16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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qaguy

Spider mites love hot, dry conditions. I'm keeping them
at bay with plain old water, sprayed on most days. It
keeps things moist and the little buggers don't like that.

I should add that I'm in SoCal where it's generally hot and
dry all the time. Lately, the humidity has been quite high
for us, about 40-60 percent many days. That's probably
helping too.

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 12:25AM
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springtogarden(6)

Thank you for the info! I was spraying them and then there was an outbreak of blight so I stopped but then someone told me that spraying for a very short time on the foliage can actually be good in the morning because even if there is spores, the day heats up and kills them and it prevents spider mites too. I am going to try only spraying them in the morning. I've always felt doing that was important but got worried after the blight. We have been hot here, in the 90s but not very humid. Lots of dew in the morning though. Can't stand spider mites. So new and confused :).

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 6:30PM
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labradors_gw

They are the "roots" that I was talking about in a previous thread. No problem at all, but somebody said that they are caused by high humidity.

I would remove those yellow lower (dying) leaves as you don't want the spread of any possible disease.

The fruit looks good!

Linda

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 9:40AM
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sheltieche

yep, this year noted for slow stunted growth at my community gardens whereas at home patio and small patch of about dozen toms have created jungle. So go figure. I had really bad luck this year with septoria but many people did due to weather. No diseases at my home maters yay!

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 9:08AM
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monet_g

Good to see some neighbors here. I'm in Birmingham!

My plants are doing well, but wilting in the heat. Not the best year, but definitely not the worst. My best year is when I tilled in a lot of compost a couple of weeks prior to planting. Hugh plants and lots of huge fruit. For this year, I put the compost down last fall. I think I'll go back to the spring application. Of course, I know this weather is playing a roll.

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 9:33AM
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rdr115

Carolyn, I googled Variegated Tomatoes and found a message and pictures at bambooweb.info from someone who found a Cherokee Purple with some variegation. Of course it may have been a one-time fluke. Don't know.

Richard

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 12:11AM
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carolyn137(z4/5 NY)

Richard, sadly I can't link to other message sites here, but I too did some googling and I did find that some have reported what they called varigation ofCP and there was a really great talk about how commercial growers of plants use growth retardents that can cause temporay variegation but that's temporary, not passed on.

Then I remembered that someone who got Green Zebra Cherry from a seed offer of mine also got some plants with variegation, and whatever it was saved seeds did not pass it on.so the conclusion was thatit was something environmental, perhaps herbicide drift.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn.

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 9:22AM
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2ajsmama

M fruit have just set and are hard as rocks so I'm not worried about that yet ;-)

I've got 106 tomatoes, 69 beans, 27 edamame and 49 pepper plants 1000ft from my house that I have to water by hand with gallon jugs filled from 50 gal barrel(s) hauled down in my pickup so if I can afford to wait for rain, I wait!

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 3:27PM
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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

Depending on the RH, plants need more water at higher temperatures, just as humans do, due to perspiration. Additionally, if the bed is not adequately mulched, with moisture retaining mulch, the plants will need even more water. This issue is very well manifest itself in pot/container gardening, depending on the size, temps, location. Sometimes you have to water them twice in a day.

    Bookmark     July 20, 2013 at 3:03AM
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Bets(z6A S ID)

You might want to ask this question over in the container forum, but as long as your plants are not wilted from lack of water by the next day you should be fine.

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Gardening Forum

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 12:44PM
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watson524

Thanks I'll post it over there too but appreciate your response. End of day today in blazing hot sun and they all seemed good, even the one that's got naturally thinner, less hardy stems and leaves that tends to be the first to wilt. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning with the adjustments I made.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 8:52PM
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garden_proj_mgr(7)

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I wanted to note that I am currently growing egg yolk (bought them off of Mr. Pierce himself) and I cannot believe how hearty and prolific this thing is. I didn't get my tomato bed built in time, and my nursery bed of closely spaced tomatoes got a bit.. well.. saturated. When I was pulling them out to transplant, I found fruit had set all over the egg yolks in high 90 heat with poor air flow. I'm shocked.

    Bookmark     July 13, 2010 at 1:19PM
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baileybb1983

I know this is an old conversation, but I grew the egg yolk tomato last year and loved it. I had tiny cherry tomatoes and tons of them. This year I bought my seeds from the same company (sustainableseed.com) and they are golf ball sized on one plant and cherry sized on the other. Either way, they still taste great. But I also noticed the size difference.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 6:20PM
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2ajsmama

They'll do that if it's been esp. humid. Just hill up around them, the more roots the better!

