16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I don't recall reading postings from uncle t in the past, so I say welcome, and wow, you seem to have some impressive knowledge on disease pathology. Dave has been providing excellent knowledge on a wide variety of subjects for as long as I have been visiting this forum, and also has an excellent knowledge of disease pathology. I have learned a lot from him. I have a degree in Horticulture, but practices and ideas change in this area of knowledge as they do in all.

The massive late blight epidemic of a few years ago forced many people to reevaluate their cultural practices, and increased disease knowledge and treatment for a great many people.

I am pleased to see another knowledgeable person posting to this site, it only adds to the quality of the whole. I believe that we all have lots that we can learn, and lots that we can teach.

In all public forums where there is no ability to judge inflection and intention, the posibility of misunderstanding intent is increased greatly. We must all consider our words carefully so as not to be misunderstood, and risk offense.

Again, I am pleased to have two such knowledgeable individuals posting on this forum.

Steve

Then my apologies for not typing out Alternatia Canker and only referring to it as Alternaria. Although as I said, doing so is a common practice in the context of tomato-growing forums and might well be considered splitting hairs. The link attached to the post made it quite clear that Alternaria Canker was what I was talking about. But if one didn't bother to click on the link I attached then they would have no way of knowing that.

________________

Lorabell - there are literally hundreds of discussions here about your question on fungicides and Daconil is considered the fungicide of choice unless one wants to be totally organic. In that case the options are one of the several copper-based fungicides or selective use of Actinovate and/or Seranade.

Dave

PS: thanks Skeip. :)

Excuse me, but frost can easily form at 34F. 32F will freeze, but I've seen frosts, albiet light, at temps in the mid to upper 30's. And all it takes is an hour or two of frost or freeze to kill a plant! Once ice is on the leaves, bye, bye plant. There is a less likelihood of frost on breezy nights because the air circulations keep mixing in warmer air from above. It's the dead calm clear nights when the warmth from the ground radiates straight up into space and the air right near the ground cools quickly causing frost.

I covered everything that is peaking through with a nice layer of straw. Tonight should not be too bad, its Sunday night that I am worried about. Then look out next week....80's. go figure!

Still not putting my tomatoes in till at least another week. They are happy right were they are. Rutgers, Mortgage lifter, Brandy Wine, San Marzano, and Sun Sugar. I also have two Yummy peppers I am trying this year.

Thanks Dave. So pruning is simply a matter of controlling the plant size/shape? For some reason I thought it was also supposed to help with the quality of fruit, and the number of fruit that reach maturity. My space isn't a problem really, especially with so few plants. So maybe I'll just leave them alone. Thanks again, I appreciate all the help you offer on this board!

or some reason I thought it was also supposed to help with the quality of fruit, and the number of fruit that reach maturity.

Number of fruit to reach maturity is a length of season issue. Those in cooler zones with short growing seasons may prune the plant top late in late-season to speed up ripening of fruit already on the vine. Whether that works or not is debated, Root pruning is more effective IME.

Quality of fruit is a growing conditions provided and genetics of the variety issue and is not affected by pruning. If the growing conditions are optimal so is the fruit.

Size of fruit may be affected by some pruning. Some claim it results in larger fruit but most of the studies I have read say the increase is minimal and overall production is sacrificed to get it.

So yes, IMO the primary reason some choose to prune (other than those that still mistakenly believe that all "suckers" must be removed because they steal energy from the plant and/or never produce fruit anyway) is plant size and shape control. We get all kinds of "my plant is too tall for my cage/stake" and "my plant has run wild" posts about it.

This excludes of course removing the lower branches that drag the ground, removing any infected or damaged foliage, and the limited selective removal of leaf branches to insure good air circulation within the plant but most don't consider that "pruning".

Dave

I also have only 6 hrs of sun for my garden. Plus I cant plant out until the end of May. The big producers for me are the roma sized tomatoes. Last year my Genovese Costoluta, and Purple Russian were my biggest producers by far. Early Girl did fairly well, but the fruit were not large. The other various beefstake types I tried produced very few tomatoes. I have similar experience with peppers - hardly get any Bell, but Anaheim sized are prolific.

