16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Ok, I can get some clues from the leaves of some. For example, How many Potato Leave you had in that mix tray and how many RL. If one tray is all the same there will either all RL or PL.
Silvery Fir Tree, You can tell it from a mile. I happened to to have just one seedling (18 days old) myself. I can easily tel which one it is without looking into the tag. It has sharp teethed small lobes.
Not sure on the leaves of the other kinds, like I said, I'm not too worked up about those, Ill find out which is which by the time the season ends haha. Good to know it will be easy to tell the SFT though, since that's the only one not going in the ground.
One of my 2013 tomato plants survived the winter (so far) in the house. It kept giving me fruit until mid-January but now the plant looks like crap, so I plan to take cuttings and root them as "new" plants in a few weeks. But, Jeff, if your last year's plants still look good, it might be fun to see how well they do in their second year. If you try it, please keep us updated about how it goes.
Regarding 2 plants to a pot, I've grown different varieties of semi-determinates, with mid-sized fruit, in 3.5 gallon pots a few times. They aren't as productive per plant as if they each got their own pot, but I'm a seed saver and I like getting the greater genetic diversity from double planting in my limited space. I actually prefer to use larger pots if I'm double planting, however, because all of the moisture in the smaller pots can get used up with extreme speed on hot summer days, so it's harder to keep the plants from dehydrating to death, since I haven't gotten around to using self-watering containers yet.
No, wherever I posted about it and I checked two places, one is not operating right now, I didn't say it was the not the right Humberto/King Humberto/Rey Humberto. Since the person asking was thee same as you, free seeds from TT.
All places selling it say about two ounces and high yielding and refer to Italy
and I threw up a bunch of links showing that some places say pink, others red, some say a point at the blossom end, others not, some say tough skins, others don't say that b'c they are selling seeds.
I've grown it as I also commented and found the skins to be tough, the taste not all that great, and Tania and others also say best for sauce, canning, but not fresh eating.
I can't transfer here any threads from another message site to here, not just me, anyone, as most of you know, but I can put a link below to a Google search for it.
Carolyn, who doesn't know the other variety you mentioned and didn't search for it.
Here is a link that might be useful: King Humberto
Sorry, Caroline. Didn't mean to put words in your fingers. The other thread just led me to believe the oldest known description and image of the "real" Umberto did not agree all that well with the current offerings.
I think Joe Lauerer came from the same source as Terhune. At least that's what I recall. It is also called German Egg sometimes. It, too, is no great shakes for taste, but two years ago when I had a really, really bad tomato year it was the only plant that kept going, so it endeared itself to me. Also, one of the grankids and his mother liked it a lot. They didn't have a lot to compare it with as that was the only plant I gave them, but as Grandpa I am required to listen to the kiddies. This year they will get at least those two plants and probably a Sungold.
Chuck
Lucille,
thank you. some of those plants reached 10 feet tall !!!!!
the trellis you see in the pic is just over 7 feet.
tjinpgh,
I love the idea of adding an additional row. for the past 3 years I've reserved the back row just for vertical gardening (tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, beans & peas). i'll be constructing an additional box 12" wide x 48" long x 12" deep and placing it behind the trellis just for my verticals.
so now with my 3 existing raised beds I've opened up 12 squares!!!!!!! sweet!!!!!! and doing so I can now plant some bush type tomatoes as you mentioned.
I actually just saw a video of someone who did this. I couldn't figure it out until I saw what he did. For what is worth, his plants look pretty healthy and productive to me. Here's a link. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jc6_ATF4lp4
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes in square foot garden
I've had a lot of the same issues as Tuscon. Lots of growth and few tomatoes. I'm trying yet again this year. I put the Epsom salt, aspirin, and humic acid in a raised bed with good soil. I have the shade cloth ready when it gets time. We will see.
Any other heat Advice is welcome or any other innovations to share. How about hand pollinating somehow during the summer months. I was thinking of keeping one plant in the house so it's cooler and using its pollen for outside tomatoes. Would that work and how to do it?
What other parthenocarpic and tasty varieties are out there?
"I don't care what the plant is labeled"
If you get a healthy strong producing plant that year, you've won the lottery. Then it comes time for the planting the year after that. If your mystery plant is a hybrid your saved seed might not give you the plant you want.
I have a limited amount of room so care very much that each plant produces what I want.
Also, you are against weird DNA. If you have an unlabeled or mislabeled plant, you don't know whose DNA you are getting.
I think it is logical to assume that heat loving plants (such a tomatoes and peppers) to slow down in growth in cooler temperatures. It happens so often when cool spring weather lingers on and the plants(matoe & pepps) do not grow substantially. They seem to be just sitting out there. It is also true for cool crops . Even those grow MUCH slowly when cool fall weather moves in. Right now, my sweet peas have been in emerging state for the past 5 days or so. Had we had warmer weather they could have been an inch tall.
So I think cool air and soil temperatures slow down growth. I could be wrong.
If this is King Umberto/Roi Umberto, yes, I have grown it and if you Google it you'll find it variously described as pink or red, some say a tip at the blossom end, some say not.
There's a huge long thread about it elsewhere but I can't transfer it to here or be possibly banned.
If you Google it you'll also find comments like tough skin, assertive flavor , etc., all to say that it was not a variety I liked very much and no, it wasn't sweet.
Yet others say they like it for sauce.
Until you grow it you won't know if you like it or not.
