16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
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.""
=======================================================
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
Ours were planted out a bit late this year and we are just now seeing our first ripening fruit:)))
As others stated, they are a bit slow to get going, but will produce great! We have been growing them for years, it is our favorite!
good luck
I had Sausage tomatoes this year. Out of all 6 varieties the the Sausage was the only ones with BER.
Three varieties in the same row, 5 varieties in the same bed & the two Sausage tomatoes had BER.
I think it is the Sausage variety, not the soil, heat or water.
I am going to try them next year with bone meal, if I do not get 1/2 good fruit, then they are gone for good.
When you speak of rotting could you please share with us where the rot is on the fruits for there are several pathogens that can cause what's called spots and rots on the fruits.
Is it at the blossom end and you see a leathery lesion which sometimes turns black when the area is invaded by normal fungi from the air?
Or is is splits in the fruits along the sides or elsewhere that start oozing white stuff?
Or do you see fruits that look like bags of water that are swollen?
Anything you can share with us about this rotting of the fruits can help/
What also can help is if you tell us if you're growing inground or in containers and if inground how far apart are the plants b'c in your zone 8 if plants are too close there's lack of air circulation which really can cause fungal infections of the fruits and also the foliage.
Carolyn
Optimal tomato ripening temperatures are around 20-25 degrees C (68-77 f. Anything above or below somewhat slows that process, eventually stopping it if the temperatures go too high or too low. I've had my Suncherry Premiums stay orangish while our temps were around 95+ f. When it came down to around 79, they picked up the nice red color they're supposed to have - tomatoes cannot produce lycopene (which gives them red color) nor carotene when temps are above 85 f.
Our black cherries are very slow this year too. They were well behind many longer day varities...not sure why....but it was the entire plant that seemed in slow motion. They have kicked it in gear lately, but we will certainly be having a reduced crop compared to what we have been used to with the them.
Our favorite tomato, we have been growing it for years:)
The most simple solution is to pick the tomato as soon as you see color change. Why keep it on the vine where it is vulnerable to just such an attack. Unless you have birds in on your counter, it would ripen just as well in there. The birds live, and you get to eat your tomato.
CH
Something has been nibbling on my maters too. Its either mice or chipmunks. But they just make smaller bites and move on to another whole one. We've been in a drought and I think they get alot water out of the tomatoes.
Sorry about your problem! Whatever it was, it sure was liking that tomato!
Can you throw some bird netting over things?
Meh is the sound you make when you were expecting to be impressed but you weren't. It's not a bad tomato, it's not a spitter, but it's not on the same level as the sungolds, and I thought it would at least be close.
CH
CH, I keep checking my SSW and a few are really good, the others so so, and there are still a lot to ripen, but it just looks weak!