16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
This is my first year gardening. Yesterday I planted:
4 Supersweet cherry
4 LaRoma II
4 Health Kick
4 Beefsteak
I realized later that at least 2 of them are hybrids, which as I hear does not bode well for saving seed, but oh well. They were cheap and happened to be near where I was grocery shopping which saved me a 3hour trip to the nursery I had intended to go to. I'll have to be a little more prepared next year!
Are plants from "Big Box Stores" really hardened off when you buy them? The stores do not look like my garden. I would buy them several days before I wanted to plant them, then go through a hardening-off procedure before I transplanted them to my garden.
I use a 3-4 day process for moving my tomatoes and peppers from my greenhouse to my garden. I have an outside shelter made from old storm and patio doors and screens, that reduces the wind velocity and sun exposure by 1/3 to 1/4 where my plants spend several days before they are introduced to the cruel outside world.
Both the Lowe's and the WM here keep their tomato and veggie seedlings outdoors. At the Lowe's, the plants are on the side of the building which faces ESE, so they get sun at midday and all afternoon. WM's plants are on the south side of the building, so they get sun all day.
These are mostly Bonnie Plants seedlings. Where Bonnie keeps them before delivery, I have no idea, but I know that Bonnie (and, I think, also Metrolina Greenhouses at Lowe's) send staff to the stores to water the plants. The store staff don't handle any plant care, and I'm sure they don't move seedlings around to harden them off.
I don't know if the seedling display shelves have wheels or not, but Lowe's outdoor display tables in the same area are simply metal mesh panels set on cinderblock legs. If there are wheels on the seedling shelving, I suppose Lowe's or WM might bring those displays into the fenced garden area at night to prevent theft. But there certainly isn't space indoors (particularly during the day) for plants being hardened off.
We have a HD as well; I think I've been there a whole 3 times over the years, but as it happens, I was there last month. The tomato seedlings were in a fenced area near the outdoor check-out area; Google's satellite view shows that area with some sort of roof, maybe translucent fiberglass panels.
No most won't return to green. You can remove them or they will eventually die and fall off.
They needed more light while growing - the leggy stems and long node lengths indicate that. Assuming you will be planting them out soon and will be burying them deeply so that all that bare stem is below ground they will be fine. If not then any way you can increase the lighting will help.
Dave
I also call tomatoes acidity but what i really mean is a tomato that's not sweet..i really don't care for very sweet tomatoes. i grew up eating Celebrity and Champion thats the flavor that i like, then years later i found Old Brooks and Big Boy that to me taste acidity or not sweet..does any one else think these tomatoes taste acidity ???
Acidic... tart... assertive... I use the term zingy. :)
Situation 1: I live in central Saskatchewan and have an aunt who lives in Alberta. One year, we unknowingly both planted Sunstart tomatoes (I don't recall the seed sources). I brought along a big box full of my extras to share with family when we visited that fall. My aunt tasted them and said that my Sunstarts were much sweeter than hers. That year I had kept up on the weeding and watering.
Situation 2: Another year, our youngest was born at the end of June and was a colicky baby for her first four months. Weeding never happened that year and we scavenged what we could from the garden through the summer and fall, whatever managed to grow under the tall cover of thistles and other weeds. There weren't many, but those were THE zingiest tomatoes I have ever tasted. I had grown that variety before - Applause - and I have grown it since. Even plants grown from that same seed packet, zingy as they *have* been, have not had the... well, KAPOW!... that those fruits did that particular year.
My opinion is that while there is a predisposition towards sweetness or away from it built within the variety, environmental factors can be a bigger determinator of ultimate flavour punch.
Below is a link to Tania's page about Texas Star and if you look at seed availability there are two places offering it for 2013
Above is a Google search for it and several links to message sites, etc., that should give you information.
As to history, see what Tania has to say and it's a variety that was first listed with SSE in the mid-80's as she says. If it's important to know who first listed it I could take the time to look through some of my old SSE Yearbooks, but I don't have the time now.(smile)
To me it looks like one of the many, actually over 200 named gold/red bicolors, but there are some differences between some of them, and give us some feedback when you've grown it and tasted the fruits. And note the opinions of others at Tania's page as well.
Hope that helps
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Star
I got my tomatoes planted in containers on our last average frost day, April 28, which is about three weeks early for me. I had them in WOWs for about a week, but we had a couple days in the 80s and my plants were outgrowing the WOWs and looking overheated, so I removed them. The 10-day forecast does include a few nights around 50, which makes me nervous. But I'm hoping the warm soil in my black smart pots will make up for the cold nights. We'll see.
Thanks to advice from Big Pinks, 2 of my 10 plants are Mortgage Litter Estlers. I fell in love with them last year and was able to save a few viable seeds.
Yes Edie I bought 18 nice plants at Joyce's Greenhouse and have them in the garden. Should have plenty of big pink softballs all derived from your great uncle back to 1922. A lady who waited on me said Mrs Estler was there for her plants a few days before me and I guess she told the clerks there that she would be raising many less plants than Uncle Bob. I am gonna start saving more seed. Nice hearing from you!
The San Marzanos are in 6.5 gal. containers. They were transplanted from 1 gal. pots 3 weeks ago so I don't think they're root bound yet. The potting mix is 5-1-1 with good drainage. I'll try to back off on the watering.
