16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I try to avoid both Chicken manure and rabbit manure. I have found bone in them. This tells me that they compost their dead animals. So what you get might not be REALLY just manure.

Seysonn

I don't compost my rabbits, but what if someone did? What would it matter? If it's fully decomposed, it's fully decomposed. Even a cold compost becomes pathogen-free if allowed to sit long enough. Of course, one would need to be knowledgeable to properly identify fully decomposed compost.

If you transplanted to bigger pots, best to use regular potting soil. Seed type is ok at the beginning because they don't need much to get started. Fish emulsion is a good source of Nitrogen.

Seed starting mix is for seed starting. Potting soil has extra goodies/nutes that seed starting mix doesn't have. Most nursery employees are there for a paycheck, and have little actual knowledge of life in the garden. Their expertise is in counting seed packets for inventory. Fish emulsion is a good … start ...

My raised beds are 11" but the underneath is native ground/soil. Most of tomato roots do not go straight downward. I think the tap roots serve an anchor.

But in a container 12" or more is better.

<Are you stating that when I plant tomatoes in the ground, the roots go downward, more than 10 inches?>

Heavens yes. I have dug up (when you pull them you never see all the length) plants with 3' long roots and even then very likely didn't get it all. Taproot plants can easily grow roots several feet long and in general, the bigger the plant the longer the roots. Article below talks about a measured growth of 22 inches in 3 weeks time. In a container they coil around but the deeper the container the better by far.

Interesting article on tomato root development

I grow okra and tomatoes side by side in rows 4 feet apart and 150' feet long, North to South. I am the one who developed the 'HEAVY HITTER' strain of Clemson Spineless okra that grew over 60 branches and nearly 300 pods of okra. I've picked 22 pods per day from just one plant. Currently this new strain is under seed increase through our State's Ag University and the Department of Agriculture. It will be released for limited distribution in the Spring of 2013.

In NE OK, the sun gets hot. Tomatoes won't produce flowers once the temp reaches above 85. Planting okra to block high sunlight/heat can prolong the fruiting of the tomatoes.

Relatively new (2 seasons only) but there are lots of reviews of them available online from sources other than Burpee and most are mixed. The fruit are clearly small, in the 3-4 oz. range, they aren't completely seed-free if that is important to you, when grown from seed the seeds have a very low germination rate apparently, and the flavor is rated at 5-6 on a scale of 10 (so average). If being relatively seedless (seeds are easy to scoop out from most any variety) then they may meet your needs.

Dave

I've grown Sweet Seedless for a few years now and I'm impressed with it on a number of levels. They come early and hang in there all season long. Flavor is reasonably good. Fruits are mostly in the 8 oz. Range although some are larger or smaller. I have a few dozen plants started again this year and although I've not separated them for sales in the past I'm thinking that this year I might promote this variety by offering it separately.

Most of batch 3 has gone down hill with the heat. One had a new sucker that looked good, so I trimmed off the dead stuff. The remains look good.

If there were not any mods before on Garden Web, surely there are not any now. No worries, it would appear you have the thread all to yourself now. Enjoy.

Sowed 6 different varieties on March 22 in 18 cells. As of March 30 sixteen of eighteen had germinated. As of today, one cell's seedling is starting to show its first true leaf (I think it's a grape if I labelled the cells correctly -- oh, well, surprise me!)

Today I separated my 3/1/15 sown seedlings. Now I have close to 40 inside and about 15 outside in the hoop and cold frame.

My last sprout is Kumato, just germinated yesterday.

Seysonn

Creek-side, I'm a little late to the party, but if you're still interested in seeds for the San Marzano Redorta, try Grow Italian. Great price, too!

Thanks for the tip. I managed to get some from Seeds From Italy.

healthy looking plant!

Jealous! Feel like I'm a season behind...

I go back quite a long time with PineTree and have always enjoyed good service and good prices.

Thanks for the replies.

I have been satisfied with other purchases I've made through Pinetree in the past. And I'm aware that those who grow for supplying seed to retailers are limited. I do not know whether Pinetree is known to buy from reliable sources. I figured tomato enthusiasts are more likely to know.

Yes, purity of the strain is somewhat important to me, especially since I'm starting some plants as a gift for a friend who IS a purist about tomatoes and because I read that Cuostralee can make some very large fruits. My friend often enters a local tomato contest that is judged by weight.

sunscald it is!

You are also seeing some interveinal chlorosis and it is in the older leaves. That is usually indicative of magnesium deficiency. When plants are deficient in Mg. It's possible your soft water and the salts it may contain have skewed the soil pH. That's a chronic problem I have to deal with here.

Switch to watering with un-softened water and if it continues I'd try watering them one time with a weak solution of epsom salts dissolved in water. Most soils don't require MG supplements but soil-less mixes can be deficient.

Dave

One of Batch 4 died. The rest are doing well except for leaf miner.

I pulled the plants from tub 2 and planted one batch 4 plant into tub 2 after adding some fertilizer. Now to see what happens when summer really hits.

Thanks for the responses.

Forgottenone , Yes the problem started when still in the cups and continued after plant out. The roots looked good and whatever it was affected first the leaf and then continued down the stem and when it hit the main branch it killed everything above it. Not really sure what it was, but the affected stems turned whitish. It progressed very quickly though. I did prune off the affected parts but sometime it was tough to catch in time especially when small.

Dave, I don't think root binding was a problem for me but if I do see an overabundance of roots I tear them apart and tear off roots at the bottom when necessary. I really try to avoid that however. Most of the time I have to be careful not to have the rootball fall apart after removal from the pot or cup. I suspected that the cups were OK to use as many do use them. Just wanted to make sure so thanks for the info!

You're showing tomatoes. If you suspect bound up roots, just plant the thing deeper. It'll grow more roots wherever a stem is in contact with dirt.

I too plant like the first wave is doomed to die because it's too early, holding some back for "next week" or more. The mass of cup-bound roots easily shows that it's too easy to leave plants in the cups too long.