16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Separate and transplant them to small individual containers with a good potting mix. And cut WAY back on watering.
That is a small container for 6 seedlings that are developing true leaves. Much longer and the roots will be entangled and difficult to separate without damage. And the soil appears to be awfully wet - that leads to root rot.
Dave
gunnarsk: "I suppose Orange Strawberry is orange due to the "tangerine" allele ("tt") rather than "rr",which gives a yellow flesh color ripening to orange. You can also try Anna Banana Russian, available eg. from Gleckler and Knapps."
Heheh, I don't know anything about 'alleles', but seems I read somewhere that OO is sometimes streaked with red inside.
It's hard to tell through cyberspace, but I hope my friendly question was not taken in the wrong light.
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I did take it in the wrong light when you asked about my business ventures, of which there are none.
I wouldn't have written what I did above if it weren't for that, since I didn't want you or anyone else thinking I was making money off something, presumably tomato seeds or profits frommy book, of which there were none.
I don't think folks realize that when I, or anyone else, sends seeds for trial to a seed vendor, there's no money that changes hands.If the vendo likes the variety and then listsit, all money goes to him or her.
As for SSE listings and a request piice, SSE sugggests $3 for a minimum of 25 seeds which I think is way too high, especially since most of the listers are not professionals, but amateurs ,so in the 2013 Yearbook I offered 10-15 seeds for $1 to both listed and unlisted SSE members ( the SSE request price for the latter is $4), anywhere on earth.
The SSE Yearbook in my opinion has become a seed catalog and no longer has much to do with seed preservation by relisting varieties requested.
For my seed offers elsewhere I let those outside the US e-mail me their requests and then I pay the postage for all of those wherever they go.Gunnar can attest to that. (smile)
Finally, you want to see my bill for supplies from Staples and my postage costs? No way can I cover what I need as supplies from SSE requests but my supply costs also pertain to my seed offer elsewhere, I agree..
What I prefer to do is to share what new and old vareities I have with others, for a SASE for my annual seed offer and going as low as I can with a request price for the SSE listed ones.
Ok, Peace.
Perhaps I over reacted, it's possible, but let's go forward now.
Carolyn, who has not seed any red streaks or blushes in OO or Orange Strawberry or Herman's Yellow or any of the orange hearts she's grown in her area.An allele is an alternative form of a gene, not all genes have alles, but to give one example, the gene gf ( green flesh) has I think 4-5- alleles, I didn't check those numbers but I'm close, and scientists have been able to determine the specific allele in different so called black tomatoes and put them into categories which then gives an estimate of where they originated from. And that helps distinguish heirloom ones from ones that have been bred more recently or are the result of natural cross pollination.Doing that it was found that the 100 yo variety Cherokee Purple was not that old, seeds given to Craig L by John Green of TN who was told that when the seeds were given to him.
Cut off one of the stems and put in a small amount of water. If you see a white milky substance coming from it, it is Bacterial
Wilt.
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato diseases
These are the same plants from your previous post about them? If not then have these plants been outside?
If they are then that information needs to be included here.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: I think I killed them all post
I am reminded of Fedco's description of another Sungold like tomato: "From a chance sport in their tomato patch Rachel and Tevis Robertson-Goldberg from Crabapple Farm in Chesterfield, MA, selected and developed Honeydrop, sent us the original seed and continue to grow our seed crop. Growing in our estimation, Honeydrop is drawing comparisons to Sun Gold, only with much less cracking in wet weather. Its sweet juicy fruity honey-colored treats taste almost like light grapes." I grew Fedco's Honeydrop Cherry Tomato ECO OP in an isolated area and saved seed for sharing if anyone is interested. I also grew Sungold and consider it superior in terms of yield, vigor, flavor, fruit color, and productivity over many weeks.
Well, The Wow! seeds are one of two varieties of tomato (out of 15) that haven't germinated after 3 weeks, the other being Bellstar. Now I wonder if I should bother to try starting them again. Gold Nugget is doing well (and a couple of other paste tomatoes).
Not all seeds are the same size. Smaller seeds sometimes produce smaller cotyledons. Even some larger size seed will produce smaller cotyledons. It all happens way back when the seed was forming in the fruit it came from. It happens all the time and is not an issue.
