16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Thanks for the detailed analysis Pupilla! You were right about it not being OMRI yet. Their original version is which uses peat instead of coco coir. A lot of people around here seem to love them and I have had good results but I'm by no means an evangelist. If you have some organic OMRI soil recommendations or general soil for container recommendations I'm all ears!

I went out and purchased a standing home fan and have that in the door now pushing a slight breeze in the room. I totally neglected that so good catch there.

As for light I I also didn't think about that and likely was giving them too much. I would suspect I was running somewhere around 18 hours of light so have dialed that back.

I went back and checked tap water PH and it appears like it was a problem with my PH Pen calibration. So from now on I'm calibrating right before every feeding. It showed 7.3 today after calibration. Do you think I need to adjust each tap watering down to 6.5 or is a straight 7.0 to 7.5 watering without fertilizer okay?

Could I get your advice on what fertilizer program you would use if your goal is to stay as organic as possible? I was under the impression people start a lot of vegetables with a more nitrogen based program then ramp up more Phosphorus and Potassium more towards flowering? Would you recommend a more balanced program from day 1?

I think the plants are already looking better so thanks a lot for the help! Here are some recent pics but I forgot the LED light on so colour is not so great.

Dan, I've used a few different mixes in containers and I like the sound of your sea soil. The problem with containers is that the system is really too small to set up a true organic soil system in them. People do all sorts of things and may technically get away with it, but I my abilities can't do a completely organic soil and get reliable production, since any "help" and you kid yourself that it is "almost organic". That said, I had some luck with a mixture of 1/3 compost (Black Kow Composted Organic), 1/3 peat & 1/3 perlite in summer but you must watch it doesn't get waterlogged. I know it sounds strange, but raw perlite is "organic". You could put some of those fancy rock dusts in there and dolomitic lime and give it a whirl. Problem is at some point your plants will need the nutrient boost of something like Miracle Gro, which is not organic, but not as bad as some make it out to be, either! There are some Fox Farms hydroponic/organic and Dutch Master hydro organic ones, but these things are really cost intensive and there is no way I could afford to even evaluate them. Tomato-Tone is organic and you can use some of it (the affordable option I would use) but a lot of experimentation is necessary to get it right in a bucket. Those are the tools I would use. There are others that are more expert than I am in this forum on organic methods in a container, but the problem is that ingredients and climates can vary enough that a lot of experimentation is necessary anyway and it is a bit much to ask of a container considering the nutrient demands of a big tomato plant. And a bigger contaner ( say, 25 gallons) can be costly to fill with organic nutrients only. There are other much more economic ways to go if you drop the requirement of deriving all nutrition from "organic" sources, for example pine mulch, etc, is cheap but offers no nutrition so it doesn't get you anywhere nutrient wise, though it might help you save on perlite.

I can't answer whether your tap is appropriate for your plant, even knowing the pH is 7.5. That's because it will be the interaction among the tap, soil ingredients and amendments that determine the pH of the container. For example, if your soil starts on the acid side which it likely will it needs to be neutralized with some lime, but you can do what I do ... put less in and water with alkaline water for a while. Clearly that is not an optimal situation but to be honest my plants do fine despite all the issues with pH, and my tap is pH 7.7. But this is a fragil relationship and the only way to now for sure is to pH test your soil while you grow toget the hang of what's happening, if you are really enthusiastic. Just because it works for me, btw, doesn't mean it will work for everyone. We get lots of rain here and that frequently washes trhough soil mixesand I purposely open the tops wide to encourage that. No residue builds up from the tap or any of my not-organic supplements due to the rain.

The common wisdom of hydroponics of a vegetative and a reproductive period fertilization schemes doesn't seem very pronounced to me when growing the tomato for the long haul. To be perfectly honest, I think all these mantras about vegetative stages and drastic changes during flowering stages are geared towards high value crops LOL. Really with tomato plants you want to keep the nitrogen at a baseline, low in all of my scenarios. You are not growing vines, they get quickly unmanageable for indeterminates and make few tomatoes, and most everyone here seems to agree that being pretty stingy with nitrogen is the way to go. That's the opposite of what you've done. When I grow my tomatoes, my seedlings have only 1/2 to 2/3 the nitrogen the producing plants do, so my nitrogen rate actually increases for me. At the end I back off though because the plants get less productive and unmanageable so there's a lot of give and take.

