16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Sorry don't mean to bum you out. If that is your frost date then you may be ok. I'm 7a and use Apr. 15th but most sources list 7b as 1-10 April but given the weather the past couple of years I think many are planning for earlier planting dates this season.

If you put them out say Mar. 10th or so the worst that can happen is you'd have to cover them some nights. But at least that way you can hopefully get some fruit set before the real heat kicks in in May.

Good luck.

Dave

Well, hopefully this means I just have some super awesome plants and they will produce super awesome tomatoes :) More of a reason to make sure you plants lots of plants so you get lots of fruit set before the dang heat, huh? My plan was to can lots this year. Sure hope it works out!

I start my seeds the first of April in 16 oz. clear beer cups with holes in the bottom (solder iron). I only put a couple of inches of soil in each cup then 4 seeds. Once the seedlings get true leaves and look good and hardy, I fill up to the top 2 leaves with soil. I continue this till the soil reaches the top. (tomatoes root all along the stems so you get a real strong plant.) I don't use any sort of extra lightling other than my south-facing windows and never get leggy seedlings.

I started 'Tiny Tim' and 'Red Robin', both dwarfs in pots that way on Dec. 12 and they have just now reached the top. I plan to transplant them into larger pots soon. I am hoping to get some real early cherry tomatoes this way!

M-
My thought is, if you're going to start tomatoes by seed, grow some killer varieties. My staples are Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Brandy Boy and Sunsugar. BK and CP are heirlooms and all perform well for me in Michigan.

I could send you some seeds if you like. My e-mail is attached to my member's page.

BTW, I started my seeds the other day. They'll go out the end of March/early April under Wall-O-Waters. Right now they're on heat. Once they sprout, they go off the heat and under lights - real close to the lights. Remember, if they do get leggy, you can plant them deep. Not the best way to do it, but it works.
Gail

This post was edited by monet_g on Sat, Feb 16, 13 at 8:49

I am curious what it is right to pick as well

German Queen is now on my "grow every year" list. The picture is of a couple of fruit that still have a day or two to go ripening on the counter. I pick them when they have a good blush all over.

Ted

Ohiofem. Thank you-- I didn't get email notification of replies so I only saw your reply now... I have moved it away from the others and I don't think that plant is going to be saved... It hasn't grown any taller since...

Another thing... Will the tomatoes that are on there be safe to eat if they are able to ripen?

Ameera: I don't know of any tomato disease that would make your tomatoes unsafe to eat. If you get ripe tomatoes that look OK when you cut them open, go ahead and eat them. Sadly, I've eaten many tomatoes from diseased plants.

My main problem with the tomatoes the past two seasons has been decently sized plants but very little production. Lots of flowers, but few of them actually turned into fruit. Based on some of the recent responses I'm wondering if it's a nitrogen issue? I'm having my soil tested this spring so I guess we'll find out!

Also, I know this is a tomato forum, but I also had a similar problem with my zucchini the past few years. Huge plants, lots of flowers, none of them maturing. Most of the zukes on the vine withered and yellowed at a small size. Perhaps I have a pollination problem?

It has been very hot here the last two seasons. The heat could cause your lack of production. I don't know if you got the terrible weather there but it has been a factor here.

I don't paint mine so that I can hit them with a propane hot mop at the end of the season to kill off any foliage pathogens. I also break the CRW into half the circumference with hog rings on either side joining them together. This is so that when I take them apart for storage I can stack them all together very easily.

Does anyone have photos of the cages made with the CRW. I'm not positive I even know what that stands for........but I think it is fencing that comes in a roll with big square holes. I've been thinking of using that stuff, but have never seen any made.

Many past discussions here about them with pictures but I don't know if they are still available but there are many YouTube videos on them. Linked one below

And Google pulls up 100's of images of them. CRW pics

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: CRW cages

I wouldn't say that Cosmonaut Volkov is consistently a "very large" tomato, but it is a nice one.

Some people pray for money .

humunga cowbunga from down under

A few of my favorite reds I have not noticed mentioned above are: Burgundy Traveler, Mule Team, and Thessaloniki.

All have been among the most productive, best tasting red tomatoes for me lately here in the heat capital of the USA.

Thanks Dave.

Or if you want to search all trade pages for a specific item try this link: http://members.gardenweb.com/members/exch-search.cgi

Betsy

Go to church: A Ham and Bean Supper. They always fill up a barrel with styrofoam coffee cups. Take them home, rinse and plant. You might even rinse them off in the church kitchen! I can attest to the fact that tomato seedlings do very well in them and you can't beat the price. I learned of this trick from Roger Swain of PBS Victory Garden program some years ago.
Victor

I always save plastic drinking cups, styrafom cups, cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, etc containers throughout the year. I also have a paper pot maker that makes decent newspaper pots for smaller 4-5 week seedlings.

Kevinitis,
That's cool you're in Ogden. I'm in the greater Salt Lake area. :) As for a trade, unfortunately I didn't see any I'd be interested in right now, and although I have one you're looking for, Opalka, I don't really have enough seeds to really even to just give 'em to ya, sorry! But I do see ya posting on this board often enough so should I think to grow a new variety I'll have to keep an eye on your trades list!

Kevinitis,
I actually just checked my seeds. I'm sending you an e-mail about a possible trade/SASE for Opalka. :)

Farmerdill, the best I recall, southern blight infests the soil. If you have it, it is hard to get rid of and if you don't have it, then avoid importing it via infected plant materials. There is at least one line available in ars-grin that is resistant to southern blight.

DarJones

I am growing Boxcar Willie, Arkansas Traveler, Eva's purple Ball and Cuostralee for flavor and production. These do very well in the central Georgia heat.

I had trouble with organic Jiffy mix. I think it is your potting mix holding too much water. What potting mix are you using?

missingtheobvious, yes with florecents, heat is often not a problem. It looked to me like in the pic he had incandecents, which put off more light intensity but also more heat. I have used both and had burn problems with the incandecents. With florecents I had problems with low light intensities which caused sun scald problems when you move them to the outdoors for hardening. If you don't have high enough light intensity then you have to be really careful when hardening them off. Even a short duration of sunlight can scald young plants when they were grown under grow lights with insufficient light intensity. If you have exposed your artificially ligted plants to sunlight light for even a half hour on a bright day, you could have experienced sun scald. I try to introduce my young seedlings to natural sunlight as much as possible, as soon as they sprout. That way they develop protective pigments in their tissues early. Sometimes that's not possible, but I do so whenever I can. I have had much better success with hardening them off that way.

Light duration could also be an issue. Guidlines for indoor lights for tomato growth are often 18 hours and some sources even suggest keep the lights on them 24. Longer duration of light is needed when using artificial light because light intensity is lower. However, I don't recommend 24 hours based on physiological reasons. Plants need darkness for some phases of photosynthesis and respiration, without which they develop excess sugar build up in the leaves which can cause yellowing and leaf damage. How long are your lights on?

I also think you should evaluate the factors that fusion_power and digdirt recommended. You might have more than one thing going on there and they are right on about what it could be. If you cover those bases you will probably have your problems solved.