16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Mine have done the same. Green fruit that set early sat forever. Now they are all ripening at once since the weather has turned milder. Not many new blossoms or fruit though on the top of the plants. I figure maybe 30% production compared to the last few years. Flavor of Black Krim is not as good as usual. BooHoo.
bump:
Those were the days, my friend,
we thought they never end.
we couldn't wait for that mato to turn red..
and suddenly the fall fell upon us
..
when life becomes memories , it becomes of more value.
I dream of spring again.
how about you ?
Honestly, it could be lots of things. Leaves develop spots for all sorts of reasons, most of which pose no threat to the plant. But one small spot isn't enough to diagnose the cause.
Just snip off that one leaflet and leave the other two on the stem and continue to monitor it.
Dave
My new task (dream maybe?) is a volunteer tomato that came up where I had tossed some kind of tomato in to the edge of the woods. Probably a "tomato on the vine" from the grocery store.
It grew so well and had lots of fruit, even though it was neglected and had too much shade. It had a really good taste, better than my old standby's. But my old standby's didn't have much flavor this year due to the coolest, wettest summer we have ever had.
I saved the seed from several fruits with hopes that I will get at least one plant that duplicates that one!
It just seems so risky to place even modest confidence in saved seeds from an unknown variety. Much of my delema is to retry remaining purchased seed packets which grew untrue or just toss them and reorder from a new source. I'll admit I have saved seeds from a few fruits that produced unexpected results just to see if I could get similar results but I never want to risk that with more than a few plants.
Each of us has different goals that we are setting for the coming year. I'm somewhat pleasently surprised how my cherry tomato season ended and I'll likely continue to plant ~200 plants, same as the past 2 years. My main shift will be to grow fewer heirloom varieties with simple red or pink color. I'll likely keep black varieties constant and include a few more newer striped heritage varieties- those seem to be the ones that I'm dreaming about.
In the previous discussions on this question - the search will pull them up for you - some have suggested Celebrity. Another was Colossus. Maxifort, Multifort, Beaufort of course are all commonly used. Big Beef, the BHN varieties, even Rutgers. But I've never seen $1 per seed costs listed for any of them.
Which works best for you all depends on the soil disease resistance you are looking for. In theory any of the hybrids with built in resistance to that specific disease should work to provide at least some resistance. Including Big Beef, the BHN varieties, even Rutgers. But I've never seen $1 per seed costs listed for any of them.
Dave
dickiefickle:
i've seen images of magnesium deficient leaves and they do have some similarities to mine, i will look into this.
miesenbacher:
a soil test is logical but I've been quoted $220 ($US200) by a local soil lab, which is not within my budget. Yes we have molasses, seen it at home brew stores.
thanks for your replies!
If you are using a fertilizer formulated for Tomatoes and peppers, It already has magnesium in it. READ THE LABEL>
If not, put one Tspn of epsom salt in 2 gallons of water and water your plants with it. Or simply get some tomato fertilizer.
Certainly all the observations about differing taste buds and growing conditions are valid, but in my experience so is the advice that heart-types and red/yellow varieties tend to be more sweet tasting. (Ignoring cherries and red pear types, which seem inherently sweet.)
Growing in very different parts of the country, and much preferring sweetness over acidity, I've always found Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Clear Pink Early, and Pineapple to be larger tomatoes that deliver the sort of sweet taste I like. Your taste buds may differ, but I think any of these might be worth trying.
Aside from the personal taste/palate and the subjectivity issue, I think there are many tomatoes that can be labeled as "sweet" to MAJORITY of people. Everybody can tell the difference between a sweet and acidic tomato. Soil, weather and other growing conditions can also influence the genetics to some degree.
JMO.
