridiculously tiny basil seedlings, the plants rebooted into health and vigor without exception.

Let us consider 2 types of winter-sowing:

1. "nature's" winter sowing... placing seeds onto dirt/soil/natural growing medium directly being exposed to direct weather and various critters.

2. "Human" winter-sowing where seeds are placed in a semi-closed environment (milk jug, soda bottle, salad container, etc) offering protection from critters and something of a green house effect.

This is my first year winter sowing, and although I don't have tomatoes and peppers sprouted yet, I do have cold crops and flowers sprouting. I expect to see tomatoes and peppers soon.

As I understand, Seysonn's "winter-sowing" is a hybrid of Nature's and Human's. It is direct sowing in the ground under the a cold frame. (Seysonn, please correct me if my understanding is not right.)

Doing a little Q&A tonight and came across this thread ;-)

Seysonn, WS is a genuine distinct germination method and has its own description in the USDA Thesaurus. (Disclaimer: I was asked and did help write that.)

When I first started talking about WS I had the impression that the Norman Deno crowd wanted to drag me off to the boundaries of the internet and leave me there, lol. Honestly, a kindergartner with a milkjug can have better germination than a lifelong master gardener growing under lights. I am so sincere about the method that I will give you the seeds to try it--you have to provide your own postage but I will give you the seeds for free.

BTW, tomatoes are perennial in a tropical climate, elsewhere they behave as annuals. They are from Peru, a temperate climate--the plants are not frost hardy but they are not tropical. The seeds, which are not the plants, can tolerate a broad range of winter temps and germinate the following spring when the weather has warmed sufficiently. WS is based on any plant's ability to reseed in a temperate climate. People in short or cool seasons should select appropriate varieties to WS.

The seedlings are small above the soil line, but the roots will blow you away. I transplant at about an inch into the garden.

Give it a try, it's fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Free Seeds from WinterSown (You'll prolly want the tomato offer.)

This post was edited by trudi_d on Mon, Apr 7, 14 at 8:42

I had a small raised bed, about 8x8, for a good 10 years, and primarily grew tomatoes in them. Because it was such a small space, I wasn't able to rotate. They always seemed to be fine for the most part, except last year, when we coincidentally had the best summer ever! I think there was some sort of blight- the plants didn't totally die, but parts of them, especially the lower parts, turned brown, fruit production was really low, and the plants never really took off, i.e. spindly with little branching. This year, I was lucky enough to purchase a greenhouse. I've built two 3x12 raised beds and will rotate the tomatoes between the 2 beds from here on.

My previous expierience, adding compost every year before planting, or putting in a legume in the spring before planting your toms. will be beneficial by putting nitrogen back in the soil you will also notice your fruits will be larger and healthier when the previous crop has been a legume..hope this helps!

After the suggestions from Caroline I will not be going out of my way looking for seed.
Thanks for the information.

I grew those years ago, they do come true from seed but they're not a really spectacular tomato anyway, so why bother. I haven't grown them in a few years now because there are so many brown tomatoes that are so much better, and a black plum has a much better flavor than kumato and a similar texture anyway.

Another Catch: If your garden soil is well treated with compost , all kinds of organic matter to a depth of about 2 feet, then you should not worry about what is under that ; It could concrete or solid rock. Most garden veggies grow in the top 1 foot. If that is well drained, then that it all you and your plants need. That is how RAISED BED concept deals with it.

I guess the above idea would parallel growing in a two foot deep trash can with no drainage holes....not sure about that one. Who...what is a "sub-soiler"? Is that like a roto-tiller? Your concept makes total sense.

I currently do not have the money to buy grow lights for them

You don't have to buy special grow lights. They just need light of whatever kind you already have. Any kind of plain old fluorescent light is what most use. You can also do them outside using the Wintersowing techniques detailed on that forum here.

No it won't stunt them but it will give them weak stems and circulatory systems. Burying them deeper will help but it if far better to avoid the problem in the first place.

Dave

I use daylight CFLs in the clamp-on work lights, others use tube-style in shop lights.

There are at least 3 tomato diseases with "blight" in the name. They are entirely different and unrelated diseases.

In addition, some folks use "blight" when referring to other tomato diseases ... or all tomato leaf diseases ... or even all diseases affecting tomatoes. And some use "blight" to describe non-disease conditions which affect tomatoes: for example, leaf miners, sunburn, or herbicide damage.

Any time someone uses the term "blight" generically, you should just assume they don't know what they're talking about.

Well, since the commercial sprays do not work too well, I may as well give it a try.

When I was younger, I grew tomatoes in the Chicago area for 8 summers. The only disease I saw was one summer when one of the plants had Septoria Leaf Spot. I never used any spray. Just lucky.

So keep in mind that if your plants are free of any particular disease this summer, that doesn't mean the spray had anything to do with it.

I have been growing tomatoes here in Charlotte, NC for 12 years and have never had a disease free year. Some years are worse than others. If I can grow tomatoes disease free this year with this spray, then it would be pretty obvious.
I do not really think it will do much either, but then again nothing much else works either. Daconil and Mancozeb will delay disease for a while, but sooner than later it gives in too.

Don, you need to have your soil tested.
this place might be near you? Ellis Environmental Management Inc.430 Silver Spur Rd,
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
(310) 507-7699. "was found buy a quick google search"

there could be a lot of things going on that your LA hot weather is triggering in your soil. you need to know you PH,P-I,K-I,ca%,Mg% and by doing the test they will give you recommendations for tomato plants. i have my soil is tested every year..

as for Oxidate, i been using it for about 5 years now with a injector system. Oxidate and Zerotol and others are "hydrogen Dioxide" and is a "DANGER" label. this stuff will mess you up if you don't know what you are doing.

dose it work for me? yes but i use it on a regular basis even before i see any foliage diseases.

also with your Powder mildew, grey mold...that sort of thing..
try Potassium bicarbonate, " NOT!! Sodium bicarbonate=baking soda"
Potassium bicarbonate is safe and can used in a back-pack sprayer as a foliar application.

side note on Oxidate that you can buy over the counter in a squirt bottle IS NOT hydrogen Dioxide...it is hydrogen peroxide witch you have in your bathroom medicine cabinet.