16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Carolyn I hope you feel better soon and don't overdo.

Carolyn - I told you you shouldn't be playing tennis in the living room unless you moved the couch and rolled up the rugs! :)

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Not to worry Dave since right now I'm not even allowed in my living room, a step down from the rest of my home, so the tournament right now in Indian Wells, CA is being played without me.

But I can follow the scores on the net, which I know will make you feel much better about my obsession with tennis. LOL

Carolyn, waiting patiently for another foot of snow starting today . Good thing that I have plenty of dark bittersweet chocolate on hand.

Can You Start Seeds In a Hoop House ?

The answer, I think, is "YES" but it depends on the soil temperature rather than air temperature. Tomato seeds (and many other) need warm soil to germinate. Probably 60F is about the minimum. 75 -80 is ideal. I doubt that your soil temperature will get that hot under the hoop( considering the calendar and your zone). UNLESS you leave it on the garden bed for several sunny days. Anyway, it will take twice as long, even longer, in cooler soil for the seeds to germinate

This post was edited by seysonn on Mon, Mar 10, 14 at 3:47

We had a warm spell right after my seeds germinated, and I put them outside during the day right away. I watched them carefully to make sure they didn't dry out.

I don't think it's a good idea to go from indoors to outdoors that fast once they get true leaves. I plan to start planting this week, and I'm still moving some of the plants in at night and out all day in full sun.

Bump. I like it. Trying Sungold and Sweet Million for first time and returning to Choc Cherry in place of Black Cherry.

Grew them last year. Very productive, no splitting, very bad taste (or lack thereof).

The shipping kills you - that's why Dave said look for local distributor. I'm still waiting for my nursery to get back to me with ProMix/Fafard prices - hoping it will be less than the $38/bale at True Value I missed out on. If they get bulk discount from ProMix distributor I called, and they don't mark up too much, then give me 20% off, I might as well let them do the driving.

Fafard isn't too far from me in Agawam, MA (still over an hour) - but if they will sell 1 bale at wholesale it might be worth the drive (in car, not pickup). Only thing is, if I go up there in April/May to get a bale for potting up, I might end up having to spend money on Six Flag tickets for the family ;-)

I mixed my own:

3 parts coir - not a bale - it was already broken up - LOVE THIS
3 parts perlite
3 parts worm castings
1/4 part greensand
1/8 part lime

And when I potted up, I used solo cups :-)

I use one of those small four shelf greenhouses inside my larger greenhouse that would be costly to heat. Got one at Big Lots for $30. At the bottom of the small greenhouse I put a small crock pot filled dry with lava rock and leave it on all night. It makes a nice cozy environment and it's only 45 watts.

I missed part of your description of your GREENHOUSE in my previous response.

You have already experimented and have measured the temps. That is the way to do it. That gives you a pretty good idea as how hot it can get inside that mini greenhouse. I can guess that as long as the temperature outside is under 50F, there in NO chance for the temperature inside that MGH to go anywhere near 85F. It also depends on HOW MANY HOURS of direct sun it gets, how windy it is. If you are not using it to full capacity, I would suggest NOT to use the top shelf, where there is a possibility of getting much warmer.

Thai is ok for plants to wilt a little bit. Even inground established plants do witl in a bright warm sunny day. With the seedlings, you do it a couple of hours a day at first and keep extending it. That is what HARDENING OFF IS. In a way, it is like humans getting a tan. You don't lay down on the sands for hours the first day ; Do it a bit at a time and use some sun screen lotion. Of, course the plants are tougher than we are.

Put them out in the evening when it's still warm but not sunny if they're wilting. Yes, a little bit of wilting will occur but unlike humans (who may burn but then peel and recover from sunburn), a serious case of sunscald can kill a pepper or tomato seedling. Build up slowly, first getting used to heat and then sun.

See above for pot sizes.

I am definitely looking for a small cherry/grape size fruit. I referenced the romas just as a comparison standard for meaty:juicy ratio.

Then look for Sweet Hearts, Sugary, Sprite, Juliet, Rosalita, Grape or Elfin. Selected Plants probably has several of them and Bonnie's Plants has Sprite and Juliet I know.

Dave

I have an issue with winter turning straight to summer. Once the temps get too hot, the flowers fail to set. My planting date is 2 weeks ahead of yours.

What I do is plant tomatoes with wall o waters in mid-March to mid-April. I start them in Feb. I plant deeply. I plant about 55 plants and usually some start producing before the heat sets in. Usually, a few produce through the heat and then take off in the fall.

To Dave:
Thanks for all advice. Them 80 gal tubs were not too deep. They are for sure wider then they are tall. I guess your observation about tall pot makes sense since tomato roots not really growing deep but tend to spread wide.
50 years! I wish I could pick your brains some about your nursery expertise in things other then tomato too.

