16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Because someone - in this case several people - disagrees with your position you have to resort to insults and name calling?
Ever heard the phrase "That's the pot calling the kettle black".
Miracle Grow Garden Soil
How to Use
For planting individual plants. Dig a hole twice as wide as the container/rootball. Blend garden soil with native soil in a 50:50 ratio. For amending beds, apply a 3 inch layer and work into the top 6 inches of the soil. Plant seeds or live plants following specific package or plant tag instructions. Water thoroughly after planting then daily until plants are well established.
When to Apply
Apply when planting flowers, vegetables and herbs outdoors (not in containers), or when preparing soil in outdoor gardens and landscape beds.
How often to apply
Amend in-ground gardens annually mixing 50/50 with existing soil.
Where to Use
Use for in-ground gardens.
Where Not to Use
Not for use in pots or containers.
Univ, of Illinois Extension - Using Soil and Soil-less Mixes for Containers
Here is a link that might be useful: Miracle grow Garden Soil
I was having major problems last year; most of my seeds wouldn't sprout, even though of several varieties. Then I read on some gardening forum that people were quite unhappy with MG seed starter. It was the first time I'd used it.
When I switched to a different brand of seed starter, my success rate went back up to what I would have expected. It was good that I had the time and the extra seeds to try again.
The MG seed starter had quickly settled to half it's volume; I'm guessing it ended up being too dense for the tender sprouts to push up through it.
Birds will sometimes take a few pecks and can make clean shaped holes, i know they do it with peppers. The dusky sap beetle can make a clean shaped hole, but smaller than the one you described. There's a good chance that i'm wrong, in your case, so take my guesses with a grain of salt.
Also: many here would want to see a pic before hazarding a guess.
Another possibility is tomato fruitworms. I control those with a BT liquid spray applied once a week, it is an organic pesticide that only kills caterpillars.
My first year growing tomatoes, caterpillars ate all the tomatoes that I got (it was a bad harvest anyway due to extreme heat) so I've used that ever since.
Sun Gold and Super Sweet 100 are humongous plants - easily 4' wide and 10-12 feet tall. Put them in the bed. Lemon Boy and Golden Boy don't get nearly as big and will do ok in containers assuming the containers are at least 10 gallons..
Dave
Interveinal chlorosis is the technical term for that. It's a sign of a nutrient imbalance. Sometimes it happens when plants are watered frequently and nutrients are washed out of the soil. But there can be other causes. Since these are indoor plants, I would try a shot of fertilizer and backing off on the waterings a little bit.
Just a few thoughts on the original question of tomatoes setting fruit at low temps. There is a variety, Earlinorth, that sets fruit down to 40 degrees. If you do some serious digging, you can find several Russian varieties that have significant cold tolerance. Also, there are several varieties available in the U.S. that are modestly cold tolerant in terms of setting fruit.
I am doing some work with tomatoes to identify genes that contribute to extreme cold tolerance. I currently have 200 plants in my garden for evaluation. This includes Earlinorth, PI120256, numerous U.S. cultivars, and several Russian varieties. So far, I have seen 3 distinct traits involved in cold tolerance. One is the ability to set fruit at low temps, another is improved root efficiency, and a third is leaf tolerance to cold temps. Each trait appears to be affected by different genes.
DarJones
Very interesting fusion_power - We have done limited research on these Russian varieties but opted to figure out ways to inexpensively as possible heat the GH to min temps - and/or start the seeds a little later next year. It seemed with what we read - the more tolerant to cold varieties came at a sacrifice - mainly fruit size and possibly flavor?
You are more knowledgeable and may know of varieties that offer both fruit set in cold temps and good fruit size/flavor? Regardless - your work identifying genes should result in improved hybrids in the future - for setting fruit in cold temperatures? It seems expanding the low and high range for setting fruit in tomatoes would help gardeners everywhere.
Is the main purpose of your research to improve the temperatures for setting fruit?
Link below is to the FAQ here on 'blossom drop' and should answer your questions I think.
You don't indicate your location or your garden zone in your post so there is no way to know what weather factors may be contributing to your problems without that info.
In generalpollination rates vary greatly from one variety to another so comparing them can be very misleading. And seldom is there 100% pollination on any variety. And if your soil has normal levels of nutrients then excess N probably isn't a factor. Indeed it may be low.
Excess phosphorous may be a factor but no way to know without a soil test.. That leaves heat and humidity as the primary causes of problems IF your pollination rates are sub-par.
Hope this helps.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom Drop FAQ
Thanks Dave, that does help. If you look at the rate of the Sungold (reversed from the OP) it is nearly every tomato on bunches of 6-10 but the fact that the Sweet 100 is producing strings of 15-20 blossoms means that it is not pollinating any less tomatoes only less percent of its blossoms. And I see why Roma is such a popular variety in agriculture, mine has 100% pollination on 5 bunches which i have never seen any tomato do.
All in all I am not too concerned, but I might do a soil test out of curiosity. It is my first raised bed and I didn't exactly measure anything in the mix.
I am in central CA, zone 9b. Had a good mix of cooler days, rain, and only a few hot ones not breaking 95. Not much humidity. Great year so far, my Sweet 100 and Sungold are hitting the 6 foot mark already which is scaring me.
Thanks for the help
Phil
If it said "developed by..." that is a pretty good clue that it is a hybrid.
And yes, seeds for F1 "Window Box Roma" are available from several suppliers so it's not new stuff.
GROWE is a non-profit foundation dedicated to teaching children about gardening and eating properly so I would assume that its name on the label means the sales were part of a fund-raiser.
Dave
In the one experience I had with a stem borer, the stem above the hole remained very small in diameter and growth had slowed to almost nothing; that stem never recovered. I only saw one hole (neatly round), no frass, and when I removed the stem some weeks after noticing the problem, there was no worm in the tunnel; the tunnel was a few inches long and was above the hole.
Perhaps mine was a different sort of caterpillar than yours.
The trickiest things for me starting seeds are regulating temperature and watering. I have my seedlings under lights on a countertop in my craft room but there is a south facing window there too. I left the shades open a couple of days when temps were only 60's-70's and bunch got sun burned! So leaving them in a closed greenhouse type atmosphere I am sure could also do that. Plus, with the temperature in the greenhouse going up so much during the day, it may not be possible to keep them watered enough without over watering unless you are able to water them at least twice a day. Depending on how small the containers are that you are using and how large the plants are, they might get dried out before the day is over, even if they are adequately watered in the morning. Trying to water them more in that situation can cause root rot, which then makes it even harder for them to take up water. I have only been doing it a few years but there are a lot people here with tons of experience. I would suggest taking a picture of your setup with the plants in it and posting it here so they can evaluate all of that. A simple inexpensive thermometer placed inside on a sunny "cool" day when you will be home will tell you a lot. I got a couple at Home Depot or Lowes for about $2-3.00 that I use when I want to track how hot/cold it is getting in any room and even the garage when I am storing plants or perishables there.
cyanapanasati: If you planted outside it was probably too early in mid-state NY zone 5. The temperature fluctuations, combined with cold rainy nights, will cause odd and hard to diagnose problems.
Here in northern NJ, zone 6, it's long been said that you plant tomatoes after May 15th to avoid the temperature and weather fluctuations. If this "conventional wisdom" is even partly true for northern NJ, then those in NY state need to be a bit more careful imho.
Oftentimes your plants will grow faster, healthier, and produce fruit sooner, if they are planted out just a little later...it all depends on the weather.
Just my 2c
This post was edited by sjetski on Sun, May 19, 13 at 22:09