16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Here is an update on Baby Ramapos F-1

1 of the tomatoe plants maybe a 4th of july, but I am prety sure the majority except for 1 is Ramapos. To the right is my Bell peppers incase anyone is wondering but pretty much off this photo.

How do you think they are doing? The soil mix for the Ramapos and 4th of july are Espoma organic, the Black Krim which will be a seperate thread with the other Ramapos is MG organic.

I think my total seedlings are about 12 Ramabo, 5 Black Krims and 8 4th of july's to date. With a back up round begining in 2 weeks just incase.

Thanks again for comments and looking,

-Mr Beno

Update on the Baby Ramapos. Aprox... 100 days since germination.

Many blooms are popping as well with them green marbles. In some other posts I thought I had a problem with losing blossoms, but patience is the right aproach and the key as many experts at this great forum mentioned. (The photo is dark I know but just got done work and had to check on them babies,)

More Photo updates coming soon.

Many thanks to everyone once again.

-Mr Beno

Thanks for the info and the link, Dave, that's what I thought. I tried mucking through past posts, but must have missed that very obvious one! Thanks again.

Steve

I have grown tomato plants by direct sowing in the garden. When you have a long growing hot season , you can do it. Of course , I had other plants already (from seedlings) and the direct sown ones were just addition for canning.

Julia

I think you had the correct diagnosis.

Once you see this disease and how fast it acts, you don't easily forget it. I saw it with some frequency throughout growers fields in the southeast. Even methyl bromide treatments were not that effective of preventing it once it set into a field.

In the short term it is hard to say whether or not the other plants will get it or not. It can be spotty in a field or eventually take out large areas.

It's a pretty nasty disease once it sets in an area.

For the long term it is in the soil and you will likely see it again if you plant in that same spot.

I listed a site below but recommend googling other edu sources to see if there are other newer recommendations for dealing with it. It is a problem in Florida so I suspect this link will probably be as good as it gets.

Only a handful of varieties show some resistance to this disease. I doubt that you will be able to find them even if I told you which ones. Most of these lines were developed 50 or more years ago.

Since methyl bromide has been banned there has been some renewed interest in looking at these older lines and breeding for resistance. If they make headway it still will be years away and likely released in commercial lines.

I have some of these old lines. I started to make crosses to heirlooms with them over a decade ago. Since I moved more north (and west) I lost interest and the project went on the backburner. I have recently started to work with it again. It's difficult for me because I have no way to test them (and dont want one!). I instead will use a breeding scheme which will increase my chances of retaining the resistance.

I cannot share seed of the original source lines. My source was through the university they were developed and the USDA (back in the 90's). Last I looked the lines had been pulled from the USDA list. Over a decade ago I did offer seed of these lines but there was little interest. If anyone of those people did keep seed it might be around. I did not keep record of who I sent them too. But I have never seen anyone offer these lines. They are what I would call "standard" field tomatoes (avg tasting, good sized red round balls) so I suspect without knowing or understanding what they really had most would have probably not cared to save them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Integrated Management of Southern Blight in Vegetable Production

Thanks Dave, I'm not sure about damping off. I don't think I was overwatering because I hadn't watered in more than a week. It had rained about four days before, but only about an inch. That's what made me think it might just be drought stress at first.

I guess overcrowding is possible, they are only planted about 3 ft apart, however there is only one row. These are mature plants about 4ft tall with lots of tomatoes.

Thanks Mule, for the info and the link (I am Julie, another poster named Julia responded). It was Monday when I pulled the plant and so far the others look fine but I keep thinking I will come home from work one of these evenings to a row of dead plants. That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen, at least as far as gardening goes;). I sort of expected to find all the roots had been eaten by a critter or something when I pulled it.

It sounds like all I can do about this year's plants is cross my fingers and hope for the best, in either case. I am considering solarizing the soil in my tomato patch, and I will definitely be planting in a different location next year.

I will try to remember to update this thread to let you all know how the other plants turn out.

Was browsing Instructables and came across this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/self-watering-planter-from-found-dresser-drawers/
Thought this idea might work- or at least be adaptable/something to think about ;-)

If you ever get around to building something, please post it!

