16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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

I'm having the same problem on the coast! It's hot, but only the low 80's. They seem to recover so far at night, but it looks like tobacco drying! I'm using straw, but maybe I should make a thicker layer. Also, I'm keeping the straw about 6" from the base of the plant to prevent mold. I'm not sure if that gap is a problem or if it's really important.

After few cloudy and cool days, when we got a warm sunny day, some younger leave on my EG was wilting. The other plans were ok.
Normally I water early in the morning. But during HOT days I water after sun down, to cool off the roots and intake enough water to battle the next day's heat. In such conditions, a good thick layer of mulch can help a great deal, that act like thermal insulation.

I would just position the stems in approximately the position you want them (but still growing upwards, of course) and then let gravity and nature gradually bend them as they outgrow their support. They rarely crack the stems or damage themselves in this way. They will rarely grow more than a foot and a half above their last support point before they start to tip over, and will not even get that far if they are loaded with tomatoes, but they don't generally hurt themselves if they gradually grow 'over' and start growing down again.

There are different schools of tomato gardening, to trim or not to trim. I am for trimming to keep things down to size and under control. having said that, my small fruited maters are close to 6 foot tall , with gazillion of flowers. I am going to stop their top growth soon. Each has about 4 branches. They just keep growing as you look at them. My situation is that I do not have 16 sqr-ft per plant(4' x4'') . So pruning is a must not an option.

If the recommended mix is 1 T per gallon of water (2 per 2) then give each plant 1 gallon of the mix. I know that is going to be a problem unless the rain stops. But 2 gallons of mix spread over 5 plants isn't much per plant.

Or if non-organics are ok with you just go buy a bag of 10-10-10 granular fertilizer and side dress each of the plants with it and let the rain soak it in.

Dave

Yellow lower leaves if often normal. They do not get any light, they do not make any contribution to plant's well being and thus they are aborted. But if the upper leaves are also pale green, then there is water, nutrient and sun issues. Often a doze of fertilizer rich in nitrogen can help. By experience, as somebody put it, you have to read your plants when it comes to nutrients issue. But One should do it gradually rather than dumping too much fertilizer. That is why I prefer 1/3 recommended strength but twice as often.

I do not believe in quick fixes.

The last pic is great. It is just some minor flea beetle damage and some environmental damage from sunscald.

However there will be problems developing since you are using mushroom compost in a container - never recommended - rather than soil-less potting mix. Bacterial and fungal diseases, drainage problems, and nutrient issues are all possible.

There is no soil micro herd in that bucket to convert the compost nutrients to a usable form by the plants. So synthetic supplement feedings will be needed weekly.

Plus the compost will drain quickly so very careful monitoring of the soil moisture level will be required with 2x daily watering needed as the weather gets hot.

Honestly, if she has a place where she can transplant that plant into the ground or into a much bigger container with a proper mix in it the plant will have a 10x better chance of surviving and producing and with far less work.

Just some thoughts to consider. Also suggest some research over on the Container Gardening forum here for more info on container soils, feeding, and watering.

Dave

I second the idea that you need a bigger container. That looks like a 5 gallon bucket - I'd suggest something at least 3 times as large. Give it some room - that plant looks like it's ready to grow!

Leaf curl from stress of some sort. Usually doesn't affect the growth of the plant. You should be ok.

Thanks guys. No, I don't have a pic. The leaves look a bit better today. Maybe they just reacted to the blast of cold water and fertilizer last night after a hot sunny day.

I've read that the plants are supposed to be watered some BEFORE getting fertilized? I did not do that.