Thanks Dave. I appreciate the instructions. I keep learning by doing. I watch as many YouTube videos that I can find each time I want to try something new.. The message I get is "ok, this is so totally going to work!" and it does for awhile until all of the things they don't tell you kick in, like the bucket is about to burst, or the top is so heavy it's going to topple over. Ah well. It's all lots of fun and I'l learning a lot. I figured the transplants would need a little TLC, so your welcome advice is most appreciated. These ten gallon pots just have to help get some plants through their crisis. In the future, the ten gallon sacks will be potato growing sack
IMO, if you are talking about the tomato plants that you have posted in another thread, I would say "NO". I would just let them run their course. Plants need moisture and nutrients to grow. In the case of tomatoes, their roots do not need more than a 5 gal. bucket. As I was pulling my tomato plants up, this past fall, I was paying very close attention to their roots size(planted in beds).
Obviously, if you provide them a bigger space, they will keep growing more roots an thus more foliage and not so much fruits that you want. Bigger pots have the advantage that need not as frequent watering as the smaller ones.
Zackey, you are asking for more info than most home gardeners are able to benefit from. These Late Blight resistant varieties are a huge stride in combating the disease and that is main focus of the original poster.
Not that the translaminar type sprays are taboo or highly toxic; Tanos and Curzate only list 3 day PHI(Pre-Harvest Interval) in our state guidelines. However they are regulated and are often recommended to use in combination with other fungicides such as Fixed Copper.
Under most guidelines gardeners and commercial growers alike are advised to use preventative spray materials and all-the-more frequently as the threat of a disease is looming. The difference in treatment occurs once you notice the disease. The logical decision then for home gardeners with little investment is likely going to be different than for a commercial grower with $thousands invested.
The answer you seek would vary depending on your management strategy. My only caution would be to not mix Determinates and Indeterminates or short and tall growing varieties. Many Indt. cherry/grape varieties grow quite tall and might be more difficult for you to manage but I wouldn't rule them out if you plan ahead for them.
Some questions you might want to ask yourself:
Do I want to use the framework as a support for plants?
Will plants be kept in pots or planted into the soil?
Do I want heirloom varieties or predominantly hybrids?
How will the plants be watered?
How much time do I want to spend caring for plants?
There are likely other issues that you might need to address in order to start your selection process but there are no specific limitations. I grow over 200 varieties in high tunnels. All varieties are compatable to growing under plastic. My main concern is that you are working with limited space, both in soil area and vertical height.
Cherry tomatoes are great for small spaces. We're trying yellow pears this year in planter boxes and if you don't stake them, they pretty well hang. Kids can reach them, they tend to put out lots of fruit and even if they get a bit tall, there's always fruit on the bottom. Good luck!
kitfoxdrvr, did you try the Horseguard bi-polar tape around your garden? I wonder how it worked? I'm thinking of trying it around some individual fruit trees (on top of a chicken wire enclosure) to keep squirrels away from the fruit.
John
I've used an electric fence for the past 2 years to keep deer and groundhogs out of my garden with good success. I'm a bit confused about comments regarding ground wires; the ground itself acts as a ground for me with no problem. I simply strung 2 galvanized thin steel wires around the garden; one at about 8"
above the ground and the other at 36" up. The low one takes care of the groundhogs and the upper one nails the deer. I suspect it works because they seem not to be inclined to jump over the wires but just seem to wade in and get juiced! Once they get nailed they seem to learn and don't come back,
and that is good!
I made some figure 4 shaped stands to carry the wire and they are spaced about 8 feet apart. Tractor Supply sells all kinds of standoff wire brackets to hold the wire. The figure 4 shape puts the upper wire about 18" outboard of the lower wire so the lawn guy can mow near the posts without getting
shocked-very very important!! Must keep grass trimmed away from lower wire, weed wacker works well until line entangles with wire, such fun.
I am also growing this one next year...Orange Strawberry...I am glad to hear it is a good one !! I have it on my "wanted" list on the seed trading forum. If I do not find them through trade, I will purchase them. If anyone has these and wants to trade, I have my trade list up on my member page. =) I have several Heirlooms to trade as well.
I can say that 6 hours of sun , in zone 9 Texas should be enough. Part of the sunlight is used as heat energy by the plants. In zone 9, TX, they will get lots of energy AND also consider the amount of indirect light in bright long summer days. Actually 6 hours is considered FULL SUN. I do garden at PNW, cooler weather with just about 6 hour of sun.
hard to grow large fruit from a small fruit plant