16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
The past 2 years have been so terrible weather-wise for my area (eastern Ontario) that we couldn't do anything in the garden (clay loam - impossible with all the heavy rain we're having and takes forever to dry out) so this year I'm doing some container gardening. Just a few hot peppers, spices, and several varieties of tomatoes. I couldn't find single pots of Celebrity at the local nursery and didn't want to waste a whole flat, so chose a single pot each of Ace and Glamour. Afterwards, I read reviews that Ace isn't very highly rated, so will probably check elsewhere for single Celebrity in pots and replace the Ace. I've only got a limited amount of room for containers suitable for tomatoes and peppers, so numbers count. And by the time the weather returns to normal and the garden finally dries out, it will be too late in the summer to bother planting anything. Sigh.
The curled leaves in the final image look crispy.
Are they?
If so, they ran short of water during the day.
During excessive heat, plants can't take up sufficient water to avoid wilting even if the soil/potting mix is thoroughly moist.
Temporary shade (as mentioned in the previous post) during a hot spell slows water use by the plant as well as evaporation from the soil/potting mix.
This post was edited by jean001a on Sun, Jun 2, 13 at 2:19
I agree with the heat/wilt diagnosis, though there's no way to be sure.
Herbicide tends to kill entire plants in the sections of a garden closest to the place it drifted from, not just the tops of a few scattered plants.
Cut off the affected parts of the plant. If it is heat/wilt, then you probably have (as suggested) a rooting problem. The plants just aren't getting enough water to their tops. And yes, giving them a little shade can help. But you really shouldn't have to do that with established tomato plants.
Make sure you aren't over-watering or over fertilizing.
Tip dieback can also be caused by diseases, but in the picture the rest of the plants look healthy, so I doubt that's your issue.
Thanks everyone!
These have been growing for about 5 weeks.
tdscpa..........I didn't even notice that the pot only looks half full! I think I'll tell her to transplant 2, maybe three of them, and pull off the lower leaves of all of them, and use lots more soil.
Thanks!
I use a BT spray once a week as soon as I start getting green tomatoes and that seems to prevent the caterpillars from eating them. The first year I grew tomatoes they ate holes in most of them but I've used the BT every year since with no problems. It is an organic pesticide that only works on caterpillars. The kind I buy is a concentrate that you mix with water. There is also a powder but I find it messy-looking and harder to apply than the spray.
SoCal - Depending on where in SoCal you are located that may or may not work. In my neck of the woods, tomato seeds planted now would cook in the high temps of late July and August. I try to start some seeds late June for a Fall crop but sometimes it stays too hot too long and by the time I finally get fruit, they get frost damaged. Either that or they just don't taste good ripening in 50 degree nights.
macbettz,
Why would you recommend all that .... um ... "junk" be put in the bottom of a planting hole?
Eggshells take years to break down enough to supply any calcium to plants. BER (Blossom End Rot) is seldom caused by a lack of calcium in the soil, it is rather an issue of maldistribution of calcium within the rapidly growing plant during the early part of the season and/or an uneven watering pattern. So adding "Calcium & cholate Womens supplements, A whole egg, Eggshells, Tums" and such are likely to only invite critters to dig up your tomatoes.
Discussion of BER (Blossom End Rot)
Aspirin I can almost understand, because salicylic acid can help with rooting cutting of hardwoods, but tomatoes root so easily, that they don't require that kind of help. Ask anyone who has ever broken off a tomato branch and stuck it in the ground and gotten a productive tomato plant as a result.
As for the Epson Salt, most people don't need it: A Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center document about Epsom salt myths that in part states "There are two reports from over 60 years ago on tomato production. When tomatoes are grown on magnesium deficient soil, a foliar application of Epsom salts can relieve magnesium deficiency in tomato plants; no effect on yield was reported. An automatic application of Epsom salts to plants or soils that are not magnesium deficient is a poor management strategy that can injure the plants and contaminate the soil."
So, unless one has a soil test and it is recommended, most of the "junk" you recommend be put into a planting hole is at best, useless, and at worst could be damaging to tomatoes.
Betsy
I have my garden soil tested every spring by the state ag. college soil scientists by way of my "extension" office.
Every year they make suggestions of fertilizer and other soil amendments I need. My soil is naturally alkaline, and high in (P)hosphorus, and has a nearly toxic level of K (potassium).
Every year I have to add (N)itrogen at planting and also side-dressing through the season.
Every second year I am advised to add sulfur to reduce the Ph of my garden soil.
Ideally, I would add the Nitrogen and Sulfur to my garden, then till it in to the top foot before I dug my furrows or built my raised rows. BWAHAAA!
Not going to happen! Kansas weather does not allow "plans" to work. Could not till this year. Rain just before planting time prohibited tilling. Would have to have waited until July to till!
