16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes


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 have found that with T5 bulbs, given the much greater output, you can get by with a bit more height than with the T12s or T8s. Say 4", maybe 4.5" but I wouldn't push it beyond that and if you note some nodes stretching lower it back down for a period of time.
T12s I run at 1", T8s at 2-2.5", and T5s at 4".
JME
Dave


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

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.

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.

You would have to gradually adjust them to it. Temp would be ok if nights aren't too cold but the UV and sun exposure will be a big change for them. Once hardened off to go to the GH then they are usually ready for transplanting to the garden without additional hardening except for wind protection.
Dave

Thanks for the advice. Ill probably just wait a few more weeks and use the GH for a nice place to harden off. I have used this GH for storage for a few mini palms and other assortments. Its just enough to keep the roots from dying. This is my first attempt at growing my own maters. Much appreciated.


Another option would be to take cuttings from your current plants and root them to keep them going. I recommend rooting them in your growing medium that is kept fairly moist until the cuttings have established roots, usually 3 - 5 days. They will wilt at first, but when they perk up again, they have made roots.
I've done this to keep some going that were getting too big indoors when we had weather that turned cold for longer than usual in the spring, and I have propagated extra plants by taking cuttings. (Faster than restarting from seed.)
Betsy


If you have more than a few plants, a single shop light may not be enough. Most of us have two fixtures haning side by side and many have three fixtures. If I were starting over and building my plant starting stand over, I would make it a little wider so that I could hang three sets of lights above each shelf. That would not have increased the plant or tray capacity, just the light capacity.
Betsy

Don't look bad, but they are getting leggy.. Put a fan directly on them, harden them so they can tolerate a fan full blast... Needs brighter light, as close as possible to the plants... What are you feeding them? What kind of hydro are you doing? All an all, don't looks to bad, but I would get a fan on them and a brighter light, nearly touching the plants without harming them..
Joe

Currently using a vegetative growth solution from a hydro store. The current light is pretty cheap incandescent. I'm planning to put cfl lighting above the plants. This is a nighttime picture and in the day the plants get a strong amount of light although they do lean and this requires me to rotate the plants frequently.

Some put a small heater on a thermostat in them or you can provide some heat in those when needed just by putting a couple of clip on 60 wt. incandescent lights on inside.
The real problem with them is in the daytime when heat gets trapped in them if they aren't closely monitored and well ventilated. When the sun is out it can quickly get up to 120 degrees in one of them and cook everything.
But also keep in mind that it is a big environmental change for the plants so they will need to be hardened off first. They won't tolerate going 'cold turkey' right from the house into one of those units.
Be sure to include a thermometer inside it.
Dave


I grow tomatoes in Earthbox containers and use it almost weekly during my long growing season. It is a water soluable nonorganic source of calcium and nitrogen. At two tomato plants per Earthbox, I typically add a teaspoon down the watering tube once weekly from plant out.
At planting time, I will include 2 cups dolomite lime and a cup to a cup and a half of 10-10-10 fert.