It makes no difference, either to the plant, how well it will grow or produce, and it makes no difference when they were planted.
Dave
I think the answer to your question is in the other thread you posted right after this one called Mysterious plant. You are using top soil with weed seeds in it. That is also the answer to your other recent thread What's wrong with my tomato plants leaves. There seems to be a common theme here.
Hey, Spaghetina...I designed the Tormato, and have been using them for about 5 years now. They'll hold whatever you can grow on them! I've had nearly 2lb beefsteaks on them and they did just fine.
I'm always eager to get feedback from whoever uses them, so don't be afraid to drop me a line!
Here is a link that might be useful: Tormato!
Thank you both. I do have a fan running in the room because I thought that might be the issue, but I will scrape it off and try the cinnamon as well.
And I'm going out of town for a bit and my mom will be watching the plants...I'm sort of betting on her to forget watering every couple of days :-) That's why they're in the larger pots now.
Please tell your Mom NOT to water "every couple of days"!!!
In those large pots it will probably take a week (at least) for the soil to dry out. You should only water tomatoes (and most plants) when the soil is pretty dry. poke your finger in a couple of inches. If you feel any moisture, do NOT water.
I'd just like to add, for anyone who doesn't go to the Growing From Seed forum or sow outdoors, that the linked "DIY growing light stand" has a serious drawback in that the light fixture is at a fixed height. With that much distance between the soil surface and the lights, the baby seedlings would stretch in search of light and end up seriously leggy (resulting in weaker plants).
Wire-type shelving is useful for seed-starting and seedling growing because you can hang lights under the shelves when you need to start seedlings, then remove the lights once it's warm outside and use the shelving for another purpose. The type of shelving that lets you change the height of the shelves is preferable.
This is the shelving I have; I've seen them in catalogs, at Lowe's, and years ago at Target (Target may still have them, but I haven't looked at their furniture lately); I think Walmart may have them as well:
Style Selections 74-in H x 48-in W x 18-in D 5-Tier Wire Freestanding Shelving Unit
These shelves come in different sizes; the individual shelves are adjustable (though you probably have to take the whole thing apart if you change your mind); it helps to have a second person to begin the set-up part, though I've done 7 of varying sizes over the years without any help.
4' wide shelving allows you to use 4' fluorescents and put two 20" seed-starting trays on a single shelf.
To avoid having to raise the lights as your seedlings grow, I place styrofoam blocks under the seedling trays, then remove layers of styrofoam as needed so that the tops of the seedlings are 1-2" below the light tubes (leaves won't burn if the plants come in contact with the cool tubes). If you don't have styrofoam you can use something else (wood; cardboard boxes; anything you have a lot of that will support seedling trays). If you like the idea of styrofoam but don't have any, you may be able to purchase it at a crafts store.
I'd also suggest more lights than are shown in that video: a minimum of 4 tubes in width if you're using 20" x 10" seed-starting trays.
There may be plants for which the high plastic dome would be good, but with tomatoes the lack of air circulation could result in disease. And ideally you'll run a fan on your seedlings, both to increase air circulation and to strengthen the stems.
the linked "DIY growing light stand" has a serious drawback in that the light fixture is at a fixed height.
Excellent point. Plus it is only a 2 foot fixture which is normally not enough. Plus the 2' fixtures and the bulbs for them usually cost more than the 4' fixtures and bulbs do.
There are many pics of much better light set ups over on the Growing from Seed forum.
Dave
And is there seeds in the soils. I use top soil because I'm afraid of mold,larvae, and gnats from Miracle Gro.
Sorry but that makes no sense. Not only is using soil/dirt never recommended for growing seedlings but there is 50x the chance of getting mold, larvae, gnats, fungus, strange seeds, etc. etc. from top soil as there is getting them from ANY potting mix.
Dave
You should always use a soilless seed starting medium when planting tomato seeds. NOT dirt or regular potting mix. As Dave says, you are far more likely to have problems with your seedlings with anything other than a soilless seed starting medium.
And yes, dirt does have seeds in it. They are called weeds.
Betsy
Here is a link that might be useful: How do I start tomatoes from seed?
coeng, do you have any idea how many hours of direct sunlight the area will receive? I used to grow tomatoes just a foot from the east (brick) wall of a 2-story house. So those tomatoes had sun from the NE IL summer sunrise until noon. They did well, even though they received nowhere near the amount of direct sun tomatoes are supposed to require.
