16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Interesting....on my 15" monitor the MG ad cuts into the upper left corner of the tomato basket photo which is why I thought they had something to do with the photo, but on my wife's wider monitor the MG logo is completely separate, and at least a couple of inches to the left of the photo.
"I know Linda Sapp at TGS very well and I've never known TGS to send out seeds like that so I think there must be a goof up somewhere with maybe your labels?"
Carolyn, it does happen occasionally. I've gotten a stray seed in the past from TGS. I only grow a small number of plants for DH and myself, so I know what I planted. I saved seed from my "stray" and still grow it because I like it, although I'll never know what it is, just that it is a pink slicer that came out of a packet of Persimmon seed. Just sayin' :)
I'm not saying that a stray seed couldn't appear in a pack of a known variety, sure it's happened in the packing, but in this case we've got a huge yellow and a smaller red, with apparently no plants showing the correct variety and it's just hard for me to understand how the stray seeds, one of each color could get into a pack.
Each year I do a seed offer and this past Jan I packed up 500 packs of seed to send to US folks as well as folks in other countries and when I pack seeds there are NO other varieties on the table top and I have to assume that those who still pack seeds manually use the same caution.
Fact is that now days very little seed packing is done manually by commercial seeds sites, at leastI think that's true. I know SSE has an automatic machine that does it, but I don't know about other seed sites.
One of the best stray seeds was found in a pack of the variety Pineapple by Majorie Morris of IN, and she ended up calling Orange Strawberry. She's also the person who sent me seeds for German Red Strawberry, a family heirloom, and some think the two are related in some way, but not true at all.
Carolyn
Uhhh, yeah some reading here will serve you well. Lots of great detailed 'how to grow tomatoes in containers' discussions here.
For starters, your container is far too small for most any tomato plant but especially for the variety you are growing. Then read about Blossom Drop as in your location it is probably too hot and/or too humid for blooms to set fruit right now so you get lots of blossom drop, potting soil doesn't work well in containers, you need a soil-less potting mix, and all plants in containers need regular weekly feeding of a balanced fertilizer.
Dave
Sorry, all I can do is empathise. I've had the same problem in the past with a few different varieties at different times. It doesn't seem like a normal die off, but other than that I have no idea. I always thought something was wrong, but didn't know what. The branches would die and get crispy fairly rapidly, and just fall off.
Yes, I've grown it. It was reintroduced to the US by an SSE member in the early 90's as sourced from Germany but is not a German heirloom.
It was widely grown in Europe and in Hungary, I think it was, was named in Hungarian Goat's T*T for the small nipple at the blossom end of each fruit.
It's what's called a multiflora type and one blossom stalk can hold several hundred blossoms but usually only 30-40 set fruit. For me the taste almost approaches that of a good beefsteak variety.
It was grown in the US back in the mid 1800's as brought to this country by immigrants, and documented as being in Philly at the time and has a good reputation for one to make wine from. A friend of mine did so and that wine was delicious, more like a pale sherry.
I haven't the faintest idea of how tall the plants grow b'c when I was growing hundreds of plants and varieties each year I sprawled all of them, but yes, a vigorous plant, no doubt about it.
And note the spelling of it for anyone who wants to Google it or whatever b'c it's Riesentraube ( with i before e), and not Reisetomate( e before i), the latter being a completely different variety and an oddball at that, and also known as traveler and voyage.
Hope that helps.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Riesentraube
Could you post a picture of some of the tomatoes please? It would help a great deal. From your description it could be several different things and we could only guess at the cause.
Are there any signs of pests? Stinkbugs? Fruitworms? How do the plants themselves look? Any signs of disease?
Dave
AND I just saw the fattest chipmunk I have ever seen. Scampering (or waddling) between the raised beds.
The raised beds all have hardware cloth bottoms, but this is our kitchen garden, it is about 12 ft across the front, the other three sides are brick foundation. Which usually makes for great growing conditions. I have taken the electric fence down and the cats are having a field day. (but banished to the basement so they don't yak up vole parts on my bed again) They are old but not that feeble. They just wait and wait, you think they are asleep and then a paw goes down a hole and comes up with something.
I think two plants are a total loss, but the rest seem to be surviving. I will try putting the hardware cloth down about a foot. I will be adding amendments and re tilling over the winter.
They are forecasting heavy rains today and tomorrow, the squash have just had it.
Well my Tomatoes (2 Better Bush) are both basically dead at this point, I got around 150-175 tomatoes between the two plants. Planted them in early April and they are done and dead in mid August, produced about 75-85 tomatoes per plant.
They are Determinate plants though.
Now I planted 3 Dwarfs which are indeterminate that were basically planted first week of June.
The HEAT and HUMIDITY have taken their toll on them.
The plants are fighting off Blight and are dropping on average 2-3 blossoms per day.
I only have just 3 tomatoes set on one plant.
But up until the past couple of days the temps have been in the mid 90s to low 100s and even at night it has been close to 80.
Next year I am going to plant them as early as possible, probably in March in the Vegtrug under the greenhouse cover then transplant them in their growing pots when they get too large (22+") for the Vegtrug.
Herbicide can travel up to 2miles when it volatilizes.
It can also travel on a mild breeze, such as across the driveway or a yard.
And it can travel via the spray turbulence itself. The higher the pressure in the sprayer, the smaller the droplets, the farther they travel.
Must always differentiate between virus and herbicide damage. Frankly, in my region, herbicide damage -- typically inadvertent -- is much more common than virus in home gardens.
5 gallons is pretty small, thats the minimum size I'd use for ONE cherry tomato plant personally. For bigger, like the Cherokee, I'd aim for a minimum of 10-15gal, maybe even more, and only use one plant per container. I use 10 gallon containers, but the roots grow out the bottom into the ground anyhow as I have them in the yard, if they were on cement I'd go bigger. Gotta give those roots room to spread out.
Sounds a lot like the squirrel damage I've been having. We got an electric fence and they still occasionally find their way in.
I agree with about everyone else....rocky the nite prowler. You wantta catch him, make sure your trap works like it should, then put plenty of peanut butter in there...krunchy or creamy is up to you! I prefer creamy, Don't leave your dog out. Good luck