16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
If you have a freeze/frost coming you can pick and ripen fruit off the vine by wrapping it in paper and storing in a basement, garage or other non heated place.
Not for seed saving. The seeds won't be mature.
Good info from Tradition on how to protect it - blankets/sheets work much better than plastic. Since it has a cage and is up against a wall (which will provide some additional heat) use that and the overhang as a framework for enclosing it - a mini-greenhouse type structure around it on 3 sides using the wall as the back.
Dave
I would hesitate to use Roundup where I wanted to grow edibles. 12 x 6 isn't that big. You can hand weed, or use a hula hoe, then mulch after you get your tomatoes planted. The weed seeds were probably in the topsoil you used, or drifted in with the wind.
Here is a link that might be useful: What's Growing On?
The vinegar-and-soap trick works, but you will need several applications before killing the weeds (which is advantageous, since if you accidentally spray something you want to keep, just be sure not to spray it the next time).
I do about 4 cups of plain white vinegar to 1 teaspoon of dish soap, sprayed on the leaves early on a warm day; spray the weeds every other day for a week or so.
It's inexpensive and non-toxic, and you don't have to worry about residual toxins. As an added bonus, some desirable plants (blueberries and raspberries) prefer acidic soils, and some undesirable plants (poison ivy!) don't like acidity.
WoW fusion..sounds fantastic..
I have a few small hot pepper plants, really small and lots of red hot peppers from them..
When I was younger I threw coins for my fortune using the 'I Ching' many times it said. "perseverance brings good fortune" True as we learn in time...cheers Martha/Zucchini
Difficult but yes, still possible, especially so in containers. It is just another of the problems associated with using containers.
The issue can be eliminated even more by using much larger containers - the bigger the container the less frequent watering is required - so a 25-35 gallon container can be just like growing the plant in the ground when it comes to watering.
And even better, using a drip irrigation system on a timer. A slow but steady drip system can keep the soil moisture level consistent and eliminate the soaked till it drains-dry-soaked till it drains-dry cycle inherent in containers.
Dave
I have grown Amish Paste 2 years in a row. Last year it didn't do so well, but I think that was my fault. Too close to the cukes & they took over the area. This year it did great! The fruit was very large, meaty, and great taste. They also did well in the really hot weather. Really did not have much seeds, or pulp. They weren't sloppy, juicy like some varieties, but neither were they dry or tasteless like a Roma. They looked like Roma's on major doses of steroids, lol. Most of them were as large, or larger than my whole hand. They were great on sandwiches & held up well in freezing & canning. No doubt I will grow more next year.
Just a guess about the seedlings. Sometimes when the cotyledons don't release from the seed coat cleanly quickly, the part caught inside the seed coat for a while will look like that. I wouldn't really worry too much about them as long as the brown does not spread further.
Linked a number of previous discussions about this below. As you will see there are several different approchaes folks use.
As I have posted in some of those discussions I dump all my containers out onto a large tarp and spread it out to dry well in the sun - that alone takes care of some of the resident bacteria. Then remove all the root clumps and other debris, mix in approx. 1/3 new quality container mix with it and also add a good dose of Osmocote or other slow release fertilizer and refill the containers.
dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Reusing container soil discussions
My growing season is too short for doing it backwards, as you say, but I know that some in the warmer zones do sow seed for early varieties for a Fall crop. For some it's worked out OK, and for some it hasn't and they've stopped doing it.I remember that happening with some TX folks I know,both from the Bastrop area in S TX. And one from the Houston area as I recall. For them it could have been the specific season, that I don't remember, but they didn't get much at all from what they eventually planted out.
I know in southern Cal that nurseries do offer plants of early season ones for fall planting, not necessarily det varieties, and at one time I had a couple of good friends in S FL who would send me boxes of fruits as a Xmas present from Fall planted ones.
And of course some start from seeds and don't buy plants as you are.
So please let us know how it turns out for you.
Carolyn
We might be missing the obvious here - are you sure that your seeds / plants are F1 Sungolds?
Also there are many varieties that look like, but taste nothing like Sungolds.
I've always found SG to be the most reliable tomato variety i've ever grown. IME they always tasted good no matter what.
"Flamed" you? Hardly.
You posted a question about your container mix (pea stone then a mix of compost, peat moss, garden soil, and bone meal) and to that you wanted to ag. gypsum to cure your BER.
What I said was that your container mix was already so far off the common norms for ideal container growing - especially in such a small container - that based on the information you have provided and this late in the season (it was Aug. 5th) it is going to be really difficult to get any usable tomatoes out of your set-up no matter what you do now. Better luck next year.
I then went on to link you to the BER FAQ abd suggest some research into what are considered acceptable container mixes and why such things as you listed were not recommended.
You never replied or provided any additional information.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: your original post.
Thanks, Carolyn. We never get a break in the weather here until September is over and I can recall years where it was that hot well into October and some even into November. One year it was hot and humid through mid-November and then by early December we were dropping into the high 30's. It was crazy!
I may have to grow cherries in the fall here and save my heirlooms for spring, but last year it started getting hot and humid here end of March so I would need to start seed in mid-October I think.
Late Blight spores cannot overwinter where the temps go below freezing for an extended period of time and I assume zone 5 CT qualifies as does my zone 5 in upstate NY.
LB only can exist on living tomato tissue so the freezing weather of winter will kill all spores.
It's a bit different with LB and potatoes b'c it can overwinter in what are called potato cull piles and in the past LB has been spread from western NYS eastward via wind and rain. W NYS has many commercial potato farms where cull piles are common, but I don't know of any home gardeners that do that.
Carolyn
So I guess the question is, since they say it's not carried in seed, seed isn't considered "living tissue" so volunteers are OK? Or are they referring to saved (dry) seed, and any seed that survived the winter and sprouted the following year *could* be carrying it, just like culled potatoes?
Basically my dad has a 2" thick, 10x10ft "tomato cull pile" LOL! I'm not worried about the top 2" so much as any seed that might have gotten driven deeper in from my walking on it, and gets sheltered over the winter to sprout the next year. Or anything that gets sheltered in what basically might end up as a cold compost pile if he dumps it in a hole and just piles brush and leaves on top.
Thanks