16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Container growing has been good to me this season...but it is certainly different than in-ground. Grow bags seem to work for many....but sure dry out quickly. This means lots of work. Larger is generally better. Fast-draining mixes is important. Feed regularly.

The bags you are using are too shallow,... the large bag opening allows to for rapid evaporation ....., and you have two to many plants in each bag........check around the web for different bag/container ideas .....

I obviously screwed up on that post, I'll try and figure out what went wrong and re- post.
Chic
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you can "Edit" your post.

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Edited:
I just edited my post. When you click on "Edit Post", your original post will open. Then do any addition, deletion and then update it.

This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, Aug 30, 13 at 23:08

Further to my earlier posting on Marvel Tomato Here is a few photos of different stages.
Chic

Ready to eat

ready to pick

not quite ready to pick

They (the hornworms) were actually something of a treat to have... for my puppy that is. After taking off the tomatoe plant Belle would play with and then eventually eat them. I told my honey that belle got 4-6 servings of greens today.

But boy can they defoliate a branch overnight.

tom

Squash Vine Borers are worse, IMO. At least the hornworms can be picked off when damage is seen. SVB's do damage and are often impossible to remove and have plant recover.

Hate them with a rather violent passion...

At least the chickens can eat the hornworms.

Billyoscar: I've seen this kind of health in my garden in the woods in northern Minnesota (my home). Wonder where I could find half rotten logs or pieces of the forest floor here in Colorado. We have a trailer so we could go dig up chunks of forest floor if I just knew where to be able to go dig. I was so lucky to be living on forested land years ago.

Westy

1. Set the mouse traps early
2. You can grow productive tomatoes in containers as small as 1 gallon as long as they are drip irrigated.
3. Don't pick a fight with nature - you will lose.

I always use my Back to Basics Processor and make tomato juice. I use whatever's on the counter at the time. I reduce it down and add a little bit of canning salt (the recommended amount for canning) and sometimes a touch of sugar. When I've reduced it by ~40 %, I put it in quart jars and can it. Later in the winter, I can use that extra thick juice to make all kinds of things from picante and salsa to soups, stews, ketchup, or whatever trips my trigger.

Years of trying to do whole or chunked tomatoes just didn't work out. If all else fails, I also love tomato juice that has that taste of fresh from the garden.

Ted

In average, tomatoes are 90% water. Part of the remaining 10% consist of SEEDs , SKIN and bad pulp.
So in effect, a can of tomato paste is reduce by more than 80%.
Spaghetti sauce is reduced my more than 60%.

Reducing above percentages by boiling is both TIME and ENERGY consuming. There is a much simple method:

1- wash them
2- smash them and blend with stick/hand blender(in the same pot). Until fine pree.
3- Strain through a Jap/chinese rice strainer. You will get the skin, seeds, hard pulp out.
4- pour the strained must/puree into a a bag(made of fine woven fabric, cotton or nylon) and tighten its mouth.
5- Like making cheese, put some weight on it. You should see almost clear water with a little color coming out.
6- when it is reduced to the thickness that you wanted,, empty it to a pot, cook a little bit and can it.
7- use the juice as drink, make soups, ..etc.

I meant to mention that they are in the ground. I will cut down on watering. Thanks!

Not the right thread, but do you know if you can do the same for pumpkins? I have them in with my tomatoes in the same plot.

Another point is that, tomatoes can stay in green/growth stage for a LONG time(40 day ?). with large fruits it can even take longer. So, if there have bee new sets(late comers) , it will take them a while to grow and ripen.

And yet another point: In zone 5, CO, if the wether has been cooling off, it will slow down both growth and ripening.

The other point, already mentioned, is that if you fertilized with nitrogen rich stuff, the plant will concentrate on foiliage growth.
JMO.

i don't grow in a greenhouse,i live in northern alberta and my tomatoes are red and the plants are over 7 feet.no fertilizer,just rain

My brother told me he had tomatoes in Dallas that he kept alive during the scorching months, and they didn't start to fruit until the weather cooled.

I've had the opposite situation, weather wise. I'm in northern MN. Our temps stayed in the 60's and 70's for most of July. As soon as the weather warmed, my plants began to really take off. Now they all have gorgeous fruit and some are still blooming.

This image is the best I can get at the moment. The plant usually sits on a window ledge where the sun gets its all day. I water it every few days and use tomato feed once a week. I'm not sure what kind it is as I was given them by an acquittance I am no longer in contact with. As you can see its starting to grow a bit wild. Lol.

I think Jean probably has the correct diagnosis, but can't tell for sure since we don't have a closeup. If it were early blight there would be watery looking brown spots on the leaves and stems and even the fruit would be affected.

If it is strictly a watering issue, just get the watering and feeding back to normal and the plants should put out new leaves. You season is long enough that it should be useful. Of course if you prefer, you can dispose of the plants since I think some people in your zone plant a late crop? (Not sure about that, we don't have that option here in Idaho.)

At any rate, if you water them and feed them as one normally does for tomatoes in pots, the fruit on the plant would have a chance to ripen.

I hope that helps.

Betsy

Did your neighbor water the soil, or water the top of the plants?

My neighbor watered the tops of his plants. I told him that spreads the blights at a much faster rate than if water was applied at the soil. Most of his plants were brown in July.

Dave said it all.
In MO and many other places, fertilizing tomatoes at this time is not going to do much good. Remember that most nutrients stick around for quite a while , if planted in the ground. Exception might be the Nitrogen but you don't need that now anyway.

Seysonn:

You don't think there is any chance that a indeterminate cherry tomato might benefit from fertilizer this late in the season?

I have not used fertilizer on my tomatoes past the month of August, but mainly out of laziness. I usually get cherry tomatoes thru the end of October. State of Missouri.

I have several tomatoes in a hugelkultur bed and still got late blight infections on the plants.

Though truthfully I doubt anything other than physical isolation could stop a late blight infection. It's like Ebola, only for tomatoes, and spread by air currents!

CH

Back on the subjec: Effects of rotten log:

I think most organic matter can play similar role. Instead of a rotten log you can bury lots of coarse compost , mixed with some peat moss, underneath the top 8 inch standard soil. It will play similar role. The root system can grow much easily in that medium than in a compacted medium. The same idea is applied in soil less potting mixes that provide a fluffy ,less compact medium.