16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Green Tomato Salsa
Yield: 5 pints
5 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
1/2 cup seeded finely chopped jalapeños
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp ground cumin*
3 Tbsp oregano leaves *
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes
Thanks CH, that makes a lot of sense. My husband starting coming up with crazy contraptions for steaming the entire garden (52'X26'). After sleeping on it a few nights, I think what we are going to do this year is move the entire garden. I know this seems extreme and will not work in the future if this happens again so your torch idea may come in handy so I will keep it in mind if this happens again.
Part of what I think my problem may be is when I placed the garden in this location 6 years ago, the trees on the edge of the woods were not as tall as they are now. I am getting far less light these last two years in the back 2/3's of my garden (where the tomatoes were rotated this year). Not only are they getting the bare minimum of sun needed, but I think they are not drying out in a soaking rain as they should. I had been toying with they idea of moving the garden last year as we were planing on building a more permanent and sturdier fence system (and one that looks better) as our current system has been added on to after each new creature has found their way in and decimated on or another vegetable.
Also, when we originally tilled for the garden I suggested we cut up the top layer of grass (or should I say field of weeds). My husband insisted that you simply just tilled it all under that was what the tiller was for, so we just tilled. So I have a HUGE weed problem in my garden. 6 years later, I still have huge clumps of grass growing their way back up that you have to dig up with a hand trowel. For the sake of our marriage it may be better if we start a nice fresh garden where every time I have to pull weeds for hours at a time I don't secretly blame him and his bad advice.
I guess you learn as you go though. Besides, I now know I am not too pleased with the shape and size of my garden either and can correct these. Maybe I will have a little extra room for that corn I always want to grow, but never have room for. Lucky for us we have plenty of room on the other side of the house in full sun. I have been planing on putting a small greenhouse over there. It makes sense to have the garden near the greenhouse anyway.
Thanks again.
Kalindi
I also have early blight and have had it for the last three years and can seem to kick it. After reading these posts, I know I have not been turning over the soil nor mulching. I will do that now. I planted 20 plants, all affected and have been cutting down plants one by one and collecting all affect foiliage, placing in a black plastic bag, leaving that in the sun for a few days before disposing. I am hoping for an improved crop next year.
My question is, can I replant the tomatoes in the same beds next year or should I move them to a new bed. I have 8 x 4 raised beds. Thanks
Here you go, all sorts of info on splitting and cracking.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Splitting and cracking discussions
I have a lot of watering/rain/weather/growing in containers, issues that I really don't have much control over. I HAVE to use containers, and I HAVE to water them often. The weather I can't control, so the best I can do is keep an eye on my cracking/splitting situations and remove them from the vine asap and let them ripen as much as possible inside. I eat the split ones asap to keep the split from becoming moldy.
That name doesn't sound right for what Earl would have named a variety, I could be wrong, but why don't you e-mail him and ask him yourself and below I've linked to one part of his website with his contact e-mail.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Earl's contact info
Mice or chipmunks? I know that's what been nibbling mine. And they don't come back to the same tomato......they just keep picking a new one to ruin! Fortunately, I planted alot, so there's enough for all of us. Sorry you're having trouble.
With that much of each tomato gone, makes me think its a chipmunk. Do you have any big holes around the garden? They dig quite a few of them.
There are quite a few long red paste tomatoes and ones that come to mind ASAP are Howard German, Opalka, Sarnowski Polish Plum, and all of them are more susceptible to BER as well as Early Blight ( A. solani) As are other paste tomatoes with different shapes/
Different varieties have slightly different physiologies in terms of water and nutrient transport and that plays into one of the many variables that can induce BER and clearly the paste tomatoes have a physiology that makes them more susceptible.
I'd say you were very lucky in seeing so few varieties that had fruits that had BER b'c if you look at the threads and questions here, from folks from all over the country it's a very common problem. It's one of the reasons that an article was written for the FAQ's, link at the top of the page, to explain some of the variables associated with BER.
A variety may have BER one season and not the next season as many have found.
Carolyn, who has you beat since she's been up close and personal with tomatoes from the time she was raised on a farm, and she started working in the fields when she was about 10 and is 73 now and to date, after moving back East in 1982 has grown about 3,000 varieties, obsessed person that she is. LOL
I was raised on a farm & started working in the fields & flower nursery at age 8, but no, I am not 73.
I am hopeful that I will be working with plants at 73.
My mentor had to stop working with plants when he was 90, because his feet hurt from standing. He past just before his 95 birthday.
For tomato varieties, try Tiny Tim and Bitonto. They are very small.
It's hard to produce much fruit with flourescents. A small hps light would work better, but they make more heat, and you have to ventilate more. Tomatoes are day-length neutral, so I don't think it matters much how long you make your days. You could turn the lights off for a few hours in the hot part of the day if you have heat problems.
Here is a picture of the leaves. I thought this was blight and noticed it on my melons and tomatoes a few weeks ago. I sprayed with Serenade and removed as much of the affected foliage as possible. The first picture I posted was the first fruit that seemed to be affected. Someone in another forum suggested mosaic? Does this fit?
Fluoride is absorbed by plants. How much depends greatly on the type of soil. But whether it crosses the membrane into the fruit itself no one seems willing to swear to or fully deny. Linked a good article on the issue below.
