16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
An orange MINK would be very interesting b'c all I have here are the normal brown/gold minks who like to play in and around a fast moving brook that goes by my house. LOL
Orange Minsk is a wonderful large beefsteak variety, seeds send to me and several others by Andrey who lives in Minsk, Belarus, There's also an Orange Minsk Heart now.
Carolyn
Oh that's too funny!
Orange Mink would be a great name for a tomato that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling (LOL).
We have brown mink that sometimes invade our pond and eat our goldfish. They are not at all popular with my husband, who is very protective of his fish.
Linda
Tandrew, if you look at the top of the Messages here, above and to the right, you'll see a link to Exchanges, and that Forum was set up for all wants and haves, so that they didn't appear here on this Forum.
So please consider posting in the Exchange for your CP seeds and what you are willing to trade them for.
Carolyn
Nathalie,
Ask around... in our small town (7500) we can find a good variety of tomato plants at several places including HD, at 2 local ag/feed stores, a small floral/nursery, and even some local cafes. Additionally, don't be afraid to ask neighbors, co-workers, etc. I would think that there would be many places in the Portland area to find these common tomato plants. Good luck, happy gardening, and enjoy!
Tom
In and around Portland, various growers sell tomato plants, with many heirloom kinds.
Just about everyone sells Sungold because, even if all other tomatoes fail, Sungold will thrive.
The box stores are a source as long as you select fresh plants rather than shopworn kinds that have dried out one or more times.
We also have numerous small garden centers which feature heirloom tomatoes in spring. Call around as previously suggested.
Another resource for good quality plants are local farmer's markets
Don't get too anxious about planting, though. Many folks wait until June or later to set out transplants so that the tomatoes receive the consistent warmth they require.
You might be interested in "Growing Your Own" from Oregon State University. Lots of basic info, with a planting chart (lists suitable dates) on page 7. In that pub, Portland is in Region 2.
http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/21092
Here is a link that might be useful: grow your own
You have Whopper - which is a hybrid so why save seeds - or you want Whopper?
Have you looked over on the Tomato Seed Exchange forum.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Seed Exchanges
This statement is not logical (to me) Mr Spock: "Because the rate of transpiration was greater when the whole plant was upside-down and conversely slower when parts of the plants were oriented correctly, it is not unreasonable to suggest that gravity does increase the rate of transpiration but only before the plant exhibits gravitropism."
Reason for this assumes that plant wants to grow in upright posture for some reason and resulting bent stems do not "transpire" as efficiently as straight one. Could this (gravitropism) be a result of its proclivity out seek out better sources of light (or new civilizations) and not necessarily to keep leaves from drowning? I do not know. I know that this occurs rather quickly when light orientation is changed on seedlings. And it has nothing to do with the moisture content of their roots' soils. Also note that the all of the non-root growth of the "upside down" plants was probably still below its soil surface in a gravitational sense. Which implies that gravity should have continued to have an effect on transpiration if it, in fact, does. Also, the compromise of transpiration due to the of twisted stems deformation notion is, to me, rather flimsy.
Jeff
This post was edited by reginald_25 on Wed, Jan 22, 14 at 10:25
Lucille, I haven't seen African violet rings in person so I'm not sure. You would just need to be able to secure the rings to something sturdy. I think I started to use the rings with the peppers when they reached about 18" tall.
Robinava, thanks, yes, definitely there are cheaper methods. Although I'll be reusing the rings, so I have to see how long they last to judge how cost effective they are. I would recommend them to someone who wants to grow indeterminate tomatoes in a small amount of space, where other methods won't work. This year I plan to grow some determinates, so I'm also interested in seeing if they'll work with those, without pruning.
This post was edited by dsb22 on Wed, Jan 22, 14 at 6:36
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Will probably follow Dave's suggestion by starting the panels 6-8" above the ground and using the 6' T posts, however I am still considering raising the panels to possibly 10" and using either stakes or twine. Either way I now have options. Thanks again.
Robin
I use wood pellets over the winter. I know they have a binders added to them but they are generally cornstarch or plant gum. Any ideas if adding wood ash from wood pellets would be deleterious to the garden soil and if not, how many cups or pounds should be added per yard of garden soil?
smithmal
2 layers of 2x6" boards is a good height. But the material matters too. If you use pressure-treated boards, the chemicals can leach into your food.
Cedar and some other woods that are naturally rot-resistent are safer. I'm considering the new composite wood/plastic boards. There are some that are 5/4" and pretty sturdy. I think I am going to go with those.
Think about UMBRELLA , but for the plants feet instead of head.
plastic is cheap. If you have raised beds you can cope with too much rain by simply covering the beds such that the rain water runs off of it. Short hoops, when plants are short, is another option.
Rain in cool spring days, in addition to making the soil soggy, also cools down the soil and washes down the nutrient. In my experience, although tomatoes in general are tough and can stand the cold but will not grow and actually might become stressed. In this respect, soil temperature is more crucial than the air temperature.
JMO
I forget what soil temp was and when I planted my beans last year, I don't think soil temp was the issue last year, after the scorching heat we had in late May and the first few days of June (that delayed planting). The soil might have cooled off some with all the rain in June, but really I think in my case it was just that the roots could not take up any nutrients, either b/c the N washed out even though P,K, Mg, etc. were still there, or b/c they were just wet enough that they didn't spread (though if you dug a hole in the bed on the rare day it wasn't raining, it wouldn't fill up with water, so I know the drainage was good). And then had lots of blossom drop with the heat wave in July. It was just a bad tomato year here - and worse for peppers.
Plastic might have helped if I had had it, and I'm going to be using low or high tunnel this year to get an earlier start (typically plant out May 23-27 but delayed last year b/c of heat and drought). But I'm still hoping for "perfect weather" this year - haven't seen any in the past 3 years (2 wet years with a drought in between does NOT count LOL)!