16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Seysonn,
They may look like Baby Roma or San Marzano.
But they also look like Amish Paste.
or
Amish Red
or
Opalka
or
One of many other pointed red/pink tomatoes:
Anna's Multiflora
Apple Tree
Vzryv
Aztec
Bobbie
Brandysweet Plum
Brin de Muguet
Britain's Breakfast
Burkina Faso
Burning Spear
Cornue Des Andes
Eleanor
Ernie's Pointed
Ernie's Pointed
Lau's Pointed Leaf
Erotica
Fireworks
Food Pantry Grape
Gallo Plum
High Crimson
Howard German
Iditarod Red
Jet
Jolly F1
Kiev
Kimberley
Kotlas
Kron-Prince
Laketa
Larisa
Legenda Tarasenko
Micro Tom
Myona
Polish Linguisa
Rianto
Roger's Juicy Red Oblong
Romanita
Roza Vetrov
Rozovyi Flamingo
Russian Dagger
Sarnowski Polish Plum
Shapka Monomakha
Sosulka Rozovaya
Sweet Dreams
Téton de Vénus
Téton de Vénus Jaune
Tip Top
Trinity Red
Ukrainian Poet
VB Russia
Zwerg Israel
Or hundreds of others.
Yeah, I know not all of those are paste tomatoes, but they are all red or pink and usually do have nipples on the blossom end. I didn't really want to narrow it down more, but you shouold get my point.
MY point is, with VERY few exceptions, you can't tell a variety by looking.
Betsy
T-5 (hyphen needed). Everything I have read about it is that it is still just in research field trials (last season was apparently the first) so seed wouldn't be available to the public. It will go out to a few selected local commercial growers first once field trials are finished if it follows the usual path.
You can always contact TAMU Extension for info on when and if it may be available to the public.
Dave
No apologies by anyone necessary. I was not very clear
which is why I've edited my original post.
I only stated where and how I got the plants and my selection
process to show my agreement with sjetski's selection process.
In fact, I picked up a cilantro plant at a big box store the
other day and didn't even look at the tag. I got home
and the tag said 'oregano'. It's not, because I know what
both oregano and cilantro look like and smell like.
Besides needing a little fertilizer to green them up, your plants look healthy. The heat is probably making the leaves defend themselves a little by curling. The Osmocote is slow release. Give them a dose of a liquid or water soluble fertilizer and you'll see faster results.
Agree. Tomato leaf roll is a physical response to stress. Remove the source of stress and it goes away. It poses no threat to the plant if the cause of the stress is fixed.
The growing method you describe has several possible stress causes in it: containers, containers of unknown size, the growing mix you are using, the frequent shallow watering leading to shallow rooting, keeping surface soil wet causing even more shallow rooting, the feeding regimen you are using, etc.
I would suggest some reading over on the Container Gardening forum here and a review of the 'growing in containers' discussions on this forum since trying to grow in containers is a unique form of growing tomatoes with its own set of needs. The search will pull them up for you to browse through.
For example, common recommendations are containers of 12-15 gallons minimum, soil-less potting mixes only, weekly feeding with a full spectrum, well balanced fertilizer, adding beneficial soil bacteria if using organic fertilizers so they can work (otherwise you need to use synthetics), less frequent but deep watering to maintain consistent soil moisture levels, etc.
From the color in the photographs your plants could really use a good feeding. In a container you can't count on compost for nutrients since there is minimal if any soil bacteria.
Dave
Excess fertilize causes good plant growth but no tomatoes.
Use about 5 oz of some triple fertilizer and 1/2 bag of Humus & Manure Compost from Wal Mart. I mix this in the soil about 12 inches with a pick and also garden tiller. This year were the plant goes I used a post hole digger to get the 12 inches of depth I wanted. My vines are now loaded with tomatoes. One table spoon of Epson Salt and Lime.
Plants raised from seed and grow lights. I'm not very good with grow lights.
What could be causing this and how can I get them to grow/ripen faster?
Any number of factors could be causing it. The unusual weather this past spring is the most obvious for most growers. Nutrient availability, soil moisture levels, excessive soil moisture causing root rot, sun exposure, the variety, stress from pests or weather, etc. etc. etc.
However, expecting ripe fruit within 5 weeks from fruit set is not realistic. Tomatoes run on an average of 6-7 week cycles and the average # of days between fruit set and ripening is 52-60 days. So patience is required.