Here is a link that might be useful: 
So you are assuming that pruning the plants to just a couple of stems will speed up the ripening? I don't know that that has ever been proven to be true but I'd be curious to hear about your results.
How many of those large indeterminates are you putting in each Earthbox? I ask because i use them too and have found over the years that while they will handle 1 indeterminate plant or 2 determinate varieties, they don't cope well with 2 indeterminate varieties. But then your weather is very different from my heat.
I do know that it will reduce your production substantially but if that is no concern for you and if you won't have any difficulty supporting the much taller vines, sure give it a try.
I am also curious though as to why, since you are growing in Earthboxes, you are using grafted stock? They were developed to resist soil borne diseases and in Earthboxes that is no concern. Plus they are so much more expensive.
Enjoy your tomatoes - and your weather. :)
Dave
I live just outside Portland, Oregon, and while I'm not so very close to the ocean, I do get a lot of marine influence coming up the Columbia. Seldom do we have more than a handful of night time temps above 50 to string together here and there over the summer.
I have two side by side plots. One, I prune plants to two leaders, the other are un-pruned in CRW cages I plant the same varieties in each plot. Purely anecdotal, but the Plants trained to two leaders produce, on average, slightly larger fruit 7-10 days earlier, Than the caged, but production is significantly hindered (it does mean I can get ripe fruits from a few long season varieties that often remain green in the CRW by season end).
Similarly, with grafted plants, I'm not after disease tolerance, but the added vigor. Again, anecdotally, I noticed significantly higher yields with ripe fruits 7-10 earlier on the few grafted varieties I had last year (again I had the same varieties un-grafted growing in close proximity), and this year I did my own grafting onto colossus rootstock with a modicum of success. If you do it yourself and only get 50% success rate (my first year and IâÂÂm over 60%) It ends up costing you about and extra dollar per plant. In difficult conditions like my maritime climate, IâÂÂm handsomely rewarded with many more tomatoes that more than make up for the extra cost. At least thatâÂÂs how it worked out last year. ThatâÂÂs just my experience so farâ¦
i have planted tomatoes in the same raised bed 30''x6'x24' for the last 12 years and have had no problems..it seems to work for me. i just add a little fertilizer to it every year and this year i'm addind a water system made of 1/2'' pvc pipe with timer that will water my plants instead of a sprinkler that i used before..
Daniel, I think you said where you were in NYS, but I've forgotten where. it's important to know if you grow in an area where soilborne diseases would not be common, or not.
THe primary diseases we have in NYS are the foliage diseases and if your plants in previous years have had any of the fungal or bacterial foliage diseases, those can drop to the soil and the next year can reappear starting on the bottom leaves as what's called splashback infection.
However, all NEW foliage infections are spead by air and embedded in rain droplets, so despite splashback infection, there's always the possibility or airbore new infections.
So if you can remember if your plants in previous years have had foliage infections, that would help; Those pathogens can remaina in the soil for several years and can continue to build up to higher levels.
So take a good look and report back what you see this summer.
Carolyn
Thanks Raybo for sharing this excellent grow system!!! Im only growing one or two containers this year (hopefully more next year) so ordering a Burpee pea fence would cost me a lot more than 4 tomato cages (around$16). Looks like a Burpee Pea Fence would cost $34 for two: http://www.burpee.com/gardening-supplies/garden-growers/supports-ties-and-fences/pea-and-cucumber-fence-2-pack-prod001250.html?catId=2320&trail= is that the right fence? If so how many
Earthtainer cages could I fashion from the order of two in the link above? I found it nearly impossible to use a bedliner (to block roots from reaching water reservoir) using 3 legged tomato cages (all I had) so I had to improvise by mounting the two outer legs of each cage to the side of the inner Earthtainer, see pic:
[URL=http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/Remodeller/media/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/473138_10201002348249591_630854343_o.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x468/Remodeller/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/473138_10201002348249591_630854343_o.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
The center legs just sit on top of the bedliner, and the top ring of the cages are joined together by a wire rope clamp. This also adds further support to the aeration bench since the side mounted wire rope clamps go through both layers of rubber, I used washers on the outside of the Earthtainer for these side mounts:
[URL=http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/Remodeller/media/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/472690_10201002451252166_1920797485_o.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x468/Remodeller/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/472690_10201002451252166_1920797485_o.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
It seemed really sturdy when it was all done, also I cut a round hole in the bedliner for the wicking basket- then I realized you didnt specify doing that- did I defeat the purpose of the bedliner? See pic:
[URL=http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/Remodeller/media/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/472338_10201009822476442_1146976258_o.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x468/Remodeller/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/472338_10201009822476442_1146976258_o.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Also- I saw on another forum that panty hose (lol) works great for keeping the mosquitoes out- youll notice a piece on my watering tube in that last pic above. I also used pieces of pantyhose on the overflow holes for added insect protection:
[URL=http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/Remodeller/media/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/IMG_20130506_190733.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x468/Remodeller/Gardening_plus_WaterPurification/IMG_20130506_190733.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Im new to this forum so some of this may be old news, if so sorry!- but let me know if there is a cheaper way to get a pea fence for a small amount of containers or if you think the side mount cages are the way to go for 1-3 Earthtainers, thanks again for all your info!!
Sorry my images did not post to my last reply, not sure why, here is a pic of two 3 legged stands side mounted
Here is a link that might be useful: