16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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.

I am not a typical home owner. I worked in 3 nurseries and a garden center. I was just curious. I always want to learn more on how to take better care of my tomatoes.

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.

The pots were too small and black and July is hot. If you got 250 pounds of tomatoes that you liked, you did fine. I think you could order seeds; I don't understand why seeds are not available.

Those tomato plants are HISTORY. it all happened in the summer of 2012.

The other problem with Orange Russian 117 is flavor. I've never had one that was worth eating. It is beautiful. It is productive. It is also bland and not very sweet. Without flavor balance, it is hard to recommend.

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.

Lots of things can cause holes and are seldom a cause for concern. The "perfect" tomato is rare. :-)

Dave

Let it get ripe, if it stills bothers you, just cut around it and eat the rest. Growing indoors, it would be very unlikely to be a worm. The picture is not closeup enough to really see if it is a fresh cut or an natural dry open growth thing.

My understanding is that tomatoes slow down or even stop ripening when day and night temperatures remain under 55 for three or four days. They certainly don't develop very good flavor in that environment. We had a long cold spell -- with lows down to 40 and highs in the mid-50s -- in September in southwestern Ohio, and none of the large green tomatoes on my plants ripened the whole month. Usually I can harvest ripening fruits into mid-October. I did pick a few green tomatoes at the beginning of the cold spell, and they ripened within 10 days sitting in the open on my counter. They tasted better than the green ones I brought inside to ripen after the cold spell.

By the way, I find that most of my large green tomatoes will ripen out in the open. I had more problems when I wrapped them in newspaper or, worse, set them on a sunny window sill.

We just pull the whole plant, roots and all. Hang the whole plant upside down in the garage. All green tomatoes continue to ripen same speed as in the ground.
Clean off extra branches and leaves to cut down on the mess as it dries
We do this before we get a freeze every year in Nov.

What's interesting to me is that Big Boy and Better Boy share one parent in common.

Big Boy F1 was bred by Dr.Oved Schifriss when he was still at Burpee and one of the parfent was Teddy Jones, a large pink beefsteak heirloom from theMidwest. Burpee paid $24 for all the rights to Teddy Jones way back then. And yes, I know the other parent but promised Oved I woud never tell, and I haven't. He passed away quite a few years ago.

Also at Burpee at the same time was John Peto. He left Burpee and took seeds for Teddy Jones with him, formed Petoseed in CA and there Better Boy was bred, with TJ as one parent. I don't know the other parent.

Carolyn, who tried to dehybridize Big Boy to get Teddy Jones out, and Oved was helping me, and from 12 plants set out from saved F2 seed I got onl;y two that were pink, but Oved said they were way too small, and I kind of abandoned the project when he told me that the maximum number of genes I could get out of TJ was about 80%. For those wondering, no there never has been and never will be any public sources for TJ seeds. ( smile)

Probably I will grow a Better Boy next year , IFF I can find the seedling. That will be my only hybrid attempt, probably. The rest will be Heirlooms.

This post was edited by seysonn on Mon, Feb 17, 14 at 6:58