16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

Betsy

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!

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

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

njitgrad -- do you realize how "sensual" your description of eating your 1st tomato sounds?? LOL!! Reading all these....only tomato freaks could understand the excitement!!

OK, first beefsteak - usually just sliced thick with salt eaten standing up over the counter/cutting board. But later in the season, BLT without the BL (toast the bread so it doesn't get too soggy from tomato juice, I don't normally eat mayo but 1/2 tsp is good on tomato), or else a slice of white American cheese instead of mayo, but then have to pop the sandwich in the MW for 10 secs to melt the cheese. Roast beef is good too.

We rarely use beefsteaks in salad - I love my Brandywines, CP and Krims too much to ruin them with dressing! But by the time we get ripe tomatoes the lettuce is over with anway (I'll have to try fall crop this year) so just tomato and salt as a side with dinner is fine.

Darn, I'm really craving tomato right now and all I have is store-bought cherries and some BW quarters I froze last year.

Try googling for flea beetle

njitgrad -- I don't have answer to your ? but I am interested in your containers. 1st I'll say how very tidy your boarder and tomatoes are!!
What is your pot? How do you have them staked? Looks like square wire fencing with twine around the stakes as it grows up??
thks