16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Gary,

I don't know if the links are still active, but so far as I know the Pink Gourmet originated in Columbia, MO at the Wilkerson nursery and garden center which is gone now.They might have gotten it from UMC. I worked for the garden center in college and we would have people come in from all over the country for these plants. I would like to find some myself, I hope they are not extinct. They were a large pink, low acid tomato, very good. Many claimed they could eat these and not be bothered by the acid like other tomatoes.

If you've found them please let me know

Thanks,

Sue

So then your best source is perhaps UMC., where it was bred.
JMO

Sey

I think maybe the 18 hours under the lights could be the issue? I grew mine with about 14 hours under a T5 and had no flowering on any, stressed or otherwise.

It's my understanding that tomatoes are sexually mature and start producing flowers once they have grown 5-7 true leaves. Flowering is not an indication of stress, instead it indicates the seedling had good growing conditions.

Stress, if severe enough, will cause a delay in flowering. Deprivation of water, light, warmth, nutrients, transplant shock and the presence of pests and diseases are all stressors.

Regarding the pinching of early flower buds, it's kind of a wash. A young, soon-to-be-transplanted plant takes longer to produce a ripe tomato compared to the same plant when it's fully settled into the garden. Having said the above, I never pinch early flowers. It's too risky since we can get heatwaves in June & July which cause later flowers to not set.

Sharon, are your plants still inside?
I planted all my tomatoes on May 3 this year. Last year the tomatoes went into the ground on May 8 and I harvested the first Sungold on June 22.

Daren

I'm a newb at this. I had a garden many years as a kid and now getting back into it as an adult. I've started several batches of tomatoes from seeds. I've read the comments about the purple underside of the leaves and the purple stem might be due to cold. My guess is that it doesn't have much, or anything, to do with the temperature. My seeds have been indoors in my office where the temperature is around 75 degrees.

My uneducated guess is that the purple is a good thing as has to do with getting light. I say this because my seedlings had germinate for about 6 days before I got my grow lights. During those first 6 days they only got a couple hours of direct sunlight and the rest was indirect. At that time the stems were green and a bit translucent. After I installed the grow lights, which I keep on 24/7, the stems started to turn purple.

Nick

Yes, It has to do with getting light and there are also other factors, me thinks.
Somehow, it has to do with the uptake of "P"., as well. The experienced growers will tell you that ignore it ! The seedling will come out of it, as the time goes on. This is given that the starting soil has adequate nutrients or you supply them, when the seedlings start growing true leave. That is like the time the chick breaks the eggshell and comes out..then it needs foods and drink.

Sey

It is supposed to be but it is known for sometimes reverting to parent stock and or sterile plants.

Dave

Touch an operating electric toothbrush to the back of the flowers to get them to release their pollen.

I used this trick last year and spurred a couple non-fruitful vines into producing 50 or so pound-size tomatoes.

In my experience the younger plants acclimate better to the outside conditions. If you leave the pots indoors the plants grow faster but they'll be more stressed later.

Updated with better pics. I'll start hardening in a couple days since the temp unexpectedly dropped to around 5C at night. I'll also be going on vacation at the end of may, so I guess I'll need to mulch my newly potted tomato?

Daniel, go to local nurseries and garden centers. Ours here had lots of good varieties and some good heirlooms. Even Brandywine, cherokee purple, and many popular heirlooms. and some good hybrids like jet star. But I did see at BBS some big beefs and red Brandywines.

tx sey and jenniedhs.

Hah, good catch. That's what I get for checking the forums on my lunch break ;)

Where are you located, Dillan ? Zone Number ?
How the weather has been, Temps, Rain ? ...
It will take sometime , under normal conditions, for the tomatoes to GRAB THE SOIL and then resume growing. Then iF the plants were subject to shocked due to transplant , cold weather, wit might take even longer to get adjusted.

BTW: I have started planting almost since a month ago, gradually. I should know how slow they grow.

Sey

Hi Hudson, I have used Epsom salts in my containers and it certainly didn't hurt. Not sure if it helped either. I'm planning on trying it again this year with a few plants to see if it makes a difference.

Sometimes an overdose of one thing can block the uptake of some others. I am not sure about Mag.
I am also a container grower. I use dolomitic lime which has some Magnesium in it.
Container growing is a different ball game and it is more challenging than in ground growing. The difficulty arises from frequent watering and by that leaching out a lot of nutrients, especially those that are highly water soluble, like Nitrogen and mag in Epsom salt. Smaller the container, the more challenging it gets. For example a 3ft x 6ft raised bed is just a big bottomless container but it acts more like in ground bed. Also because you put organic matter in it, it holds nutrients better, longerJMO

Sey

Could neem oil be used as a spreader-sticker?