Thanks for the names of the varieties you have had good luck with, mandolls. I have one full sun bed in the front of my house and tried a couple of Bush Champion out there which were only 3-4ft tall and I could hide them from the street. They did produce a LOT of tomatoes, and they actually tasted good. The only problem was they were very dense and all the tomatoes were in the middle and all developed at the same time. So I did have some foliar problems toward the end of the season. Plus in order to rotate crops, I can't keep planting them in the same place. So this year I'm skipping tomatoes there and using containers in the back where I have only the 6hrs of sun. I'll try some roma tomatoes. I've done okay with Peppers but again, 4-5 fruits per plant. I got a lot with Giant Marconi which are long and not bell shaped.

So would not watering them as much help

There is a FAQ about this over on the Growing from Seed forum that you'll want to read. Using compost for germinating seeds isn't normally recommended for just the reasons you have discovered - it doesn't drain well in small containers and contains too many bacteria and fungi. Plants often die due to damp-off and root rot.

However since you are already using it then for it to work you have to control your watering of the plants VERY carefully and you have to increase the air circulation in the area dramatically with fans.

Watering when using compost in small containers often has to be reduced by at least 1/2 and sometimes more. It can't be done by the appearance of the surface. You have to stick your finger deep into the soil to the root level to determine moisture levels. When in doubt, do NOT water. No misting and bottom watering only will help.

Air circulation is vital to suppressing mold and fungus growth. Small fans in the area delivering a gentle breeze across the soil surface and lightly stirring the plant leaves will help a great deal.

Dave

Last years tomato crop - pinching out all the suckers and pruning the leaves as the the fruit on each tier was harvested. We had tons of tomatoes !!

I agree. pinching suckers is another name for pruning . I do that mostly to the lower branching to have good air movement and discourage moisture based plant deseases.
And also, because I plant them tightly( less than two feet) I have to prun and keep plant size under control.

So to prun or not to prun is gardner's choice and style.

Hi Dave,

I don't have a photo right now. It's a bit dark, as it's early morning here in Atlanta. The varieties that I'm noticing this with are Matt's Wild Cherry and Yellow Pear. The other tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, Eva Purple Ball, & Green Zebra) don't seem much better. They all have the thin leaf issue going on to some extent...

I have sprouted seeds before in organic soil mix I bought at the store and had no issues in the past. I guess I should have stuck with what worked for me.

In any case, I'm hoping these thin leafed plants might be able to get better in the ground where there are nutrients. I have this funny feeling though that they might be stunted somehow-pretty mad at myself for not being practical and fixing what was not broken.

Thank you for your quick response, Dave.

Stella

How are your the growing conditions?
I find that low light intensity conditions can cause some plants to have thin leaves, but the leaves are wider/broader than normal. If this is the case, be careful hardening them.

dave, how did you make your quote italic?

ongodsmountain, I'm not digdirt, but he's a busy man solving everyone's problems, so I will butt in and answer you.

If you have Firefox, you can use the free BBCodeXtra add-on to italicize, underline, make things bold, and cross things out.

BBCodeXtra can be downloaded here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/bbcodextra/

BBCodeXtra can also make urls clickable and post images (though I haven't done the latter in so long I don't remember how).

On this site (with BBCodeXtra installed), highlight the relevant text, right-click, and a box will open. Choose xhtmlXtra. Another box will open; click on whatever you want to do.

If it shows up correctly in Preview, that's what you'll see in your final post. If it doesn't show up correctly in Preview, you'll need to go back and figure out what you did wrong.
===

In the absence of BBCodeXtra, you can italicize the old-fashioned way by putting before what you want to italicize and after [but don't space after the ]. You can also use and for italics.

Underlining is and . Or and .

Bolding is and . Or and .

You can practice at the Test forum (linked at the bottom of the main page), and you'll find other html tags in some of the posts there.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/test/

A whole new world awaits you!

I am in zone 5 and plant tomatoes, with WOWs in mid March to early April.

Of course, I have to start my own seeds because it's difficult to find good plants that early.

