16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
They need direct sunlight. The "hardening off" business is talked about on the forums because most people grow tomatoes in the spring, not the fall. Only those of us in late-frost areas have that luxury, and we can be often confused by "normal" recommendations. "Hardening off" for a fall garden in Florida means providing some shade in the most brutal part of the mid-late-summer day. You should have had those sprouts growing in lots of sun about six weeks ago for a fall garden. Get them into the sun pronto. The more the better at this point as sun intensity and day length are rapidly declining. Be prepared to provide some frost-cover if you want a harvest.
Good job...looks good. Mine are just about gone but I gave away at least three or four bushels this yr of of big red, pink, black, yellow and orange tomatoes and bi-colors. I had about 18 varieties and 75 plants.About all I have now are a few on some suckers started 7-1 and Cherokee Purple in a different spot along with two cherry plants. I took tomatoes to the ladies of two diff libraries, my Dads church, some girls at the Dentist I use etc. Loved every minute of it.
While there is no reason to leave dead branches on a plant there is also no reason to remove branches that are not dead. That holds true regardless of where they are located on the plant. The one common exception is removing any lower branches that are in contact with the ground.
Do branches below a ripened cluster automatically die? No.
Dave
I guess I just found some of the few, good reviews, here, within the last two years as that is what I was remembering I think, and wny I ordered from the site to begin with.
I am sorry to hear of any small farmer / seed producer that is not getting good reviews. Its a tough way to make a living. But, not sorry enough to order from them again in the near future....
I think shading in the afternoon helps a lot as long as they get at least 6 to 8 hours.
I have been here since 1979.I have huge, 80'tall or more, oak trees on the west side and they shade mine in the afternoon. They get full morning sun and the plants closest to the west side do better.
Over the years, as the trees have grown, the toms have steadily improved. I have very little sun scalding any more. Back in the 80's I had a lot of sun scald.
Another thing that I changed a few years ago, I started planting the rows east to west instead of north to south so that they would shade each other and saw an instant improvement on everything in my garden. It is very hot and humid here, especially in the afternoon.
You can look for waste to help find the worm & pick it off.
The moth comes out in Spring in S.C., then lays eggs on tomato plants. The worm eats his fill in a few days & falls to the soil below , then digs in. We are blessed with a long growing here & the worm become a moth & lays eggs again in July. So I get two crops of THW, but I only got 6 worms this year. Mostly because I hand picked them, tilled in the fall to kill most of the worms in Pupae form & rotate my crops.
The wasps (2 kinds) help a lot.
Trap plants help also.
Here is a link that might be useful: Kill Tomato Horn Worm
Carolyn, It was probably a cricket that "was clicking so loud and on such a regular basis that it really got to me." I don't think that grasshoppers click. At least mine don't! LOL
As marymcp said, if you get a swarm, " Grasshoppers can eat right through your lovely garden and leave it looking like the picture from garf."
A good feral cat does wonders in the garden, mine collects bugs every day! He is a hunter. And yes, before anyone asks, he has been neutered! And he has his own little cozy house, he comes in during bad weather.
Determinates and semi-determinates are never pruned because it terminates production. So the 1 vine/2 vine/3 vines argument doesn't apply to them. That is only applicable to indeterminate varieties which grow very differently.
Pruning your plants to 1-2-3 vines will cut your production by thirds or more.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: FAQs - Determinate vs. Indeterminates
Mary, Sophie's Choice, which I introduced, isn't a large fruited variety, and nor is Riesentraube, which is cherry sized with a nipple at the blossom end. ( smile)
Kathy, if you do a search here at GW you'll find lots of threads asking the same question, but I'll just list a few large fruited ones that I think are dependable and great tasting.
REDS ( beefsteak)
Neves Azorean Red
Chapman
Red Penna
Milka's Red Bulgarian
Aker's West Virginia
OTV Brandywine
Cuostralee
REDS ( hearts)
Wes
German Red Strawberry
Linnie's Oxheart
Indiana Red
Fish Lake Oxheart
Reif Red heart
PINKS ( beefsteak)
Omar's Lebanese
Large Pink Bulgarian
Tidwell German
Soldacki
Terhune
Hays'
PINKS ( hearts)
Kosovo
Nicky Crain
Anna Maria's Heart
Ludmilla's Pink Heart
... and many more
it might be best to start out with the large reds and pinks for a few years and then go on to the large green when ripes, the so called blacks and gold/red bicolors and oranges.
I listed both beefsteak and heart varieties for each color b'c I find that some of the best tastes are to be found with the hearts, but maybe consider starting with the red and pink beefsteak ones first.
If you don't know the above varieties I think it would be best to go to Tania's Tomato Data base, I'll link to it below, and when on the Home page scroll down to where it says to use the alphabetical method of finding the page for a variety b'c you can do that knowing the variety names I posted above.
Each variety has traits, pictures, comments from others, histories when available and if you scroll down on any variety page you'll find the seed sites that list that variety. Tania herself sells seeds for over 600 varieties and many of the seed sites she specifies list hundreds of varieties.
Hope that helps.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Tania's Tomato data base
Favorite beefsteak discussions
Favorite medium size discussions
Best beefsteak, black and oxheart tomatoes
Lots of suggestions for you.
Dave
SFW ?
SFW - Simply 'Effing' Wonderful. My MIL didn't like cursing, so DH started using the acronym.
Splitting - so, most likely because my watering is inconsistent? OK, that can be worked on!