16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - How to can tomatoes

by the way if they go bad when you open the jar there is a stench.

You can become ill or even die from eating improperly canned foods that have no "stench" at all when opened.

Here is a list of varieties that have had good fruit set in high temps from a grower in Alabama who has this problem every year. Ami

Stump of the World
Kosovo
Bill's Berkley Pink
Neves Azorean Red
Cabernet (hybrid)
JDs Special C Tex
Black Krim
Indian Stripe
Marianna's Peace

I've found that there is a certain time each morning when the nightly dew has dried and sun's heat is still not raging. Around here, it's usually around 10 AM. During heat waves, this is when I go thru the garden shaking blossoms. I can't be totally sure, but I think it helps. My theory is to catch the pollen just as it dries out and just before the temperature gets out of control.

The other benefit is that I get a good look at what's going on with each plant (critters, diseases, etc.) Now, I do realize that I can do this any time I want to because I'm fully retired.

For those that have heat problems frequesntly, I suggest you arrange for some kind of shade, as mentioned above.

Ted

"Seed" is often used to indicate multiple seeds. So what is the context? And why does it matter?

Dave

Well, they called him Johnny Appleseed, but he had a lot more than one seed. ;-)

Bigpinks:

So, the wind does not blow in Ohio? I may move there.

I use cages and try to get by with supporting each cage with a 5/8" re-bar driven 18" into the ground. When we get a forecast for our typical rainstorm with a 70 mph wind, I drive in another re-bar.

Sometimes the cages stay upright, sometimes they don't.

What I am trying to acheive is a cross between cages and stakes, where I tie rings around the plants with cloth. It worked pretty well last season, but my wooden stakes were too short.
Wot I do is the traditional staking and tying. Idealy 8' posts stuffed ~18" inground. Cannot use post pounder to do it... they are too wide. Even with 48 stakes, I use at lot of twine (about 2000 feet [ or more of it ] if I do not get lazy). If I could get 7 or 8' tall metal posts for ~$2 I would use them.. easier to pound in and do not break or fall over (if they have a bottom flange). Your plan with the cloth "cages" may work, but one needs a lot of it and also needs to resist the temptation to overly gather the stems together. With twine it is easier to select individual large stems to support. Yet in fact, what I end up with is essentially a tall twine "cage". Advantage over the caging method is that it is more flexible and fewer stems become crimped where they cascade over the concentric cage circles (or squares). Disadvantage over a good cage is that it requires more of the dreaded 4 letter word... "work".
Reggie

Nice photos Raybo! I have the hardest time with peas and beans in SW FL. Yours look great. Good points bmoser...by all means I did not mean to over look the other soil contents. I just happened to have a bag of Epsom around, I was trying to make my own herbal bath soak...which failed...so I thought I'd put the salts to some use rather than just dump em.

ooh, I just planted three tomato plants in their final pots and will be doing another tomorrow... I think I will try the epsom salt test.. two with epsom salt, two without.

I think my containers are 45 gallon... how much epsom salt should I add to each?

There are many so called blue tomatoes now available, and while the taste is not all that great as reported back by many at the sites where I read, many amateur breeders, and some not so amateur are working with the original OSU ( Oregon State) P20 selection to try and get some taste in them.

One of the listings at Tradewinds looks like it could be the original P20 but isn't called that.

There are also some GMO ones around, more specifically the one from England which has had a snapdragon gene inserted to bring in the color.

Below I've linked to Tania's superb database website and on the home page if you scroll down, under special links you'll see you can search for varieties by color and then click on the individual ones to see what seed sources might be available, many with pictures and some with comments from others.

I am not a fan of anyone buying tomato seeds off e-bay, but there are a few vendors who are OK.

If tradewinds just put up their blue jay one for 2013, or even 2012, I didn't check when I was at the site, I doubt you'll get much feedback on the specific one you wanted, and there are lots of others to consider via Tania's website data base.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Tania's webpage

Yep..... went to the webpage...... that will take some time to get through ! I was wondering about the OSU..... not Ohio huh....Thanks for all the info Carolyn.

Today (Dec 10th), I mailed seeds to:

* coolbythecoast
* jonboy999
* slo_garden

PLEASE let me know when you receive your envelopes so I can update my records. Thanks.....Heather

This post was edited by hmacdona on Mon, Dec 10, 12 at 13:47

Today (Dec 11th) I mailed seeds to:

* crystalline_ca
* kristel
* redthreaddiy

PLEASE let me know when your seeds arrive so I can update my records. Thanks....Heather

Note - We have reached the upper limit of this thread. I've started a new thread to continue to post updates. Here's the new link.

Here is a link that might be useful: 5th Annual Tomato & Pepper Seed Exchange Part Two

This post was edited by hmacdona on Tue, Dec 11, 12 at 21:21

Oh, and apparently, a diluted mixture of hydrogen peroxide can help - the regular strength like you'd find in a pharmacy. I read that on another forum.
Sharon

Thanks I will try these suggestions.

Resistant varieties is a very good idea!

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It's nice that you asked for input, but where are the responses and interaction? The major issues voiced above relate to pop-ups and expanding ads, which have driven me from this site. Will these be addressed?

TomNJ

Another formula from a master gardener:
1 gallon water, 2 tbsp ivory dish soap and 1 tbsp regular cooking oil. I use this formula myself. But with all things organic, you have to repeat this and really stay on top of it/bugs, best spray twice a week.

I sprayed the soapy mixture before the weekend, and I've just looked underneath the leaves again today, and there they are. So that means another spray again today...

.... and I just know I will never stay on top of it.

So, I've begun pulling my plants. Some of them were looking past the point of no return! Very off colour, very shrivelled, and the sides of the leaves going brown now. :(

Very sad and disheartening, to say the least!

I'm a beginner gardener. Only planted 4 tomato plants before - they were such a success I thought I would be eating organic tomatoes for the rest of my life! LOL

On the crest of the wave, I planted some 8 heritage varieties, and they were just flowering and bearing fruit... JUST...

and now, I'm left with nothing!!!

My chillis and peppers are all looking really sick too!!! I feel a bit sick to see my hard work, love and dedication to all these plants (around 30) all in containers go down the drain. Perhaps my fingers are not as green as I thought!

So, what to do now?

Do I throw away all my soil and wash my containers?

Do I wait before starting again?

How do I make sure the thrips don't come straight back onto anything new that I plant?

Any advice, please.

Is there any truth to the idea that saving seeds from heirlooms grown in a particular climate will produce plants better adapted to that climate in the next generation?

It's debated - a great deal. Some swear by it but others swear there is nothing to it. IMO it might help and it sure never hurts to do it.

Dave

This is the response from Tom Wagner (Tomato Breeder extraordinaire) concerning a tomato gardener in Fairbanks Alaska who had been growing the same beefsteak variety for 25 years.

[Anytime someone keeps a variety isolated from others for an extended time, the tomato variety should be considered unique in many ways.

As a plant breeder, I have deep respect for varieties grown in a particular region for a long time. Acquired characteristics, adaptation, bottle necking of the germplasm, small mutations, elimination of the original bulk population diversity, the template of Fairbanks, Alaska growing conditions is a valid point of identity.]