Hope that helps a little, because nothing is as easy as it seems, so most people find something that works and get pretty stuck to it.

Cheers

PC

I'm having trouble keeping my lines tight. I am using jute twine and I don't think it's stretching - I'm just not getting it tight enough to begin with. I don't really have anyone who can help me, so any tricks to getting it right the first time? Going up, can I pre-do tight lines and work my plants in to them as they grow? Any suggestions welcome as I have 52 plants and I'm questioning my ability to support them right now. Thanks!

You could rig something up with pegs (turn or fixed for making loops) like this if you are on your own and want a cool, simple system:

Violin tuning

If it works you might have the world's first musical row of tomatoes to add to the sounds of wind chimes ;) I haven't read the old thread you found but it looked like it has nice and logical ideas, like putting in second end posts or anchor posts too. You could use turnbuckles in your anchor posts, too.

Turnbuckles

Pre-stringing would lose some adaptability but you could do it, though it might not be all you hope I bet it works if the flowers don't get a chance to be wacked against them in winds, but it would stress the plant stems more if they got too long and had to be back-woven in, if my metal trellis is any indication. I suppose if that happened you could tie the stems like we might with a trellis. Stringing along with the plants allows you more liberty to tighten and adjust as needed as things change.

PC

Brandywine

Brandywine Pink

Giant Belgium

Porterhouse

Giant Delicious

Box Car Willie

Red Rose

Cherokee Purple

Brandy Boy

Orange Wellington

Kellogg's Breakfast

Sun Gold (cherry tomatoes)

Black Cherry (cherry tomatoes)

Can't wait to see the results in the garden, sometimes sowing seeds indoors and growing seedlings can be challenging, but also very rewarding!

A vantage thread... Interesting how some old popular ones are still around this season after SEVEN (7) years. They must have have passed the test of time and the test of TASTES. .

But , as it is always the case the gardeners get a lot of enthusiasm about planning and planting BUT don't like to come back and evaluate how their choices did in the real garden and real life.

Seysonn

Here is the link

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2966925/brandy-boy-contest-2015-2?n=96

Hi Hoosier - yes - there is a part 2 now for this thread. To answer your question - please post what ever information you would like to share on this thread (and additional parts) about your experiences - good or bad - growing Brandy Boy. The more photos the better. There are no other requirements. The purpose of the thread is the competition (please read the very first post) and to share our experiences/results with a relatively popular variety that has been of apparent current interest on this and other forums. Beyond that - we just want to have fun comparing results of one tomato variety across the country in all growing conditions - hope you will participate and enjoy the thread!

Getting really excited as I am working on tilling the garden-planting time is getting close here in Indiana. Will be sure and try to post some pictures when the tomatoes get on the vine. Thanks again everyone for all your help!! Going to find the Brandy Boy thread hopefully I can still get on board.

hi H...My garden has been planted for 6 weeks now. By far the most aggressive, healthiest, and most fruit is my Big Beef. I think my Brandy Boy is a little ahead of the other 12 varieties. I see that your weather has really warmed up! goodluck.

Well I am doing Jubilee this year, and a couple have set, and getting nice and fat. Old German has set a few as well. I have more than a few set on the Cherokee Purple, and one wicked looking one that is from a megabloom, and it looks quite funky. I will have to borrow my wife's camera to take a pic of it later on. Though I am guessing that will be on Monday. I will be at the air show tomorrow.

O ! I always wanted to grow Old German. But my seed supplier did not carry it.
Anyway, I am growing Big Rainbow with similar color pattern.

Nate, is Jubilee same as "golden Jubilee" ?. I think I have grown that one many years ago. It was very sweet tasting.