What you can do is insure adequate nutrients and consistent but not excess soil moisture. The rest is determined by the genetics of the variety and the weather for the most part.
Dave
I Think that foliar feeding is effective. Plants have ability to absorbs water/moisture through leaves. AND if there are nutrients DESOLVED in the water, they will be absorbed it, naturally. We know that herbicides like Round Up is absorbed through the leaves and then goes down to the roots and kills the plant. Some years ago, an older gardener told me that a herbicide is actually a VERY strong fertilizer(Nitrogen Solution ?) that burns the plants.
So, in conclusion, there is no doubt in my mind that foliar feeding works thou I may not be able to measure its amount and degree of effectiveness.
"Generally, ... foliar application of particular nutrients can be
useful in crop production situations where soil conditions limit nutrient availability."
From "The Myth of Foliar Feeding"
at
http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Foliar%20feeding.pdf
Here is a link that might be useful: foliar ferts explained
Nice setup, that's high enough to last for the season.
Also be careful not to squeeze all of those branches inside, you want some airflow, and leaves stacked over each other take a much longer time to dry.
You *can* eventually go in there and pinch off a couple of the less productive looking suckers. Or let some of the branches "escape" then tie them to the assembly with some twine for support as they grow.
Nice lush green looking plants, but I'm not seeing any flowers or maters near the bottom/middle, they seem to start near the middle/top. I wonder if that's from excess nitrogen or just plant type and or climate conditions.
It would be fun to see how much they've grown in another week or two :)
This post was edited by sjetski on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 12:35
Not bamboo, they're plastic coated metal stakes. Very stiff. I think I may also use the same stakes to secure the tops of adjacent cages to each other to provide some stability from gusty winds.
The fruit and flowers are scattered throughout the plants though I guess you're right in that I should be seeing more down low. I fed the plants Tomato Tone right after transplanting and then every three weeks since. They're both cherry tomatoes (the two that I just staked).
Some consider Kellogg's Breakfast to simply be the best.
In my garden, it is perhaps the one tomato variety with the most variability in flavor. It can be anywhere from good, to very good, to excellent, all from the same plant, with only about half a week between pickings.
Gary
so real question will be if I have lush and green plants but very few tomatoes- I can see evidence of having plenty of nitrogen and except of keep taking the soil for testing, is there evidence that we might have low P and K numbers or nitrogen needs are overriding everything else and we might have plenty of P and K but it is not being used? And since it might be hard to lower N level except by leaching it out by repeated watering, what else can be done to balance?
P and K just don't get depleted/leached as much as N, and P is something you don't want to add if it's not necessary so it's best not to fertilize with anything until/unless a soil test indicates it's necessary.
Now, I did have a situation this year when with all the rain the N got leached to very low levels, but the plants were showing mainly P deficiency symptoms, which I knew wasn't right. The roots just weren't growing well with the constant wet (though sandy soil drains well) and the plants weren't able to take up the P that was there. Once it dried out a bit (and I did do 1 foliar feed with fish emulsion) the roots were able to grow and the plants established themselves, they are looking great now though smaller than I would expect for a month in the ground (they stalled for a couple of weeks).
I have never heard of anyone *trying* to decrease the N present in their soil. Just don't add more. I suppose if you want to "use it up quickly" you could try throwing in some kind of leafy green as a companion to your tomatoes. But I think that just normal watering/rain would work - have patience, don't flood your plants just trying to wash the N out (not like containers that you're trying to leach salts out of).
Well I just got home from 10 days away and the mega bloom has been aborted, along with many others. I have been spared the majority of the rain this year until now, when I got home I was pretty disheartened. My garden has turned into a blight infested hole with many of my plants suffering from too much water. I guess it rained here most every day for the last two weeks. I cleaned out 4 garbage bags of blighted leaves, yanked all of my potatoes and spent the rest of the day weeding and spraying. The poor little guys between the water and the blight I don't think a lot of them will make it. I suspect root rot on quite a few. Anyways ill post up some pics of the fused branches later today. Oh and thanks for the good info wildflower.
edweather, they not late tomatoes, I am expecting them ready in 3 weeks or so. For Chicago it is middle range.
Agree with Julia: pretty and novel, but quite bland, at least in my garden last year. Wouldn't grow these again.
Gary