16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Salsa Verde is a beautiful thing. I have even had tomatillo seeds survive the winter and volunteer the next Spring.

I wintersowed them for the first time this year and three of them were up a good week before the first tomato sprouts. I hope they thrive. Can anyone point me to a safe canning recipe for salsa verde?

could it be short of water?

The spots remind me of flea beetle damage. I'm not saying that's what it is -- particularly since you're in the UK! But in the absence of flea beetles, some other very small insect which likes to munch the outer layers of a leaf.

Here's flea beetle damage on eggplant leaves:

Flea beetle damage in older tomato leaves:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tompests/msg072122118371.html

The weird light green stripe running through the big leaf on the right: haven't a clue!

Certainly it is your call.

I know when I started gardening and didn't know about hardening plants off I would buy plants from stores, plant them, then wonder why they soon died. I assumed the plants had been exposed to the sun while in the nursery,

btw - Piedmont only means something to someone from NC.

between Charlotte and Winston Salem... These things were leggy and leaves were kinda pale greenish color they have darkened two shades. i dont think these plants have been exposed to any Ferts and were probably grown indoors with a cheap light. I cut off a set of leaves and burried it 8 inches up on the stem. they have seen sun for the 2nd day now. they are also going to get a good rain tonight.

Thank you--I appreciate your advice! I will give them warm temps and sun when i can.

"I try to have my plants under as much natural sunlight as possible as early as possible. I find I have a much easier time hardening off the plants that way."

Ditto!

UglyRipe (aka Ugly) is Procacci Bros. (hissss!) and is generally believed to be Marmande -- or Marmande hybridized for disease tolerances.

The shape is variable: some have the squat, ribby shape of the tomatoes in coatfetish's pic, while others are the ribby pear-shape that I call "gathered-purse" because they resemble a drawstring bag.

I bought an UglyRipe once; it was a wide gathered-pear shape and had a mild taste. The cells were semi-hollow.

- mto

I've seen Procacci Bros. mentioned before on this site, what/who is it?

Not to argue with Carolyn, but damping off came to my mind immediately when I read "the stem is almost as if you tied a rubber band around it and shrunk it in tightly."

Just in case, take a look at the link below and see if this looks like what is happening to your seedlings. It has been years since I've had any damping off, so I don't have my own picture of the problem. I found this one by Googling "damping off in tomatoes" then clicking images. There are others you might want to compate yours to.

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic of Seedling with Damping Off

This post was edited by bets on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 10:08

Doesn't look like it but to be honest since it's been awhile since I've raised tomatoes and I don't recall these issues it could be.

Another way to describe the issue since the ones that had this problem are long dead now and I didn't take a picture. More or less when this happens, the tomato stem looks identical to a hour glass.

As if it were squeezed in tightly and there's no way for the stem to hold up the weight of the top any longer. Very stringy.

Rest of the tomatoes look like they're starting to grow strong though, stems thickening up. Still would like to know the reason though for the future so maybe I can adjust the way I do things.

Looks like a big plant for such a small container - would be real easy to over-water it. What variety is it?

Dave

Thank you for your help. I think it probably had been overwatered prior to purchase as the lower leaves were more yellow green while the top were very healthy looking (and still are). I have taken your advice Danielnc8 and removed the lower leaves. And Dave, I transplanted it to this pot from an even smaller pot but with the 5-1-1 mix. I plan on putting it in a much larger smart pot as soon as the night time temps remain above 50 here, 2 weeks if I can wait that long. In trying to harden it off and get it as much sun as possible our unusual 80+ temps might have been to much.
One last question, if watering is adjusted is it probable that the plant will be fine?
Thanks
Beth

p.s. does anyone know why the photo which was upright in the preview gets flipped to the side?

thanks, I'll have to look into the seed method since planting fruit of plant (if I am able to resist eating any lol) will only work as long as the fruit is around.

It might be kind of cool to see what cross breeds/hybrids would show up...I'm not super attached to this tomato for any reason other than that it 1) grows in my limited space/poor light, 2) hangs compactly rather than needs stalking and 3) tastes good!

I'll try some more googling and calling the nursery I bought it from. I've had success in the past with Tiny Time and Red Robin tomato with seeds from Reimers, but this was in another location. Not sure if they would work in my current locale, with the light, in the container, and if they would drape rather than get tall....anyone have any insight on this?