So, I'm planting on last year's raised rows. Scraped a groove, dumped in some Sulfur and Nitrogen, planted onions, spinach, beets, radishes, carrots, lettuce, beans, cucumbers, and melons beside the groove with the amendments.
Just started setting out tomatoes today. Dig a hole with a small trowel, put in the tomato plant, sprinkle some urea (Nitrogen) and Sulfur around the transplant, rake in the dirt. Got 13 tomatoes in (only worked an hour at it), 120 tomatoes and 45 peppers to go.
Thank you. I'm looking forward to them. Actually, now that I count again, there are more like two dozen out there. But the plants are just enormous. These are my only indeterminate small tomatoes this year, so I'm hoping for the best. I've had one-and a-half inch green ones out there for a couple of weeks. They're taking their good time ripening.
How big is the bed? How heavily is it planted (is there room to work around the plants without disturbing them)? Do you have access to a large amount of compost and soil to add to the bed - enough to add several inches of each to the entire bed)?
How big and how long have the plants been in the bed - can they easily be transplanted? Do you have access to replacement plants? Do you know how to clone cuttings off the existing plants?
Lots of factors to consider in deciding what you can do but just adding nutrients won't solve the main problems..
Dave
Answers:
Bed is 10' x 10', 6 tomato plants, so yes there is room to work around them. I do not have access to soil/compost.
Plants are maybe 10" tall, and have been in the ground for two weeks. I have access to replacement plants, and don't know how to clone cuttings.
Replacing is not a big monetary hit, just want to make ensure that the replacement plants do not suffer the same fate as the originals.
On the weird plant, which is way more yellow than the camera on my phone will have you believe, I haven't noticed anything munching on it like one of the others, which was some kind of weird flat bug that turned green when on the leaf. This plant is just yellow and skinny. I'm not using the fert. spikes as I researched them and found they weren't good for containers as you said Betsy. This was just granular fertilizer which of course I found out after the fact isn't good for containers either. Meh, i'll learn one day :)
I'm heading to home depot tonight so I'll see what I can find there that's liquid. Thanks for the advice :)
As for potting medium, yeah..... I'm new. I used miracle grow potting soil. I really wanted to get the super duper expensive stuff like Foxfarm, but my husband looked at my puppy dog eyes, laughed, and said no. He then proceeded to get MG and Sta Green as it was more in our price range. House payment or fresh veggies.... I hate hard decisions.
Sadly, i think it's too late to start over as they are kinda huge. My poor tomato cages can barely be seen. I don't think my soil choice has hurt though. Next year of course, I'll be living in the house I'm paying for and its previous owner had a really nice garden that I plan on revitalizing.
I live up near Panama City, pretty close to the Gulf. That's why I used containers as beach sand just doesn't grow anything well save sea oats :P New location is farther inland and so far my only problem will be lack of sun from too many shade trees. But that's an issue for next season.
I've seen a few bees and I have roses in bloom, a hibiscus, some petunias, and will be planting lavender and a butterfly bush tomorrow. So far not a single hummingbird has thought my feeder or my petunias look inviting, but that will take time. The bees are nothing like they were last year off the wildflowers and tree that's in bloom now, but I have seen a few. Something finally pollinated my squash as they are just about ready to be picked so I'm guessing my bees are just out when I'm not.
Yes that second plant looks a mess, but hindsight is always awesome and we realized way too late that we put the mater plants in a bad location. Aside from my cage that you can barely see, the chain link fence is doing a great support job LOL. Stakes are on my get list for tomorrow too as the cage just isn't cutting it all by its lonesome. Or maybe I should prune..... that just seems counterproductive :( I swear these plants just mutated overnight. One day they were small and growing into the cage and the next is the above!!
Thanks for the replies so far. Maybe I am over watering TBH. That's the only tan bag I have and it's the biggest. They were all a gift from a friend. It might be holding onto more water than the smaller black ones.
Cas
Haha, I love the Charlie Brown description...I have one of those too! I squeezed in a better boy transplant by the fence where it only gets about 4 hrs of direct sun. It's doing okay, but definitely rrrreeeaching!
Heres a photo of my Husky Cherry Red to fuel your plant envy. ;) I didn't realize yours was mostly living outside; I thought it was doing pretty well for a houseplant!
seeds started 3/15, transplanted to 12" pots and set outside 4/15, my first tomato 5/31. I love it when a plan comes together.
I have a question on when do harvest my Better Bush tomatoes (I'm brand new to gardening anything!)... I added a photo (taken today) of the huge GREEN tomato I have.. it's been huge for about 3 weeks... but it isn't turning red.. when should I pick it?? Something has been nibbling on it.. could that be why it isn't turning red? And also, there are three more tomatoes on the same branch, could this one huge tomato keep them from growing bigger?