There's also something called "bright shade." I have some experience with that (daylilies flowering where they shouldn't have), but I don't know how "bright shade" is defined. A few years back, there was a regular poster here whose Minnesota property was mostly dappled shade -- and with neighbors' trees he couldn't trim. He knew how much sunlight each square foot of that yard received, tucked his tomato plants into the sunniest spaces -- without regard for the landscaping -- and as I remember, had a fairly good harvest.
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Tomatoes crack for different reasons. Some varieties (usually with thinner skin) are prone to certain patterns of cracking. So there are varieties you wouldn't want to buy. But if you dislike thick skin, your tomatoes will probably have more cracking.
Are you starting from seed this year, or will you buy seedlings again? Which varieties did you grow last year, and which varieties are your options this year?
When soil moisture is inconsistent, nearly all varieties are much more likely to crack. So to limit this type of cracking, keep soil moisture as consistent as possible. Mulching heavily helps (and also helps prevent disease-causing microorganisms from splashing onto the leaves). [You can use almost anything for mulch, including shredded office paper, newspapers, or straw.]
When there is suddenly a great increase in soil moisture, fruit tend to "burst." So when there's a forecast of a good rain, pick all the fruit which have begun to show yellow (the "breakers" stage), and ripen them inside. This will not affect their taste. Oh -- and sun isn't necessary to ripen them indoors.
Some second rate seed companies are repacking/blending old seed. Most states don't require a germ % on packet size. Larger commercial lots are supposedly tested and the germ rate/date is printed on the package.
If you buy from a known reputable source, usually it's not the seed.
The temp in the baggies fluctuates around 83ðF. Then they move into starter cells at room temperature - around 70ðF.
For some reason my germination rate of late has been declining while my survival rate in the starter cells has increased. Could be a combination of older seeds and warmer room...
If your interested in how to grow high brix crops this site can help and even sell products so you can. Ami
Here is a link that might be useful: T&J Enterprises
You'll likely get more help over on the Hydroponics forum here as this is an issue very few of us dirt gardeners have ever had to deal with.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Hydroponics forum
Here is what I came back to yesterday. This is an assortment of indeterminates which I sowed about a quarter inch deep on 3/10. They hadn't emerged by the time I left on 3/14, and there was a lot of gray fuzzy stuff growing on the wood. I watered them very well and put on the clear plastic cover and headed for Mexico. 30 out of 32 germinated, and if you can't tell from the picture they are doing quite well.
This post was edited by Creek-side on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 19:29
Bonnie, the origin of Ludmilla's Pink Heart I find interesting.
Reinhard Kraft in Germany and I have traded seeds for many years and it was from him that I got the Ludmilla ones the pink, red Plum and yellow Giant.
I think the heart one is very good but the Ludmilla's Red Plum is outstanding, but not a heart.
I don't know if you've been to Tania's superb website before, but when on the page I linked to go to the upper left and click on Main, look around, but them click on shortcuts at the top and when you know the name of a variety I find it's easier to use the alphabetical way of searching, so just click on that link.
Many other ways to search for this and that are also on that shortcut page.
Tania now has pages for over 4,000 varieties with pictures and seed sources for those that do have seed sources, and that link is on any specific variety you look at.
She also sells seed for about 600 tomato varieties.
Good luck with the Anna Russian seeds and let us know how that turns out.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Ludmilla varieties
Thank you again, everyone, for all the helpful suggestions!
Here is the list of what I ended up sowing:
Aunt Gertie's Gold
Amish Paste
Amazon Chocolate
Anna Russian
Black Cherry
Box Car Wilie
Earl's Faux
Galina's Yellow Cherry (the few Isis Candy seeds I had left didn't look viable, so I had to pick another cherry type.)
Giant Belgium
Gold Currant (I'm going to give the hanging basket a try.)
Gold Medal
Indian Stripe
Ludmilla's Pink Heart
Matt's Wild Cherry
Neves Azorean Red
Soldacki
Virginia Sweets
I sowed 2 - 6 of each, depending on the age of the seed. Tomato plants are usually pretty easy to give away around here in May, so not worried about the extras, assuming I can find space for them until then!