16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
If you have tomato plants in your garden now, you can take tip cuttings and root them yourself. I started mine last week and they are already putting on new growth. Any commercially grown plants I have ever bought here in my area were so root bound that they never did very well.
i have confirmed (by a lab at VA Tech through my extension agent)late blight on my outside tomatoes and potatoes. I sprayed them with a copper product called Nordox. however late blight does not spread when temperatures are above 86 and the foliage is dry. with the hot weather we've had its hard to tell if its the copper or the heat saving my plants.
the extension agent also suggested spraying with an epsom salt solution alternatively with copper which i have done.
since the weather has become cooler and wetter i am waiting for the blight to take off again. this is on about 350 plants.
@randy41
I don't want to step into an apparently professional relationship between you and your extension agent, particularly since you appear to be growing on a commercial scale while all I have at stake this year is a few garden plants. However, there are a couple of things to ponder.
I looked up the label for the Nordox products and find that they contain up to 75% copper oxide granules. They rely on a slow release of copper ions to kill the organism. That would certainly be effective but I rather doubt that NadineNJ, Battalina or, for that matter myself, would be able to obtain very much of this stuff. They are also going to rely on the product remaining in place for a long period of time and the Nordox company claims that it does, "Famous worldwide for high retention". Nonetheless, I would expect that you are going to have to re-apply, perhaps frequently and that the product is pretty expensive. I would also tend to wonder what effect there would be on new growth, i.e. foliage developing after your Nordox application.
Another point made elsewhere is the possibility of soil contamination with the copper. It is claimed that the copper will bind with some components of the soil and render you with a toxic field. I did find, some time ago, albeit on a casual basis, an assessment of such a condition in Italian vineyards where they had used Bordeaux mixture for generations. Apparently there was less copper than anyone had expected but still a significant amount. Still, 75% is a whole bunch of copper and, in your shoes, I believe I would wonder about that. Soap-Shield is specified as 1.8% metallic copper equivalent.
Epsom salts? Seems to me as if somebody is flailing a bit here. Look around and you will find people recommending all sorts of things including manure tea and even sour milk. I don't wish to demean anyone, especially as there are lots of highly dedicated people trying very hard to help others and often providing yeoman service under highly demanding conditions. All the same, I think that if I were considering an application of Epsom Salts or anything else, I might like to know a little more about the expected MOA (mode of action) for the product.
I am a bit leery of the statement that "late blight does not spread when temperatures are above 86 and the foliage is dry". I have learned over the years to take such "accurate" claims with a grain of salt. Where does anyone get such a specific temperature point to rely on. Is that field experience or did someone do a lab run in petri dishes with a carefully controlled and constant temperature?
Which temperature is that? The high of the day? The low? The mean or average? I have seen the point made very recently (maybe on one of the Cornell pages, but I can't remember) that the Late Blight organism produces and releases most of its spores at night. My overnight temperatures and, I suspect, yours are a lot lower than 86. Also, when I inspect my plants, usually each morning, I always find the leaves quite wet from condensation.
I too am "waiting for the blight to take off again" and know full well that there will be periods of increased spore development and weather conditions conducive to infection. On the other hand, it is now more than six weeks since my initial application of the copper soap mixture and in that time there have been periods of cooler weather and repeated rainfall, though no long periods of drizzle and humidity. I agree that we all watch and wait with little assurance of the future and that there will be successes and failures to follow. I have put forward my suggestion, possibly too early, in the full knowledge that it requires lots of additional confirmation or falsification. Nonetheless, I wrote it here because I've seen questions posted by people who are rather desperate and I have something that is working for me, at least for now.
Good luck.
Then the next most likely explanation is they aren't getting enough sun. Can you post a picture of the plants?
What and how much have you been feeding them? Lots of nitrogen?
Did you grow them from seed or buy transplants? It is always possible you got a mis-labeled plant.
Dave
My best guess is Black Plum so you might want to check with the place you got it from to confirm that they were offering it.
Below is a link to Google IMAGES and hold you pointer over a picture to confirm what you're looking at is indeed Black Plum.
If you mean the data base here in the FAQ's, that's so out of date it's mostly useless.
the data base that you should be going to is Tania's T-base, and here's a link to her page about Black Plum"
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Black_Plum
There are over 3,000 variety pages, most with pictures and comments from others and then if you scroll down you can see where seeds are sold.
When through at the above page click on MAIN at the upper left which takes you back to HOME and see all the ways that you can search for varieties. When you know the name it's best to use the alphabetical method.
When trading seeds it really is important to know what specific variety you're offering so I hope that you can get confirmation on that.
As for me, for several reasons I don't trade seeds at all with very very few exceptions.
So my best guess is Black Plum. And the orange one is called Jaune Flammee, received in a huge trade with a Frenchman, Norbert P. in 1992 along with some other great varieties. TGS listed at first as Flammee b'c I forgot to write the Jaune part on the seed pack when I sent it to Linda at TGS. ( smile)
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Google IMAGES; Black Plum
Thanks! I'm pretty sure it's a Black Plum as I am kind of remembering it. I'll see what the co-op where I got the seedling says.
I did mean Tatiania's. There are just so many black tomatoes and the search stuff could be a lot better. It's be great to do a filtered search.
Yes, the Jaune Flammee is a great variety. Great taste and a huge yield for me so far and it's early in the season. It's my first non-cherry/plum tomato aside from the Glacier.
I've been keeping extensive notes on the 30 varieties I have going this year and looking forward to some trading this fall which is why I want to solve the mystery ID. So far it has the most fruit on it and is looking great.