If it is a big concern to you there are several ways to reduce the amounts of fluoride in your water prior to putting it on the garden.
The real issue is the watering every other day. Most would consider that inappropriate. Frequent shallow watering like that can cause all sorts of problems, primarily shallow rooting of the plants. Shallow rooted plants will likely absorb even more of the fluoride. Your plants would be much better serves by less frequent but longer, deeper watering.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Fluorides in gardening
Ok here goes. For a full explanation of 5-1-1 please read this post in the container forum. This contains answers to just about every question you could have about potting soil mixes. I've been using 5-1-1 for a couple of years, and it's amazing. I'll never go back. Tapla is THE man for container growing.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0214580016564.html?112
Yes, bark is acidic, but so is peat. Both require lime to stabilize pH closer to neutral. Main advantages of bark are aeration, and longevity. I find I get less pests in bark based soil as well, since you don't end up with a wet surface or crust like you do with peat based soil. But for new growers is the advantage that it's almost impossible to overwater. You can leave containers with 5-1-1 out in a three day rain and they still won't saturate. Plus without perched water (discussed in the above article), it gives the plant the effect of a larger pot since they can grow and use roots through the entire container.
""I'm just north of Atlanta and there's bark in the mix I got. Would it be better to try to get the none MC or the get MC and do your Orchid Mix trick? If the latter, how to know how much to use? Also, what is perched water, and how can it stay in a pot that has a bunch of holes in the bottom and is an inch above the ground? Would it be practical to put a plexiglass strip for a sight window in the side of some pots near the bottom to see if water is building up? The pots I'm using are about 18" across and about that deep as well, and I've got aluminum foil wrapped around them to help keep them cool.""
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Water will hold in soil once it reaches whatever equilibrium it takes for the particular medium, in general the looser the medium the less capillary action you will have and the soil will drain more fully.
As Capoman states the better draining the soil the better off you are.
I don't think it makes much of a difference between the regular mix vs the MC personally, especially since in our area there appears to be a higher percentage of bark in it.
I buy the MGMC solely because I can buy it at Costco for cheap, if they sold regular MG or for that matter any good growing medium I would buy that also.
All you need to do is amend the mix with bark, vermiculite, perlite, the Orchid Mix looks like a perfect choice for my area at least, I will just buy a few bags of it next year to amend the MGMC I already have.
Will probably dump all the MGMC out of the pots early next year onto a big tarp, weed out all old roots and anything like any pupa,grubs, bugs or whatever may be there and let the sun sorta sterilize it then mix it well with the Orchid Mix and probably a bit of Tomato Tone and a dash of Osmocote
then take a small pot of it and wet it then test the Ph.
Add a little lime if needed.
I have a whole unopened bag of MGMC left on my deck that I will use for seedlings, even then will probably pour a pot of boiling water through it to make sure its sterile for the seedlings.
Will most likely buy about 6, 20 Gallon Smart Pots for Tomatoes next year and take the ones I have now and wash them thoroughly with a bleach solution and plant something else in them.
I have saved seeds from many hundreds of plants that had Early Blight ( A.solani) and as long as you ferment the seeds it lessens the presence of the spores on the seed exterior. This was shown by Dr, Helene Dillard. And since infection is a quantitative process the lessened amount of pathogens on the seed coat the less likely that fungal diseases will be seedborne.
Those bacterial and viral pathogens studied to date exist in the seed endosperm and for the bacterial ones only hot water treatment can be effective and even then there can be a loss of seed viability. Hot water tratment is not advised for the home grower. So no method associated with seed coat removal can do anything for the bacterial and viral diseases.
And I mention fermentation specifically b'c no data exists to attest to the efficacy of oxidative methods in lessening the pathogen burden on TOMATO seed coats and a search here will bring up threads about that.
Commercial seed is processed either by fermentation or acid, but again, acid treatment is not for the home grower.
TSP ( tri-sodium Phosphate) can be used to inactivate TMV but since TMV is no longer a major problem for the home growers and TSP is also very caustic, I don't suggest it, again, for the home grower.
Hope that helps.
Carolyn
"Pinching out suckers" IS pruning. It is also a source of stress for the plant and costs you production as well as exposing the fruit to sun scald. Not to mention that San Marzano is a semi-determinate so should not be pinched or pruned at all.
As for liquid fertilizers, there are 100's of brands available. Seaweed is just one component in several them and a good additive but you want something that is well-balanced and also contains the many micro-nutrients. To do that you first need to understand exactly what and how much of each nutrient the brand you choose contains.
There are many discussions here about fertilizers, both organic and synthetic full of recommendations for or against the various brands. Just type 'fertilizer' in the forum search bar at the bottom of the page.
Synthetics range from Miracle Grow (of course) to plain old 10-10-10 dissolved in water. Again unlimited brands available. Your choice.
Dave
Thanks Dave and naturemitch. Didn't know that about San Marzano's. Obviously I missed that one. So sun scald must be the problem. I like your hybrid system. And it's definitely another thing to consider for next year. Dave I will look into fertilizers. I have used Miracle gro in the past, and it's true, there are pros and cons for all of them. In any event, I'm removing them at first blush and we'll see. I'm assuming gold medal will be my best one this year! Thanks. To be continued....