16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Don't get me started on squirrels! I have a plant given to me by my husbands coworker. It is from her 90 year old neighbor who has been developing this tomato for years. So excited to try it and bagged blossoms in case it fantastic. Squirrels got the green tomatoes I had marked as bagged. So I filled the bird feeders up to keep them busy on the other side of the yard.

Don't know about Green Giant, but Aunt Ruby's German Green is one of my favorite tomatoes. Really excellent flavor and beautiful, large green fruit with pink blush at blossom end. It is always a bit late, and I would be hesitant to grow it if I was only growing a half dozen, for that reason, but if you have room for a few extra plants, you should try growing it.

Ripe when green tomatoes are just that, RIPE, but with green color instead of red. I happen to like the flavor of a lot of them, but if you do a blind taste test with people, as I have many many times, no one can tell they green ones by the flavor. They just say they are good tomatoes. Then are surprised to see that they are green.

I have some kind of eggs in little bowls or nests underneath 1 of my tomato plants on the ground. Does anyone know what they are. They are in clusters all around that 1 plant.

Those "eggs in bowls" are bird's nest fungus. Degrades dead organic stuff. Interesting but not a problem.

"The branches are slim and long between the nodes. This might indicate that they are SMALL FRUITED PLANTS."

Seysonn do you have any links to reputable sources (websites, books, scientific papers, etc.) to back up that statement?

I ask because I am truly curious. I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression that internode length was related to a tomato plant being either determinate or indeterminate.

Carolyn137's comment in a recent thread on indeterminate behavior : "Specific genesdetermine plant habit of a variety, as in det, indet, Dwarf, etc. by controlling the internode distances, that is, the spaces between on the stem/lateral branches, etc., where blossoms appear." seems to support my impression, but is by no means definitive.

Betsy

You aren't mistaken Betsy. Internode length does not indicate type/size of fruit that will be produced. And when dealing with volunteers, especially if hybrid volunteers, it is even less relevant.

Dave

I don't see any spots or specks that would indicate a disease (either fungal or bacterial). If it's just the lower leaves, they do that with age. If more than a few (hard to tell from 1st photo - is that sun glare or are the upper leaves on the half of the plant near the fence yellow?), could be insufficient nitrogen. The leaves at the top of the plant (left of photo) in 2nd photo/post look healthy. Can't say why fruit tasted bad, could just be the variety.

What's in the new mix besides peat? Have you tested it? Have you fertilized? How big is the bed and how many plants do you have in it?

Looks like a lot of suckers/foliage crammed into a 3-ring tomato cage. While it doesn't look like disease from what I can see of the leaves, you could prune a little for better air circulation, esp. given the rain we've had lately.

This post was edited by ajsmama on Fri, Jul 5, 13 at 11:42

No signs of any disease in the photos.

The yellow leaves are caused by a) over-watering or b) salt build-up in your soil from excess use of high salt fertilizers, or c) nutrient deficiency (usually magnesium and/or nitrogen), or d) skewed soil pH that prevents nutrient uptake.

Dave

Thx for all the advice .

Most of my tomatoes are tied to cattle panels , nine per panel. I ran out of room for another cattle panel so had to use what I ha available.Thx again all for the input. This pic was taken early on in the garden

Hmm... I'd think either squirrels or deer would leave trace evidence (or coconuts) behind...

An example of squirrel desecration of tomato (graphic, and may be disturbing!)

I had one tomato today where SOMETHING took a good sized bite then chucked the rest of the mater in my backyard. :-(

Any decent deterrents to use on the fruit?

I guess you noticed I said my garden is clay soil. They may never do good for you but make no mistake....al Mortgage Lifters are not Estlers.

Carolyn, what is the name of the tomato pictured opposite the green page in the very front of your book? It is fuzzy (the tomato, not the pic). I note that you talk about angora foliage in the book, but I don't see the name of that one pictured. It must be there, but I am missing it and I'm getting cranky. (too hot, too humid = too cranky).

Thanks.

Donna

Here I am, within the reach of harvest(hopefully). And I admit that have perhaps over fertilized mine. I got dark green lower leaves. NO yellowing of any kind. So I GUESS I will stop fertilizing for good long time to come. Also, my peppers are have nice green shiny leaves.

Just got my soil tests back from samples taken after all the rain - no surprise low in N, high in P (though they had been showing signs of P deficiency it was b/c of poor root growth due to rain). But surprised low in K (didn't think that was as mobile as N). So now that all the plants are in the ground, would it do any good to side dress with some composted manure that tested Medium in N (it washed out too) and Very High in P,K, Ca, Mg? Would the K in the compost get down to the roots if sidedressed or does it need to be dug in at planting time (which I did throw a shovelfull in each hole then but maybe that's not enough, samples were taken from surface though)? Beds are still Very High in Ca and Mg due to amending with this compost, not sure why K is Low in beds but still Very High in the manure pile (have to check the one that was covered with landscape fabric, sample was from pile that had been covered with construction plastic that broke into pieces after a year in the sun).

May have to buy some greensand for next year. I plan on watering with fish emulsion next time I water (I did a foliar spray 1 day when soil was still wet from recent rains but it wasn't going to rain for another day or so). Plants are looking pretty good now, some flower buds, it hasn't rained (except for a sprinkle yesterday) since 1/2" on Monday and it's been 90 so I may even have to water tomorrow (esp. the peppers I just put out).

Often, pollen is stored under refridgeration for that purpose. I don't know if it works with tomatoes.

Jim

set to start blooming after the variety I want to cross them with finishes blooming.

Sorry but unless you get some bloom over-lap and enough over-lap that both plants are still healthy, there isn't a really viable solution to that situation without commercial freezing/storage equipment.

You "might" be able to dry some blooms and save the pollen but again, it requires special equipment. Check with the folks over on the Hybridizing forum here for more details.

See link below and scroll down to Pollen Collection and Storage.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Guidelines for Emasculating and Pollinating Tomato Flowers

Carrieandrea , One time hydrated lime emergency treatment per Earthbox is 1/4 cup hydrated or pickling lime to one gallon of water.

The purpose of adding dolomitic lime is that peat tends to get very acidic so the lime offsets that. if the mix becomes too acidic it will prevent the uptake of nutrients and BER and other bad things will happen. I use a weekly addition of one teaspoon of calcium nitrate in the watering tube each week to keep calcium readily available.

Growing one indeterminate tomato or two per box is up to the grower. Earthbox recommends two based on total production per box.

Bonide makes a product called Hydrated LIme which is dolomited and I often use it instead of two cups of reg dolomite when I can't find anything else. Cheap, easy to find and works fine.

I used Bonide Hydrated Lime, put 1/4 of cup in a gallon and added to the earthbox. It burnt a few leaves on tomatoes.

I have 4 Eearthboxes with tomatoes. 2 plants per container. The same media, amendments and fertlizer. Glacier and Beefstake have no BER, Zarnitsa - almost every tomato has BER, Black Krim - some BER, some catfacing.
The same cultivars growing in the raised beds show no BER. I assumed that Zarnitsa would appreciate some hydrated lime (per Earthbox instructions) but it matybe was too much

This post was edited by tigrikt on Thu, Jul 4, 13 at 13:36

Tobacco Hornworm?

Not that it matters, damage is the same, treatment is the same.

I may be seeing it wrong though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tobacco Hornworm Pictures

Yeah they are two different variants. Manduca sexta vs. Manduca quinquemaculata. Tomato hornworms when they are on tomatoes, tobacco hornworms when they are on tobacco. :)

Dave