16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

seysonn - not sure what's causing the leaf roll. Temps
have been in the 80's and the soil is nice and moist.
Maybe because that side faces the sun?

fireduck - yes, a lot of planning and it turned out a lot better
than I expected. My soil (before I started working on it) was
also a clay-type called caliche. Mix caliche with water and straw
and let them sit in the sun and you get adobe brick. When
dried out, it's as hard as a rock. Lots of Kellogg's AMEND,
grass clippings and coffee grounds did the trick.

HeyJude2012 - the bottom upright is pounded into the
ground about 12 inches. Very stable. And the cages
are really quite flexible. It all adds up to a nice system.

Mike - the lack of marine layer this year (May grey and
June gloom) is the answer. I'll have plenty of seeds in
case you need them....hope not!

Just beautiful! The plants and the set up. I am getting a lot of leaf rolling here too, I think it is all the wind I have had lately.

What you have is most likely a hybrid throwback anyway so the taste may never be any good. You mention you have always grown "run-of-the-mill tomatoes all my life" so I presume hybrids. And most all the grape types are hybrids.

So since hybrids don't breed true but revert to something else and you can't have any idea what the parent stock was no telling how it will ever taste. Just leave it on the vine or let a few of them ripen inside on the counter until they turn soft and then you will have an idea of the proper picking color.

Dave

I'm in New Orleans and here we grow Creole tomatoes, some of the best in the world- huge, squat and lobed with a large crown and very juicy, very ugly. Gardens here use types like Celebrity, Better Boy, etc. when planting, or whatever seems to hold up to the intense heat. There is really no required pedigree or cultivar type. It's actually the climate and soil that make the tomatoes better here, believe it or not. Long story short, that's what I meant about run-of-the-mill. I have grown cherry tomatoes with great success, but grape tomatoes can't seem to stand up to our mid-90s Spring weather here. Like I said, this was just some random plant that showed up in my garden, I assume as a result of a bird hanging around, and I was curious. Thanks so much for all the information

interestingly, the chlorine in the water thing may be something...i water the plants right from an outside tap and i live in scotland, where im sure there is chlorine in the water..????

i dont want to dig this out, i still, william wallace style, think i can beat the odds and revive this!!

however, is there literally ZERO chance?

No idea why my last post repeated...sorry bout that.

You know, with tomatoes, there is rarely ZERO chance of survival...they can be tougher than we think! Whether it will ever be productive and healthy is a different story. :)

Wilted leaves are one thing, but its the look of that lower stem segment that makes me think its kaput. If you gently squeeze it near the soil level, does it feel squishy or hollow? If so, give it its last rights and put it to rest. (Sorry!) At any rate, with the looks of it, the best you could hope for would be to leave it alone and see if it limps along and revives. Even if there is a disease to blame (grey mold?) if the whole plant looks like that then any treatment plan is too little and too late. (sorry again!)

Thank you to everyone who's responded. Your input is greatly appreciated. I did a soil test a few days ago and discovered that, aside from my cherry, which is at 5.5 pH exactly, all my tomatoes are ranging between and 6 and almost 7. So, could the problem be in the somewhat alkaline soil? If so, how do I fix that?

The soil itself seems to be properly moist to 5" down. Neither sopping wet, nor dry. And the temps here have been ranging mainly in the 80's - though that's soon to change, as forecasts are predicting temps in the 90's to the low 100's next week.

Not much has changed since I posted last. The top tomatoes on all the plants are still small and don't appear to be getting any bigger, blossoms are falling off and the leaves on the Black Krim are now not only curling, the edges are turning black. Though, on the positive side, the three largest (and lowest set) tomatoes on the Krim are starting to ripen.

"I did a soil test a few days ago and discovered that, aside from my cherry, which is at 5.5 pH exactly, all my tomatoes are ranging between and 6 and almost 7."

How did you test them? (And why?) Home testing kits are notoriously inaccurate as are the Ph Meters. You could probably test the same pot in the same spot six times in a row and get six different readings.

As for the "and why," you shouldn't have to test commercial mixes for nutrients and/or Ph, they should be ok to begin with and you should have to feed the plants because the nutrients wash away every time you water. That's why container growers fertilize their tomatoes so often with a balanced water soluble plant food.

Granular fertilizers may not break down rapidly enough into a usable form to support you plants (if they break down, see the info on the micro-herd link above.)

Sorry we can't be more specific.

Betsy

I agree with robeb. Best thing you can do is eliminate the critter now and not waste any money or time on trying to get it to leave.

About four years ago I grew a sun gold tomato in my home garden. I usually only plant tomatoes in my community garden plot. Well, as summer progressed I wondered why I was getting so few cherry tomaotes to harvest - until I saw a chipmunk up in the branches carrying them off! I used to think chipmunks were cute. Now it's off with their heads!

That year we had a very high number of chipmunks (the year before had a huge number of acorns come off our oak trees). They had burrows all over the yard, under the decks, in the retaining walls. You couldn't open the door without seeing some run for cover.

I used a "Rat Zapper" to get rid of more than a dozen chipmunks in about a week. I also noticed a red tailed hawk a lot. Then that fall there were scarce acorns, so we had far fewer chipmunks for a while.

The population has come back somewhat this year, I may have to get the Zapper out of retirement.

Untill not unroll spell check

Tomato plants bought in the spring or started from seed are relatively inexpensive here compared with the work of bringing them in. I have had sweet potatoes as perennials left in the ground, and the occasional pepper plant. But I no longer have plants in the house except a few in a small aquarium, and that would include tomatoes.

I think they were just trying to say that the Ramapo was more disease resistant when I mentioned the Moreton, and Kc 146 for purchasing seeds this past Feb.

My apologies for any confusion. :)

- Mr Beno

If anyone has grown both of these varieties I am curious how they compare in flavor, texture, productivity and the like. I am not a fan of Supersonic F1. I tried it twice with poor results. On the other hand Ramapo has been very dependable for me every year I planted it.

Also I have planted 6 tomato plants (6 Roma variety) in one of those planters. How often should I water them ? Also I used Mater Magic as tomato food.

6 plants sounds like alot for a planter that size, 20" x 24" x 9" . That might be your problem. They are stressing from overcrowding and the bottom leaves are dying. I might have planted 2 plants max, not 6. The containers are self watering, so it's kinda hard to overwater, just keep the reservior with water in it.