Carolyn
Many Thanx...already planned on Sweet Million, Suingold, Italian Ice, Choc Cherry and Orange Paruche so one more is no big deal. I give these away along with most of the 60 beefsteak tomatoes that I grow after eating some every single day. I labsolutely gobble tomatoes and love growing them so I take them to my folks who are 90 yrs young, my sisters and the ladies at two local libraries, former work friends, neighbors etc etc. I usually put 8-10 big ones and a sandwich bag full of cherries in a plastic grocery bag and do the gift thing. Maybe 20 times a yr. My wife always canned two canners of tomatoes but after doing three canners of half runner beans on the gas grill side burner I usually don't have the pasazz left to fool with the maters. Like Doby Gray I have drifted far from the subject but I like to talk gardening. Ha Ha
Thank you, I am going to have to think about how to do this. I didn't realize a completely shaded enclosure would still help hardening them off. I don't have overhangs on the house. I usually wait for a little bit of sun at least, then then start with an hour or two and increase from there. Can you do more than one trip outside per day at beginning? Like one in the morning and another in the late afternoon or evening? I am not sure how long it takes them to recover from the first trip outside. If they are in a shaded enclosure, they can right from that to full sun in garden? Or maybe one extra day of half sun then full sun? How long does it take when removing them from the enclosure?
I joined up for one reason and that is to fix those leggy tomato seedlings for you. Let me explain it this way...
I used to grow my tomatoes from seed all the time and then I got out of the habit for a few years. When I started back my plants would shoot right up and fall over...no matter what I did. It was very frustrating.
I followed every bit of advice I could find and my own good sense and still it was a mess. This went on for three seasons. Grrrr!
Then, I ran across a very simple suggestion and then it all made sense. All that goody goody do this and do that drivel I had been told prior went right into the garbage can.
See, when I used to grow my own plants I had a grow light. When I started back I did not. That was the answer.
Assuming you aren't doing something with your seeds that is off the charts, to get straight growing seedlings, all you have to do is to put a light right on top of them as soon as they pop up out of the pot. That's all.
A grow light is good. Short of that, a one or two bulb florescent is just fine. Put the light as close as you can to the new growth and keep it that way as they mature. Move them into the sun as fast as you can.
I don't care how bright it is in the house. You got to get the light right down on top of the seedlings to get their attention.
Follow this and you too will be what they call a "happy gardener" for sure!
It isn't always a light factor regardless what type and how close it is... sometimes it's the soil and/or lack of nutrients they need. Sometimes it's just the seed itself that isn't as great as the others even if they all came from the same fruit.
And like some mentioned... fans and burying the stringy stem works. All plants need fans for stronger roots, preventing mold and to help them not be as shocked once outside.
It was suggested to me that we skip a season, grow in pots, or bring in new dirt.
If I wanted to grow in pots, how about the alternative, dig holes in the garden and put new dirt just where I plant. Does that seem reasonable?
If we do want to replace dirt, can anyone suggest where to look? Does it mean bags of soil from a nursery?
In the mean time, I'm going to have my soil tested and see if there are any solutions to make the tomatoes happier.
thx,
rob
It depends on what your options are. I, for one, wouldn't want to can tomato juice but MEAT. In this respect , roma, baby roma, san marzano are better options, IMO.
Another thing is that , canning whole tomatoes require a lot of space. I prefer making sauce , with about 75% space saving. In other words, one gallon tomato makes one quart of sauce. (aprox)
Super Fantastic do very well in Zone 6b or 7 in WA State
They are hardy for early transplant, do well in hot weather and produce loads of tasty fruit. They are moderate to heavy feeders that do very well on water soluble 16-16-16 with an added touch of sulfur.
SF's peel easily and preserve very nicely using water bath method.
In my experience black/brown tomatoes are more prone to crack than other.
But there is a way to avoid having cracked matoes: PICK THEM AS SOON AS THEY TURN COLOR (from green to red, pink, brown) and let them to sit on the counter (away from direct sun).
I garden where there may be very little rain during the growing season. The soil drains very quickly but I can often only irrigate twice a week. When I do, it is with field sprinklers just like in the alfalfa fields next door to the big veggie garden where the tomatoes are grown. The conditions are prime for splitting.
I'm not quite so stoic about splitting and not stoic at all about the decay that may result. There are some varieties that I just will not grow.
Thessaloniki should be mentioned as an heirloom that tends not to split. It was the first heirloom that I knowingly grew about 15 years ago and I've had it every year since. Porters never split. Those are just a few that come to mind.
I'd like to say that some gardeners seem to think that it is a tough skin that keeps the fruit from splitting. That may be true but flexibility is probably just as important. I'm probably not using the correct horticultural terms . . . elasticity??
Anyway, it is often said that SunSugar split less than Sungold. I agree but I don't find SunSugar has tougher skin that Sungold. It has a more tender skin but I like having both in my garden! For 10 years I have had a "trial" going on out there as to which is my "favorite." It is one of the happier parts of my gardening.
Steve
I have a long growing season, almost year round. I started my tomatoes back in December and have started more every few weeks to the present. I hope to avoid the crush of tomatoes all at one time. Typically my nights stay cool until August so this should be a good plan.
I have done late season planting from cuttings when I was gardening back in GA, where we had fairly long season(7 + months) and a lot of those planted in the spring would get worn out and tired.
it takes Tomatoes anywhere from 9o days to 120 days from sowing seeds to first ripe fruit.(or about 60 to 90 days from transplanting). Then they continue another 2 -2.5 months, So that is fine if you have about 5 to 6 months growing season.