16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Awesome Tomato porn!! Love these. I will definitely be growing Kellogg's next year. Awesome job guys. ENJOY!!

All of your fruits looks great! This is my first year so I didn't know what to expect. With the weird weather (cool, rainy, then dry) I got some cracking but nothing that will effect the taste hopefully. Had to pick these a bit early to ripen in the window. They are so beautifully colored IMO!

Mr.Stripey's in the rear and old german up front.

In your zone in CA you might be able to pull it off but for most of us it would be impossible except with a greenhouse and have a costly overhead even then.

And the benefits you are hoping for often don't manifest themselves. But experimentation is a good way to learn.

Dave

"In your zone in CA you might be able to pull it off but for most of us it would be impossible except with a greenhouse and have a costly overhead even then.
And the benefits you are hoping for often don't manifest themselves. But experimentation is a good way to learn."

I sure wouldn't waste precious greenhouse space on such an experiment.

As for pulling it off in my climate, the tomato has already survived a winter with zero attention, meaning it survived a few light frosts. Whether it is worth it or not in terms of long-term productivity remains to be seen.

I've taken a few cuttings to plant in more favorable locations in the garden (with irrigation & sun) to see what happens. I'll update next spring.

Hello, Sorry for not replying to the post sooner. They are not, teeny wasps, at least I don't think so. It is inside a greenhouse, and I have never had hook worms, or any kind of worms. I do have parasitic wasps, which help the ladybugs keep the aphids under control, they are smaller and leave mummies in the leaves. there are no mummies on the tomato plants, only these bugs and other smaller ones, which I suspect are their young. Maybe it is something only found here in Mexico, I will continue searching, but thanks for your responses.

I added some photos to an album in imgur, in case someone wants to see. Note the black spots, which I suspect are some kind of honeydew.

Here is a link that might be useful: Imgur album

Take a look at this link and compare the pics to your leaves. Looks right to me. Best fungicide is Daconil but many others are available. many discussions here about them the search will pull up for you.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: TAMU - Septoria Leaf Spot

spray leaves with a copper fungicide. Much better for you and the environment then Daconil.

Thanks Dave. If nothing else, I'll remove the dead foliage.

Yes - You should spray or it might spread and kill the whole plant. I have had early fungus problems and now I have spider mites and Late Blight. If you get Late Blight, it will kill the plants very quickly. Spay a copper based fungicide once a week or after every rainfall.

I grew out a couple of seeds that I had saved in 2008, just to see if they would be Potato Leaf. They are!

So, I have been growing this variety for at least 5 years and they have always had the yellow pear-shaped fruit and PL's.

Did it suddenly revert to a round yellow cherry? That sounds like the simplest explanation.

I have never grown any other yellow tomato varieties, although I have grown rosé cherries. (I don't know if rosé is recessive).

We all have 2 acre lots, and none of my neighbours grows tomatoes.

The only cross that I have noticed is from Garden Peach (which I disliked). Wouldn't you know it GP crossed with Rosé cherry and I ended up with fuzzy GP fruits on my "supposed" Rosé plants - yuck!

Linda

At another message site where Linda also has been posting about this I just posted a lot of information and told her what she had beengrowing for 5 years was probably Yellow Submarine and gave her a link.

As I also posted, it's anyones guess as to why she got cherries and not YP shaped ones of late.

And made some other comments to her.

So she can update you on this if she wants to since no links to other message sites are allowed here at GW.

Carolyn

I ordered opalka from someone on ebay this year, and ended up with a short, bushy plant similar to the pictures above. To my disappointment, it appears some kind of no/faux palka. The tomatoes look like bell peppers, with 4 lobes, and hollowed out like they'd be good for stuffing. I wanted to rip them up, but curiosity won the better of me and I'm going to wait and see what the ripened fruit is like.

Welll buyers beware. The Fauxpalkas are still out there in 2013. I too ordered seed (from an EBay) source and wound up with the same plants as pictured and described by HomeGardenPa.

"she is still making it up to me...."

Enjoy it while it lasts..lol.
So both of you use the same user name here?

Gilgamesh

yea we do......we use the same garden aswell

Also, looks like something is eating the leaves. You might look underneath the leaves and see if you have bugs that are causing some stress that need to be washed off.

The new growth is looking a lot less wilted now, though the leaves have distinct patches of light green and dark green. The leaves usually get paler when I need to fertilize, so I'll get that done. The sick plant is away from the healthy one now, just in case.

