16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Now that nobody is answering, I think that it is a plant's habit, mostly I see in SMALL FRUITED tomatoes. On others which have much smaller clusters, it is not that severe. Even within the SMALL FRUITED ones, there seems to be marked difference. ONE thing is obvious to me, that a tomato plant cannot simultaneously support 50 fruits(or more). But it is somehow very greedy to produce a lot, even cannot support. They do not believe in Planned Parenthood. lol.
seysonn - you are confusing F1 and F2 generations (much less F3) as well as mixing up hybrids and what are often called "stabilized hybrids" (began as a hybrid variety and after 100's of generations now breeds true - mostly).
When you buy a reputable hybrid variety to grow it is labeled an F1, a first generation seed. When they need more F1 seeds to sell they go back and hand cross the parent stock again. They don't sell F2 seed and call it F1. So yes, when Joe gardener saves his own seeds they are now F2 seeds and may not breed true.
Totally different things and explained in accurate detail in many of the links Carolyn provided.
Dave
Thank you all for your responses. I've read through the majority of links provided and learned quite a lot. I did a search and found another article, "Hybrid Seed Production of a Tomato" (link below). This article states "Both parents should be pure, being self-pollinated for more than 6 generations (this is called inbreeding). Parents are selected for their desirable traits (high yields, disease resistance, fruit quality, earliness, etc."
Does the self-pollination for more than 6 generations result in a genetically identical variety? So that when crossed with another "pure" variety, it can be relied upon to produce a different variety 100% of the time??? Trying to reconcile probability. Guess I need to go back and review my genetics book from many years ago.
I AM starting to realize the years and hard work that go into hybridizing a new variety. I think I will gladly pay the increased price if I choose to grow a hybrid tomato
(think Sungold).
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/mukeshkarnwal-1732869-hybrid-seed-production-tomato/
This post was edited by amerique2 on Tue, Jul 23, 13 at 2:57
I had them last year on my ficus like crazy and for me the best n easiest was water, soap and oil spray. Making sure it gets under the leaves. This year before spring rains, I cut down the ficus leaves and so far it's not as bad as last year at all.
Thanks for the comments folks!
I was wondering if I should pick them, in light of people saying that there's no point in leaving them on the vine to ripen as they will ripen just as well on my kitchen counter. (This was something I learned here). I was going to leave them just a little longer, but then I spotted a bunny INSIDE my raised veggie garden with a little fence to keep the dogs out! Buns ran off when he saw me and had no problem squeezing under the green plastic fencing on the other side... I think I'd better grab those maters while I still can!
Linda
I personally like to spray copper or make a tea with 1 gallon of water to 1 cup of organic corn meal (let sit overnight until it has a sweet smell, then spray). Neem oil sprays are good too. That is, of course, to spray after removing all of the infected foliage with clean scissors:-)
Apparently it IS a tomato hornworm. Not a very scientific name! Here's an explanation with pictures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_sexta
Linda
And when did you plant them out? In your zone early planting is required to beat the heat and get fruit set. Once the temps are consistently above 95 you'll only get Blossom Drop.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom Drop FAQ
Thanks Ed, I did notoce beak marks i think, they tried to get in or it could of been caused by the sun. Anyway I pulled 2 more off and I put a "group photo" of the original one with the 2 new "Ramapo's" from today and yesterday. The original one is on the bottom right. The bright green one was a stupid mistake that I pulled off 2 weeks ago. The other small ones are the "4th of July Hybrid" that is growing in ground.
Thanks again everyone,
- Mr Beno
I'm glad to see that my dog is not the only one liking fish emulsion and other organic fertilizers. I caught her lapping up a little puddle of liquid fish before it had fully sunk into the soil of one of my container grown okra plants. I had wondered why she was sticking so close to me while I was feeding the plants-usually she's on squirrel patrol at the other end of the yard. Also glad I hadn't used any pesticides. I almost lost a dog to rat poison pellets years ago. Haven't used them since, dont want another trip to the animal emergency room! I also stopped using the liquid fish because I definitely do not want to reinforce that type of behavior.
Black Zebra is a small, salad size tomato.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Black_Zebra
I'm in NJ as well and am just starting to see some ripening on the larger types where I was fortunate to have to fruit set early on. It all depends on when the fruit set on your plants. Between the rain and then the heat I had a lot of blossom drop and some of my plants only have smaller fruit as well like you.