To austinnhanasmom:
Hm... I think your situation is a little different. For me mid-April ground is still frozen. Actually I start my tomato just early to mid April, other way they get too tall and root bound. Our last frost date is early June.

I plant lots of different tomatoes. I would not want more than a couple of Black and Brown Boar plants. It is a small, black striped tomato. If you like to try a variety of shapes and sizes, it is a good one. Not all my tomatoes are successful. Some have tomatoes early and quit others come on later. This little tomato I had from some of the first tomatoes until the end of the season. It tastes good enough. I don't do taste tests or ratings. If something tastes like a store tomato, I don't eat it. Celebrity is one I don't grow any more - tough skin and taste not great. I like to slice this one and put it on a cracker with some green onion, salt and pepper. I would not cut up a big beautiful Wes for me for a snack, so I pick a Pale Perfect Purple or Black and Brown Boar. Sometimes I have tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Wes was my best heart last year. The other hearts quit setting fruit after it got hot.

We went on vacation to the Hill Country once. I went to the wild flower place and had German food at a restaurant near there - didn't know what to order. You may get hotter there and have better soil. I have rocks with thin soil. Any tomato I plant in my garden has to have an improved spot. I am an old lady and I enjoy Susan Wittig Albert mysteries - no sex or violence except somebody dies in every book. Her themes are all herbs like rue etc.

For me most productive:

Jaune Coeur de Pigeon - yellow pear tomato. From one plant I more toms than from 3 other hybrids.

Large Yellow Amish - orange beefsteak tomato. It was loaded with huge 2 lb tomatoes.

Thank you for correcting my error, Carolyn! Sometimes I don't remember details well on the phone! :(

It sounds like a great variety!

-Bruce

Thank you for good wishes! I am looking forward to new season.
Carolyn, timing you describe is what traditionally done in this area too. We aim our Chicagoland plant swap for Memorial day weekend as this is when people are planting outside. There is regularly a bout of really bad weather around May 15, it was as late as May 18 for couple of seasons. My own plants go into WOW around May 1 and do well reliably, thus I am able to push the envelope a bit.

I have had better luck with black and brown boar than with green zebra. Black and Brown Boar is a salad sized striped dark tomato. It was very productive here.

Here is a link that might be useful: black and brown boar

Well, now after some reading I understand the whole early, mid, late thing. I could kick myself lol. All my toms will come mid season and I would've like to have as near to a steady stream as possible. Good thing I wanted to can some of these lol. The good news is that now I know for the next planting.

~Viv
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Well, that is NOT what EARLY, MID, LATE season means.
It just means about STARTING time of ripe tomatoes.
An EARLY can continue fruiting till the end of season . So does MID and LATE..
However, Some DETERMINANT varieties might produce for a short time. BUT not all EARLY and MID season varieties are determinants.
Tomato is not like BEAN, for example, To produce just one flush and then expire. Most tomatoes continuously produce, given that they are taken care of properly.

Indeterminate tomato plants can get quite big. Mine were
around 12' tall last year. Six fit up the cage and six feed
back down the cage.

I train my plants to 4 main leaders and put one on each
upright. I still get more production than we can eat and
end up giving away lots of tomatoes. I don't worry about
the loss of production....what would I do with more????

Check out my PVC tomato cages for a possible support
system.

Be sure to buy bush green beans and not pole beans.
Pole beans also grow 8-10 feet tall.

Also, by planting your lettuce in the shade of the tomatoes,
you could extend you lettuce season.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato cage plans

I would suggest taking the sod out from under the bed first. Then till the heck out of it. Depending on your area, and clay content I would advise to add in a lot of builder's sand, and till it in as well. then add the amendments,and final step the bed itself. I did this myself this year. Last year I had uneven draining, and it wreaked havoc on my tomato plants when the roots hit the clay. They will root deeper than many think they will.

If the tilling, and sand are not an option I would do a few inches of pea gravel on the bottom, then the bed itself with the amended garden soil. Since the soil will be heavily amended you can space the tomatoes a little bit closer than the labeled spacing. Though I would advise not going closer than 6 inches closer than plant label spacing.

I grew a Julia child last year. Fantastic taste, low production. I also had brandywine that was very productive for me. My other brandywine from a different seed source was not as productive. Go figure. I saved seed form the productive plants but I did not bag blossomos so hopefully they are pure. I will probably know shortly after sprouting because they were grown away from any other potatoe leaf type. I have two garden plots, one in my yard and a community garden. I grew these in the community garden and no one else had potato leaf plants. So if the seedlings are potatoe leaf then they are pure.

As I have posted several times already...Estlers Mortgage Lifter is my favorite big pink. More round than beefsteak shaped but very tasty and I get them up to 37 oz so far weighed on a Paula Deen scales. I sucker my plants to about 4 branches and stake with 6 ft stakes. They are medium producers(not as many per plant as say Cherokee Purple) but the plants are tall, sturdy, thick stemmed and easy to grow.