16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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

Do you use "Miracle Grow" potting mix?

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.

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!

Sungold cherry tomatoes taste sweet and fruity. Also, Green Giant tomatoes have a melon-like flavor.

Big Zebra, which is a green-when-ripe variety tends to taste quite like a kiwi fruit. I don't like them in salads or on sandwiches because they are so sweet, but to just eat out of hand they are yummy.

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:

Mine hasn't been transplanted to a larger pot yet, it is still in a 1 gal. I know it's time to transplant it; my concern isn't just the lack of space but we have had unusually cold weather in OK and I'm concerned it won't make it.

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

I planted the top in the ground as suggested. It is growing, albiet slow. I put a lawn chair to provide shade. Thank you for the help.
Tim

I think the lawn chair is an amazingly innovative idea for shade!

Glad to hear the plant is coming back.

Will the air temps be different than where they are now. Will the sun exposure be different than what they have been exposed to?

Odds are the answer to both is yes. Then they need to be hardened off first.

Hardening off is nothing more than providing for a gradual adjustment to any change in environment.

If you can't move the plants to allow for that gradual adjustment then modify the new environment somewhat - rig up some temporary shade in the hoop house and monitor the day/night temp extremes carefully for a few days. You may have to lightly cover them on cool nights.

Dave

Right....when you break it down like that it makes sense, so my instincts were right.

My next question then is : I had them under lights 12 hours a day, so now I will harden them off by bringing them outside, but if I put them in the shade/direct sun combo are they getting the same light as they were under grow lights? So am I done with grow lights at this stage ? I know this probably seems like an obvious question but I guess it seems hard to understand the difference between artificial lights vs sunlight at this stage for me !!

As long as it is an indeterminate, it is virtually impossible to kill through physical damage. It will grow back very easily, it will just be bushier than before.

Also, if you want two plants, stick the broken top piece in the dirt. Don't even have to do anything special to it, just stick the broken bottom in wet dirt. It'll root and you'll have two plants.

When planting the top piece per Edymnion's advice, make sure the dirt stays evenly moist for three or four weeks, and try to shade it from strong afternoon light until it roots.

Squirrel proofing: The hardware cloth may not be a good idea. It will keep out squirrels, but it also shades out more light than I would like, especially in an area that already has a little shade from some nearby trees.

Remesh cages are great and the only reason I bought the Texas Tomato Cages was because we have storage issues. Otherwise, I would have gone with the remesh and sprayed with some galvanizing spray because it's more cost effective.

It's 55, not 65. Zone 6b plants can normally go out in mid-late April but even with the crazy weather this year they should be able to go out this coming week given the forecast.

Personally I would remove them before you transplant them outside. That puts the plant back in to vegetative growth and root development mode which should be the focus right now.

But you can leave them if you wish. The odds are the plant will kill them off in some fashion anyway due to all the transplant stress.

Dave

Whew! Am I ever relieved. Thanks a million... I'll get them in the ground asap.