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 3:28PM
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labradors_gw

I should have added that they are quite high up on the stems and not near the bottom or contacting the soil. I think the humidity factor is probably the answer, yet it only happened on the one plant in my garden and the ones in the store were all the same variety and all growing close together. Mine was pretty shaded (and probably humid) before I removed a lot of the lower leaves.

Thanks,
Linda

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 4:36PM
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monet_g

I would spray with whatever you can and remove any affected leaves (which helps a lot). It's generally recommended to use the fungicide as a preventative. The best you can do now is control the disease.

We're moving into the middle of the season now and even if you have some problems you should still get a decent crop. The plants might look unsightly, but the fruit should still be good. Some people feel that disease is just part of the growing process and don't treat with anything, but are consoled with some nice tomatoes regardless.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 9:20AM
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springtogarden(6)

springbound I feel your pain! The community garden experience is quite different from doing it at home. I am hoping you do not get it. I would definitely spray with whatever your community garden allows so you don't end up like me. I think it is a good sign that none of them have it yet.
monet_g you made me feel better! I will do what I can. With the exception of a big rainstorm in the beginning of summer, it hasn't been a rainy season so I've got that going for me. All my plants are flowering and there are baby tomatoes. So I will just keep it up. Thanks again!

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 3:45PM
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MzTeaze(6a)

The amount of worm castings you use really depends on the "recipe" you use to make compost tea.

I've seen recipes with as little as 1/2 cup to 2 cups. I have about 8 different recipes tucked into my Evernote notebook. If you list what you plan to put in your tea based on ingredients you have on hand, I can find the correct proportions per any given recipe. Just let me know.

Just FYI, I've learned that gardening has a ton of variables so you have to find what works for you. Guidelines are just that - guidelines not cut and dried rules.

Glad to hear you were able to salvage the damaged fruit.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 2:37PM
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survivalgardener

My plants are watered from the bottom through a wicking system I built into each bucket. So basically the plant shouldn't get over or under watered because it takes only the water it needs. However with my roma tomato containers I did not put wood chips on top of the soil like I did with my other plants so the water evaporated through the top and the soil started to dry out. This system works great for my other plants. I add water to the bottom of the container as needed and the plant does the rest.

Just went out and looked at my plants. They all have new tomatoes on the top of them that weren't there last night. The leaves are not quite as wilted and I think they are starting to come back. I pulled about 10 more smaller rotted tomatoes off and plan on trimming some dead leaves off later. The weather has cooled down a bit and we might even get some rain here finally (then I can fill my rain barrels again). I think there might be some hope of getting some ripe tomatoes off these plants if I keep up on my watering.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 3:32PM
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Bets(z6A S ID)

Good thing you identified it as something that was not your friends fault!

Betsy

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 1:53PM
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kpev7hard(7)

I appreciated all the suggestions, I was stumped!
Now I need to determine the best way to control them and salvage what's left of my plants!

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 2:07PM
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fireduck(10a)

Nice job! Growing here in SoCal is relatively easy....providing you know a bit.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 10:59AM
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labradors_gw

Beautiful!

They look so tasty and I am jealous as all I have harvested are two yellow cherries and a tiny weenie Sungold.

Enjoy!

Linda

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 1:53PM
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tomatovator21

I had the same thing happen one year. They will improve in time.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 12:25PM
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qaguy

First tomatoes of the year are always a disappointment
for me. Patience is the answer. They will get better.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 1:04PM
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lisound

it will kill everything good and bad. depending on how bad you have them, maybe try some neem oil first.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 11:44AM
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kpev7hard(7)

I've lost two plants to them already. My other four are invested, even on most of the new growth. Not sure if I need to go all-in to save them.

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 12:40PM
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kathyb912_in (5a/5b, Central IN)

I've never grown GD, but I grew Chadwick Cherry last year and whoever labeled it as 36-42" obviously never grew one. It was a HUGE plant, easily 8-10' by fall. It grew up over the top of a 6' privacy fence and down the other side, not to mention over the tops of all the other tomato varieties planted nearby. Per my 2012 notes, I picked my first ripe CC on July 15 following a May 14 transplant, so similar to what you're getting this year.

    Bookmark     July 18, 2013 at 3:36PM
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sunnibel7 Md 7(7)

Here's an old discussion where the dtm of Chadwick Cherry comes up as 70-75 days. Gardener's delight is coincedentally mentioned but not its dtm. Cheers!

Here is a link that might be useful: Old discussion

    Bookmark     July 19, 2013 at 11:42AM
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