Was browsing Instructables and came across this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/self-watering-planter-from-found-dresser-drawers/
Thought this idea might work- or at least be adaptable/something to think about ;-)

If you ever get around to building something, please post it!

the bumps on the stem =root initials. Often on stressed plants and/or high humidity.

Any chance you used a weed killer on the lawn/grass, or a weed-n-feed?

I did use a weed-n-feed in the yard near the garden but the grass I have been using for mulching comes from the front yard that wasn't treated at all. Could the weed-n-feed have leeched into the soil and caused this problem??

Yeah, I was going to say they sounded like Hornworm eggs, even before I saw them. If you get any Hornworms that hatch, you can generally track them down by the sound of them eating, if you go into your garden when it is quiet. It will sound like, "scratch...scratch...scratch." Just follow the sound to the source, pick up the Hornworm and drop them on the ground and step on them. You can also sometimes follow them by their paths of destruction. I don't generally get Hornworms, and don't usually take any precautions, but I got a bad infestation one year and I wiped it out by sitting in the garden and listening.

I remembered last night that it was grapevines that have the sap balls. :) it was itching at me because I knew it wasn't quite right. And now I know what hornworm eggs look like. Cheers!

"Aunt Ruby's German Green" is an amazing tomato. I had a hard time getting past the "green when ripe" thing, but, delicious and different. Looks beautiful on a plate of sliced tomatoes of many colors.

Thanks for all the advice, including the ones to pass on next year (wish you would have told me this after the current growing season ends LOL).

I decided to start from seed a little too late so I didn't have time to do my homework and acquire any of the seeds recommended above. Most of the seed that I purchased was from local garden centers. The exceptions were the Black Zebra and Pineapple which were ordered from an online seed catalog.

At least next year I will definitely be prepared.

Thanks Dave. I left the flowering bits (bloom truss?), and instead of snipping the entire left vine, I clipped off the growing bits on the left side, keeping some leaves - the wound was smaller this way.

Talking about fused: My Brandy wine has a fused flower. The end of that flower stem itself is fuse to the main stem. n other words, it has not grow from a leaf node. I remember seeing a similar thing about 4 years ago on a Black Krim or Cherokee Purple.

oooh love the cathedral of tomato worship... So I ended up not buying the vertical trellis system.... I'll stick to my cages. Although I am inspired to reinvent my tomato supports in my raised beds :)

Awesome! I love cattle panels for trellises and use them everywhere for everything! They are strong and adaptable!

I fertilize normally. Water gets through whether it has
fertilizer in it or not. Perhaps a bit might get caught up
in the mulch, but since it's water soluble, it will get
re-dissolved when you water.

I use the grass when it's green with no problems. You'd
have to put down quite a thick layer to run into decomposition
problems. A few inches is fine. Clippings dry quite quickly.

I'm using this method. I put it down right out of the mower without any issue. There is no issue with matting and water not getting thru. The rain wets the clippings and eventually runs right thru. I throw a handful of fert right on top, but the method above of pulling back the mulch to fert would work slick too.

One year I had no problems with my tomato plants.. We got tons. Now they grow for a few days and then they stop growing and the leaves start to curl a little. Last year I thought it was too hot here in Chicago. I'm trying to think of something to raise them off the actual roof because it must be making the soil too hot. I wait all year for some good home grown tomatoes and then this happens. Does anyone have this problem? And, if you did, please give me your solution, asap.. I want TOMATOES. (weeping)

This post was edited by JoMac123 on Wed, Jun 19, 13 at 14:45

Well, what I do is put my pots on rocks. I got a big bag of small river rocks - they are 2 or 3 inches long max -- and I space them around the pot, maybe 3 or 4 rocks under each pot.

As far as heat, all you need to do is get the pots off the ground. They don't need to be high. (Though that's better for your back. ; >)

What taz6122 said is important: you've got to consider the roof first. I first started doing the rock thing b/c the building guy said that if pots sat right on the patio floor, the water that came out the bottom would heat up and create steam under them, which would damage the waterproof coating. I don't know, but I hope what I'm doing is helping. I really really don't want leaks!!!!

Mostly I don't use saucers because they are expensive. But also, I don't know what the soil implications of saucers would be. Would like to know though. I think it might cause the salt concentration to get too high.

Also, you could try wrapping light-colored fabric around the pot. I use butterfly clips. It doesn't look spiffy I guess, but it helps.