Priscilia,.. I don't know what " spreader-sticker" is but:
Neem Oil spray is both a fungicide and pesticide.
It is Organic equivalent of Daconil as fungus prevention and it also repels some insects.

Sey

No spray or neighbors here :-)

Those plant are just fine. Give them some time to get a grab of the soil.
Yeah, some sunburn, as Hoosier already pointed out (browning, in your words) ... That is ok. Did you pour water on them, sometime during the day ?

I would also say " MULCH IT ! MULCH IT ! MULCH IT !
In my climate grass clippings get caked when dry and mushy when wet. I use small pine bark nuggets/mulch. NO ! NO! to those colored stuff.

Another step I suggest : FUNGICIDE ! FUNGICIDE ! FUNGICIDE !
Keep on trucking ! :-)

Good advice and conclusion.

Also some varieties show leaf rolling for no serious reasons. Today I just noticed one of my Willamette had lower leaves partially rolled, while other varieties in the same bed are fine. They were all grown from seed and planted at the same time. Two years ago I had a Black Kirim. It had rolled leaves most of the season. So , Some people suggested it was stressed because of puning. Some said it was because of too much water. How come it did not happen with the other varieties ?
if I cannot see any bugs (aphids, mites) I would not worry about it. JMO

Sey

It seemed to be predominately Purple Russian, with a few showing it in other varieties. I took a pretty good look at other plants that had leaves rolling, and aside from a very few aphids I didn't see anything to be concerned about. For the most part, the other varieties showing it seems similar physiologically to the Purple Russian, tall and thin leaves, not the bushy varieties.

I used soil less disinfected seed starter and never had any problem. Once got into potting stage , I use potting mix ( no disinfecting needed)
Sprouts are like new born babies that their immune system is not fully developed, me thinks,

Sey

the link to my original post explains all the info about how i started the seeds and potting mix ,,, i just didnt want to go bout typing it all out again and i thought the comments might also be usefull to help you guys help me determine why this is happening to my seedlings ,, season is almost here and i have no time to restart nor seeds to do it

thanks for all your help guys

Hey, thank you for your helpful comments, not to mention moral support; I benefited from each one.

It took some time but I popped every plant out of its cup, enlarged the holes and made slits up the side, and in most cases replaced a fair amount of the medium below and above the roots, followed by a light foliar feed of Neptune fish/seaweed emulsion and a bit of Epsom salts. I saw only one case of actual root rot, but much retained (heavy) moisture. So, while I believe the crystals were a big factor, I don’t think they’re entirely to blame: see Operator Error; in any case, I’m done with them. As Dave never tires of telling us, though in much politer terms: “It’s the overwatering, stupid!”

Carolyn: Nice to hear from you, but so much for my “experience” J There’s always more to learn—even for an old dog like me—especially from folks like those who responded to this post. And, yes,I remember the roses very well. They were Lillian Gibsons, prairie hardy and, as I recall, rooted in 10 days (a record).

Again, thank you all. I'll report back in a week or so with an update.

Gary

Gary, I start my tomatoes in Pro Mix and move them to MG without the water crystals as it has fertilizer so don't have to fertilize them by hand and they don't dry out as quickly as the Pro Mix ones. One year I used the MG with water crystals in my deck container pots and had to re-pot them because they stayed too moist. Other people may have success with it, me, not so much. I expect I was over-watering by not compensating for the extra water holding soil.

Regarding the cup issue: For years I used 4" square pots to re-pot. I've used cups for three years and don't notice any difference in growth. Think I will go back to pots next year as they are more stable. Hate it when a cup tips over and either a stem breaks or the whole plant pops out.

I don't have a green house so they stay under lights in my basement until hardening off.

Hope your plants green up and do well.

I planted five tomatoes in Wall of Waters yesterday just as the storm came in. Got soaked.

With the warm spring, will you plant out early or wait until May 15 or May 31st? I usually wait until the end of the month to plant unprotected tomatoes. Am watching the long term forecast.

All tomatoes are acidic which is called a "tart" taste (or tangy as digdirt has written), so try to compare it to something else, too. Some tomatoes are sweeter, but if one is not sweet, the tartness is more noticeable because the sweet isn't there to mask it.

Tomato enthusiasts I see posting generally don't call that bitter, even though that description might be used for some alcoholic beverages, especially those like Campari (Italian drink, not the tomato variety) mixed with soda water containing the alkalizing agent sodium bicarbonate which gives a bitter taste.

Campari the tomato variety, interestingly, is one of the sweetest and lowest acid tomatoes you can get commercially, while the Italian drink is yuk-bitter. Funny!

OK, so tell us the name of the variety and if you purchased it or grew it and then somebody with experience with it probably could solve what's happening.

PC

I have heard the first tomatos of the season can be not the best tasting ones?