I do this because I tend to get a few fruit before the heat sets in and sometimes during the heat. Then the fall comes and the plants take off with fruit production. Before WOWs, I would rarely get fruit at all.

I plant in ground when I can stand being outside in a t-shirt. I use a 5 gallon bucket, with the bottom removed, as a initial support for the WOW. Mulch (minced leaves or straw) helps to insulate the plants as well. Where I live, it's nearly ALWAYS sunny, so I shoot for noonish planting, allowing time for the WOWs to heat after planting. I also create a bamboo teepee inside the WOW in case it collapses.

So this year, initial planting occurred 4/5/13. Family did the planting for me and I forgot to instruct the need for mulch - so no mulching occurred. Black plastic was applied between the rows. A week or 2 after planting, the temps dropped into the single digits - super odd for April here. I tied the WOW tops shut but lost maybe 25% of my plants. I would expect that shaded WOWs would be less effective, but the dead plants were scattered - some in the sunniest spots. So, I don't know why ALL of the plants didn't die. I suppose I could have added a tarp or a blanket, but the logistics didn't make sense, and I have extra plants.

I think that the 16 degree limit is pretty accurate.

What I have found with the WOWs is that planting too early is also not good. In 2012, I planted in early March and our spring was so mild, many of my plants were taller then the WOW (growing out the top) when a spring snow storm hit. It damaged the plants to the point where it took a really long time for recovery.

hello Colorado Steph, your post caught my eye as I have an aunt and a cousin, who are referred to as "Steph"

I am just a little south of you in Pueblo and we share similar nighttime temps and sometimes, if the skies clear, we drop below what Springs cools down to on occasion. I have a few tomatoes out along a protected side of my house and drape blankets over the plant at night if a cold snap is forecast. You could take the previous poster's advice and use your WOW's within a bottomless 5 gallon bucket and drape over an old blanket over the bucket at night. Of course you need to remember to remove the cover the next morning before the sun gets too hot.

And I have some Cherokee Purples that I am growing for some friends outside right now that if it gets too cold I just bring them into an unheated garage and they are looking good. If the weather gets cold again you could place the plants you have under a fluorescent light leaving an inch or two space between the bulb and plant top and do just fine. In fact the majority of the tomatoes I have growing are setup in a similar way in the garage. Even when it was snowing outside, the temp didn't get below 50 at night inside.

It never seems good to rush things to plant too early, as you take the risk of losing it all or getting mixed results. Once it warms up the plants will soon catch up.

Most container growers recommend feeding weekly. Using liquids is easier as you can just mix it up once a week when you water. others will use 1/4 to 1/2 strength mix each time they water.

Dave

I'd also like to mention I have potting soil, it's osmocote and it claims to feed for 6 months; would you advise I supply additional feed weekly, or should that be okay?

Notey

First night out on the town for my babies. Tonight 52 F and should be ok besides some rain on wed, but these plants need to get a job now and stop relying on me. :)

They have been outdoors during the day for 2-3 weeks (about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight the rest shade). The night temps were to low about 42-45 F so I brought them in.

A week longer then expected but ohwell. I also saved the other half of the bunch to be out after the rains on Wed. I will update the photo to see how they did.

Thanks again all for the responses and great advice.

- Mr Beno

They have been out for 2 nights and 3 days now straight. I went to my local nursery and bought Espoma Organic Bio-Tone Starter plus The guy said that this should be real good when I plant them in ground in my soil initialy? I will add compost as well to my ground soil if needed? My soil PH tested around 6.5-7.0.

I know they are long overdue to be planted and some are getting tall but no blossoms yet and they average 12" (except for the few Leggy ones). I plan on putting them out in a day or 2 depending on Monday/Tuesday nights weather forecast which is to drop to around 40-45 F at night.. I guess it is the point of no return. I could probably wait til after Tuesday when night gets back up to 55F.

The past two nights went down to about 50F with on and off showers the whole time. They have been getting gabout 4-5 hours of direct sunlight for nearly 2 weeks or more and the rest of the time in the shade on my porch.

New update photos below. (and the total time since germantion has been about 7 weeks.)

Thanks,
-Mr Beno