Thank you for the advice! I have been under the impression that ordinary spays and such wouldn't do much good with these little guys. (Very funny story about them drinking the fox urine!) I also hadn't considered giving them water, but I'm thinking that might just encourage even more of them to come around.
I don't mind dead mice, but I would rather just discourage the chipmunks. I think it might be mice, because last year I also noticed mouse activity in my basement on the same side of the house as the tomatoes. When I set up a trap, and killed 3 mice in the basement, the lost tomato issue almost immediately got better.
I would rather not have to wait until they come in the house to kill them, but I don't want to go killing off a bunch of chipmunks either.
I'd move the plants to the back porch, which is relatively mouse free because the terrier patrols the back yard and kills everything. The problem with that is the terrier's buddy in the back yard is a tomato eating Labrador Retriever who does far more damage than any rodent I've ever seen.
We have a huge chipmunk problem. They even made holes in our car cabin filters. But "repel all" seems to keep them away from the garden so far....we don't have any ripe tomatoes yet though, so I'm not sure if they'll keep away after they see some yummy red tomatoes.
I have more fruit and they are much bigger than normal also!
I had 2 late frosts that killed all but 2 tomato plants. I replanted and have started getting big fruit from the late ones now.
I have been canning and giving away tomatoes from those 2 for 2 months now. I get at least a 1/2 full plastic grocery bag every day from just those 2!
I haven't weighed anything, since I don't have scales. I have measured them though. I have 3" diameter early girls and 4"diameter better boys. The survivors.
I picked a Brandywine yesterday that was 4 1/2"! You couldn't see the bread when I made a sandwich with it.
Should you? No. It will cost you fruit production and will only stimulate more new top growth. Can you? Sure, it is your plant to do with as you wish.
The plant is only doing what comes naturally. The top growth will drape back down over the top of the cage and keep on growing and setting fruit once the weather allows.
Check out the other 'topping plants' discussions here.
Dave
I had nutrition problems, followed by leaf disease, followed by more nutrition problems. I dont drink, maybe I should.......
This is the year I decided to stop trying to grow organic in my containers. I am much happier now, even without the beer LOL =)
I just had a tomato seed to sprout that has 4 seed leaves. This is the very first one I have ever seen. I decided to google it and found this forum, so I am now posting. I took pictures and I am posting a picture showing its very first seed leaves. I am very curious to see what its next growth will turn out like. I will let it grow out naturally to see what happens. This is the "Delicious" variety of tomato, from a seed I ordered online from Remier Seeds.
And if it is not feasable to soak your pots like Cole showed above, even going back and watering two or three times can help a container plant actually take up water. The root pathways get dry and sometimes just help the water run right through the plant. 5 gallons is not very big for a healthy, fruiting tomato. In my climate I would water twice daily at least and fertilize lightly several times a week.
Probably heat refection off the house.
IF the plants are in good soil in the ground and watered very well which in this heat (100+ degrees)should be twice a day then they really shouldn't be wilting.
As long as the roots are large, no disease, good drainage, well watered then no wilting should really occur even in 105 degree temps.
Mine have yet to wilt this year and we have had over 108 degree temps.
I have one branch wilt the past 2 weeks only because a damn squirrel jumped up into it and broke that branch 2/3rds in half, only 1/3rd of the branch is supplying water to that whole part of the plant and it has about 20 tomatoes on it.
It wilts when over 95+ but is still hanging in there.
All the rest of the plants and rest of that plant never wilt at all though. and that fact tells you it is the lack of water supply doing the wilting.
Another source is Twining vine Gardens. (link below)
Here is a link that might be useful: Twining Vine Gardens
I have some of the everglades growing. They are in their second year and the fruits have gotten larger and some of the plants seem to be suffering from the heat. I suspect they hybridized with some of the other varieties that are nearby.
I just got a fresh batch of seeds from http://myworld.ebay.com/fishfarmerjohn/?_trksid=p4340.l2559 Is it possible to isolate them and keep them from hybridizing? I have another property that is in the woods, hopefully far from any other varieties. I also have a large enclosed porch and a greenhouse there that could be used. Would they need to be hand pollinated?
This year I have had a lot of my plants flower early, not sure if it is because of the early heat. If your plants still look alive, just plant them as deep as possible, and remove all of the blooms for now. Maybe give a little miracle grow spray also. They should green up and start growing like crazy.
I just stuck some of my sad looking last few seedings in the grown last weekend and they are already spitting out new nice green growth.
Hello again:
If anyone gets a chance, please look at these, I could really use some input: https://plus.google.com/photos/104467923746994449105/albums/5764068270189716033?authkey=CImBooiXyoti
The first one is the one I got into a big pot. It's been in there for about 2 weeks. It has not grown much, except for some underground leaves that I didn't cut off right before I buried it pretty good. I took those off a day or two ago. The other mistake I made was I didn't spread out the already-boundish roots very much. Two rookie errors so far...
My question is: should I leave it in there, or take it out and plant another seed, or try to make a clone? The plants that went into big pots at my friend's house -- same litter, but she's near the coast so it's not blistering hot -- grew ginormously as soon as they got some space, but mine isn't. Otoh, the leaves on my little plant are very nice and green and sturdy, *except* for the curled ones at the top. I guess the energy went into the underground leaves that I didn't cut off well enough. What do people think, up or down on this plant?
My second question is: as for the seedlings still in the too small pots, are they goners? Should I clone? Would they still grow if I got them in a big pot?
I've been reading lots of things in this Tomatoes forum, which is great!!!, but it's so much info all at once that I get a bit lost.
I live in LA, and I think someone said if it got too hot, which it will soon, then my Sungolds will be unhappy?, so that makes me reluctant to start all over with new seeds/clones. But I will if I have to.
Your input is appreciated!! I love this website.