I think the specifically "draping" kind are often found under the label "tumbling"? I think there was a tomato fad a few years ago, of keeping them in hanging baskets.

You can eat the tomato and still save seeds, by the way. Just scoop the seeds and gel out onto a paper towel and let sit until dry. I mean, you only need a few! But it's not recommended to share seeds collected that way.

Here is a link that might be useful: article on hanging basket tomatoes

I thought I would add my two cents, fwiw. I used this same Jiffy organic potting mix and had terrible results! I planted half in Jiffy mix and the other half in the Jiffy peat pots (the ones you add water to) and only the ones in the peat pellet pots grew wonderful and tall! And even when I transplanted a few of the tomato seedlings into larger newspaper pots with the Jiffy organic mix, it stunted their growth! I will never purchase that stuff again, as my seedings looked just as sick and yellowish as the ones in your photo, but the others grew very well.
Later I started some in some homemade mix of pure peat and vermiculite and they did great.

I don't use seed starting mixes anymore just plant in potting mix. I also had terrible luck with organic Jiffy mix; it holds too much water and has no fertilizer in it. Tomato seeds are not tiny seeds and will come up just fine in potting mix.

Oops, you just reminded me I meant to hollow out the dozen hardboiled eggs I tossed out yesterday. My MIL makes enough easter eggs to feed an army.

Hardboiled are actually just as easy to clean out. With any egg, you just crack the pointy end firmly and peel away a few chips to make a good opening. Then use a small spoon to scoop out the insides if it's cooked, or pour it into the pan if it's raw.

I've used traditionally cracked raw eggs, too -- you get two smaller cups that way.

Just be sure to wash the inside well or it smells a little eggy after a few days. The hardboiled ones have a skin inside that's easy to feel.

I put them in cardboard egg carton, fill with mix, and plant. Put the whole thing in a metal tray and addd a little water occasionally.

Seems to be working okay (100% germination on thyme, basil, cucumber, sweet pea, 50% on morning glory), but I doubt it wicks any better or worse than just the cardboard would. Eggshells are permeable, so I didn't put any drainage holes.

It definitely seems foolproof, and it's really neat looking -- I highly recommend it as an Easter and kid-friendly activity. The peas would make a cute centerpiece or placeholder.

But back to tomatoes, I sowed 24 varieties yesterday in the clear plastic 16 oz cups. Two seeds per cup. If I get two, I'll plant them in one hole or give them away.

Pretty amazing the difference between Jiffy mix and the slightly more expensive NK brand at Ace. The Jiffy had almost no perlite at all, and was much soggier a day or two after bottom watering/soaking. I ended up mixing it before planting with some of the NK just so it'd water relatively evenly.

Bonus with the clear cups, they seem to take Sharpie extremely well!

RyseRyse, are your plastic bottles SIPS? I was thinking of trying some of the really compact dwarfs in soda bottle SIPs.

I hope I get fast germination too -- I'm experimenting with my plant timing this year, and it will be interesting to see if I can get a high summer crop.

Sorry to intrude, but what are SIPS?

I have successfully saved plants in the same situation with the tallest available bamboo or hardwood stakes. Hammer 3 evenly placed around each cage and tie the cage to each stake. I just used string or velcro plant ties. The stakes anchor and support the cage so it doesn't fall over with the weight of the plant and tomatoes. As the plant gets higher than the cage you can tie the plant to the nearest stake. Make sure you pound the stakes into the ground well. If you want to add another inverted cage on top you can try that and also tie that one to the stakes. I wouldn't personally go with just the cages because I have not found them to be sturdy and stable enough for the weight of the fruit laden vines. You also don't risk breaking more branches off if you don't try to get another cage on top. Buy a bunch of extra stakes, they are not too expensive, and you can add an additional stake here and there if you need it as the season progresses. I grew tomatoes for years with just stakes, 3 per plant, but you need the tallest and heaviest duty bamboo or wood, I think they are about 8 feet.

Thank you very much for your responses!
My tomato plant is doing great now, and is growing so vigorously it's as if nothing happened at all.
I have decided to go with a support method I found online. I placed the tall stakes around the cage, tied together at the top. That way I can leave the small cages in place and continue to let the tomatoes grow.
Next year I'll find another solution for those cages, or grow only determinate varieties.
So far I have about 10 set tomatoes. I can't wait for my very first taste of a garden-fresh tomato! :)

Thanks again,
GreenSerenity