There's probably an element of stress involved, though it seems strange that one plant is doing well and the other isn't considering I'm treating them both the same. Is Cherokee Purple a sensitive variety?

I noticed two bugs while looking at the main stem, and I knocked them off. I'm looking to find some Neem oil to use on both plants, since they were in close contact and I have problems noticing tiny bugs.

I have organic potting soil/mix, and compost. They have been doing fine for the last month or so, then the vein/leaf issue starting popping up. I noticed a few leaves also with some holes and withering at the very base with the purplish blotches on the non-vein side.

Most of us on the container forum would not recommend compost in containers. But anyway, that ship has sailed this year. I would still give them a good dose of fertilizer, the leaves look a bit pale.

Hi QS,

You might want to ask this over in the Soil, Compost and Mulch Forum, although it doesn't look like there is much in the way of recent activity over there, but someone may be monitoring for new posts and might have some suggestions for you.

Also, it's possible your question has been asked and answered on that forum previously, so you may want to go take a look even if you don't post your question there.

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil, Compost and Mulch Forum

In a way you are talking about what is called "sheet composting" or composting in place and the best place for info on that methods is as Betsy said, the Composting forum. While one can read about tossing all sorts of things in with their plants - TUMS, aspirin, egg shells, banana peels, coffee grounds, blended kitchen scrapes, limestone gravel, dog food, moldy bread. and even laundry soap, etc. it is all considered junk gardening by most experienced gardeners.

But the whole idea of But I had read in another topic about someone just throwing things such as banana peels, used coffee grounds and eggshells in the container pots. with plants is rarely recommended for several reasons. Most would strongly recommend avoid doing it all together. Those things all work in a compost pile IF that pile is managed properly. They don't work in a pot. Sorry.

1) it isn't actually composting
2) it attracts pests and critters to the plants
3) as mentioned it can be stinky, slimy, moldy blob with lots of flies
4) and it does nothing for the plants

Composting requires time, weeks of it, and until it decomposes it provides nothing to the plant. It needs mixing/stirring now and then to work and that would be difficult to do in a pot. It also requires water, often more than the plant could tolerate and requires diverse ingredients to work, a balance of carbons and nitrogens. Easy to do in a pile, even a really big container, but not in a pot.

The most common solution to composting with limited space is Vermicomposting which requires only a small box type container and it too has its own forum here full of info.

Dave

Like any new transplant, you have to keep them watered.
And, fertilize with liquid fertilized at 1/3 to 1/4 normal recommended strength every time you water( Use watering can)

Hello NurseChristina,

You list your zone as 5, but where are you located? Knowing that would help us give you better advice.

Do your tomato plants have blossoms or fruit on them? I assume since you mentioned SFG (square foot gardening) that you are planting in a raised bed. Did you move them into another raised bed, directly into the ground or into containers?

As long as they are not in containers, I would suggest side dressing them with the TomatoTone. I suggest it because the nitrogen is lower, you want support for fruits and roots, not foliage growth. NPK = up, down, all around.

Just follow the TT's recommended amounts in a circular furrow about 6" from the stem. Keep the fert off the leaves and roots so they don't get burned. You can follow up with another feeding in 3-4 weeks.

If they are in the ground (or raised bed) I'll contradict Seysonn's watering advice . . . . Neither of us knows where you are or if you are container gardening, so we may both be wrong. However, I'd recommend deep watering if they are in a raised bed or in the ground, I don't think you'll get the deep watering with a watering can. And if you are side dressing, you don't need to feed every watering. If they are in containers, then Seysonn's directions are right on.

I hope that helps.

Betsy

Thanks for the pic Sylvia - did yours look like mine when they were young? Did they increase in size even after they started showing color?

I know Florida tomatoes will be different than Wisconsin tomatoes, but assuming that cake stand is about 14" diameter, your Kosovo are more than twice the size of mine so far.

You are welcome Mandolls, I grow them in containers and the tomatoes were different sizes some probably small like yours and some bigger, from all the heart tomatoes that I tasted they were the ones that I like the best, this season I also grew Monokah's Hat that I also like because they fruit early. I usually use fresh bought seed from the seed companies, this way I am not worried about crossing varieties since I always grow an assortment in my garden.

Silvia

Assuming you plan to use them to make sauce - otherwise why grow that type/variety - then just pick and freeze whole until ready to process them.

That's standard practice with most home canner folks. I sure wouldn't leave them on the plants to go to waste.

Dave

Thanks all. They are picked!