Sey

Hope you have some nice weather for the corn plantings. I think you were right about getting transplants, though, since you should have started seeds two weeks ago.

My best tip to wow your wife with a colorful oddball all things considered is 'Speckled Roman', an interesting plant all around including having weakling droopy leaves which are pretty in their own way if you can tolerate the willowy foliage look. It set fruit 10 days ahead of my Big Rainbow/Hillbilly/Ruby Gold/Pineapple types now, and I think you are too late to go from seed on those ones in your season. These colorful big beautiful bi-colors need lots of heat and sun to sweeten up right or else she won't be back for seconds ... at least in my experience. If you haven't grown Cherokee Purple take Dave's recommendation on that one! Good luck!

PC

Found some Green Zebra's and a 4 pack of Cherokee purples yesterday! Looks like my Mr. Stripey is pulling through the freeze.

It does not burn because the nutrients are released slower and more natural compared to synthetics. Lots of micro stuff in there too.

I read somewhere that Neptune's Harvest (2-3-1) is better than Alaska (5-1-1).

I use Big Bloom (FoxFarm) [0.01-0.3-0.7] and it works for me.

It's probably not the problem but anything can help. If you're using tap water let it stand for 24 hours that gets rid of some of the chemicals and the water is room temperature

been useing filtered watter zero water the type you get in those big bottles for drinking stands like culligan water ,,, i decided to stop useing that, and ive used some rain water from my barrel outside for 1 watering so far ,,,, forgot to mention i also use a mycorrhiza supplement the problems seemd to happen around this time i used the stuff as a soil soak ,, but all the rest of my plants cucs and peppers seem ok

i only did one application of this stuff btw

thanks for all your help guys

Bestimt da ! Das ist die Warheit. :-)

Sey

My dad was a German Special Forces paratrooper in WW 2. He's 92 and could probably still kick my ass, and he wants some tomatoes

Martha, it's been a looong recovery and I'm not there yet. I was released by the RN and PT only a week ago, both Martha, who prepares meals and Freda, who cleans, takes care of everything related to my old cat, and also fills the birdfeeders, but not lately, since the visit of a HUGE Black Bear who did a lot of destruction around here.

I'm in the phase of challenging myself with different foods to see which ones agree or don't agree with my now gall bladerless body, thankfully bittersweet chocolate and cashews are OK, LOL

More to the point, for several reasons I seldom come here now, maybe stop by to look, but seldom post. That's just the way it is and will continue to be so.

Carolyn, trying to remember how long we've known each other, I know it's a very long time, but as to dates, I cannot remember.

glad you are doing better. My gall bladder was taken out when I was 30..so thats a long time ago.....I think I started posting here about 17 years ago, when we first moved out of the city..
I learned everything about growing tomatoes from you and your wonderful book. This year I have three of yours growing Dr. Carolyn...hope they have tomatoes...my plants have often become mixed up when my system of marking them has turned into a fiasco...(tabs fall off
pots, get wet and vanish)..so lots to chance now...I have never seen a bear here, just heard about them...but a fox keeps visiting acting like a dog and wanting food..so someone around here is feeding him... take care..
Martha zucchini

thanks all...l usually start them when I did these. last year started in May and they were not big or strong enough to plant out...never had such a bad year...they look good and healthy, I will plant up to larger pots..trouble is I have 70 of them...too many..not enough room..will give some away
early.. Keeping the lights close and moved some into a window (large tall window).. will put a fan on them to make them even stronger...thanks again, martha/zucchini

I just reported some back into the same pots, but removed some of the root and added more
soil less mix so they are planted deeper..they look good, thought they might panic..Its getting
so warm out so fast maybe can plant them out before June...but ...will wait and see..
Martha/zucchini

Jennie,
If it were me, I would keep that particulat plant in separation AND trim any and all the affected foliage and continue to monitor It. Obviously , if it was environmental the problem should disappear. Other wise dispose it off.

Sey

That's the plan Sey. Thanks.