16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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

I read a tip on another website......grate Irish Spring soap through the beds. I am going to try it, its worth a try!

There is a post on this site about someone who bought a Costco sized Irish Spring Soap package to sprinkle through his garden. In short, it didn't work and it took him years to use up all the soap. I would continue searching that idea to see if it actually worked for anyone.

I would have to scrap the three single lights I have to buy double lights. Not sure it is worth it, but I might consider it for next year. As the plants grow they do sometimes touch the lights, esp. when they are growing fast. I haven't had any burn yet, but I like to keep them just a tiny bit above the plant. I plant deep during the first transplant and the leggyness is gone unless planting is delayed from the weather and then they can get a little leggy again. I then plant them deep at planting time. I will have to consider if it is worth replacing these lights that are only 1-2 yrs old right now.

Ooops, I was mistaken. I have 3 double lights over them, so 6 bulbs in all, 40 watts each. They are the larger cool bulbs, can't remember if they are T8, maybe? I will have to look another time if it is important, its bedtime. 5 am comes early. :)

I am in Memphis, TN, very hot, and it is just the usual later in the season when the leaves get the yellowing and black ends to them usually starting toward the bottom of plant (probably misused "wilt"). I assume I should remove these bad leaves?

If it's just the yellowing leaves with black ENDS that appear at the bottom of the plants and also later in the season, I'd suggest that those were just old leaves since they are the oldest ones so die first.

Black ends alone do not suggest a foliage disease, nor do they suggest wilting, as you also noted.

Carolyn

All the purpling is normal with young seedling and all the curling leaves are normal too for the most part. Google 'tomato leaf roll'.

For future reference, it would be almost 99% impossible for a young plant growing in a cup in potting mix and that has likely spent 90% of it's life indoors to get Curly Top Virus, or any other disease for that matter so relax, ok? :)

Dave

I agree. Let it grow.

It didn't look like scale to me. It looks more like edema caused by overwatering. Google images of scale. It looks more like little raised shells. It would be very unusual for a tomato seedling to become that badly infected with scale. I would destroy the plant if it had scale that bad.

IME, that is not scale... scale will be individual waxy encapsulations that actually house the insects.
This looks like edema to me too.

It does look like herbicide damage but cold over nite temps and not enuff water could be a problem too. The bottom leaves (they look fine) make me think it may be in need of water.

Nutrients (& water) in the soil would reach the lower leaves first. Stick a finger into the soil a foot or more away from the plant stem to check for moisture.

Cover the plants when overnite temps are below 50.

How long have these plants been in the ground?

What kind of watering do you do? From the top? Soaker hoses? Water cans?

I use buckets with a hole drilled in them for deep watering.

It is not lack of water. It looks like herbicide damage to me too. And my experience says that even though it may grow out of it at some point, they never truly grow and produce correctly after this. Sometimes you will see creamy white streaks on the effected leaves.
The stretching of the internodes of the plants is another classic symptom that is associated with a lot of herbicides.
Again, based on my own experience, I would discard them.