16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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.

Thanks Dave and Carolyn for your responses!
Dave: We have two big pine trees in our back yard, so I raked a bag up and left the (black) bag in the sun for a week to kill unwanted seeds. Could the flea beetles have come from this new mulch?
Carolyn: Your point seems very possible as well, because here in Texas we are already having some pretty intense sunlight with temperatures in the 80s. Another thing- it's not all of the tomato plants, just the celebrity ones.

Thanks again!

I have no experience with flea beetle doing damage to tomato plants. Their favorite is eggplants and peppers.

The damage in the form of fine perforation in early stage of small seedling can be harmful. Once the plants are grown I would just ignore them.

Another thing is that you cannot spray them: They have wings , they will fly away and come back. The most effect prevention I have found is to cover the affected plants with nylon tulle for a while

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments.
I have order some 15 gallon pots. Hopefully there will be plenty of tomatoes this summer.

Hope you don't mind if in addition to the above, I give you a link to the Container gardening forum here. Lots of great info there on all the issues specific to gardening in containers.

I have been removing suckers from the indeterminate varieties and left the bush tomatoes alone.

As long as you understand that doing that is optional and isn't required for any reason, that it will cost you production, and it will result in a taller (skinnier) plant than if you leave them.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Container gardening forum

I'd suggest you call them about your problem. I did this several years ago and they were most helpful. They gave me credit towards replacement seeds either that year or the following year. I have always considered Parks to be one of the best to deal with and generally their products have performed well for me.

Larry

I have trouble with germination sometimes if seeds are sent us mail. I pay more and use u.p.s .

Go for it. As Seysonn said, even if it's a hybrid its parents must have been pretty decent tomatoes. A couple of years ago I grew seeds from some store-bought cantaloupe and honeydew and they turned out fine.

Caryl

I had a volunteer last year that I am pretty sure was a tomato on the vine from the grocery store.

It was neglected, in a bad spot, and it produced very well. Better tasting than the TOTV fresh. I used it for soup and it was just fine for that.

Tomatoes can survive temperatures 34F and higher. I have had tomatoes planted that stayed at 38F low without protection.

Remember that when they say low will be, eg, 38F it is not going to be all night long. Most Often the forecasted low will last no more than 2 hours. If the day before the high was 55F and the following day will be also 55F, then the lowest between those highs will last just couple of hours. BUT when they issue a frost warning, that is different. In that case a cold freezing front will be moving in with high winds that will cool off the air and ground much faster and will last longer too.

Well, the thing to remember also, they might survive but you are not doing your tomatoes any favors if they are sitting in cold trays. There has to be some middle ground to provide not only survival but growth and minimizing stress of dropping to low temps is something to remember. I have a hoophouse, large tarp like plastic dome, it is a bit of a game. If I only have occasional dip into nights low I can get away with wrapping electrical blankets over shelves for the night. If I have days and nights on low side for prolonged times there is no reason to stress seedlings so much.