16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
I would guess that its Roma. Volunteers can be pure or crossed. Many of my volunteers are pure from the previous year whereas others are clearly crosses. I'm with dickiefickle on "new varieties." I think some of them are the same plant re-named something else. Or, in some cases, they descend from the same seed source. For example, I have found little difference between some of the black tomatoes. Other times they may originate from a seed mix up and someone who buys it renames it something different. For example I have a tomato that my father purchased at a nursery that was labeled brandywine. It turned out to be a black tomato of some unknown variety. Its probably black krim or black, but it does have slightly different cracking paterns (concentric versus radial). It also tastes slightly different than other blacks. However it does breed true and is most likely just a strain of some existing variety where someone switched the id sticks or mixed up the seeds they were planting. In any case, its not a new variety, just a mislabeled existing variety. A stablized cross on the other hand is something different and should be named.
My Frost Free season extends from 15 Apil to 21 November,and I usually plant out early and extra early tomatoes around the first of April and then again the first of August.
You should be harvesting tomatoes long after mine quit. What's your fertilizer regimen?
Jan
Rather than focus on the variety, which usually has little to do with the chronic problems you describe, focus on the soil you are gardening in.
Something there is clearly out of whack - nutrient levels, moisture retention or most likely the soil pH. You can begin with having a soil test done at your local county ag extension office for about $10-15. They will advise on what all needs to be done to fix your soil so it will grow things.
Dave
I have read (but not yet verified) that horn worms will glow under a black light. If you buy a cheap handheld black light, which are about ten bucks on amazon, and go out there at night with it, they should glow in the dark for you. One horn worm will devour a big plant in a couple days. All you have to catch is one or two, and it will make a big difference.
Looks like just dead tissue areas from leaf miner damage. It doesn't hurt the plants. Just snip off the worst of the damaged leaves so the larvae can't survive.
Please don't obsess over leaf miners. The plants survive them just fine and too many times trying to treat for them does more damage to the plant than they do. As said above, you just squish leaves to smash them and remove the leaf if necessary to control them.
Dave
Sucker myth is an old legend based on the belief of ancient Greeks that suckers (also known as additional growing tips, side shoots, and many other names) SUCK and draw energy from the plant, thus disrupting the energy balance in cosmos and inhibiting the plant from using its energy for more noble causes (like producing more fruit).
They've been proven wrong.
First off you don't need bees at all,period.
Try shaking the stems of your plants to help release pollen,or brush your hands across the flowers >
Humidity can be a factor also,as it clumps the pollen up.
Not all tomato plants are created equall,do not grow exactly the same.
Consider the DTM of each variety (Days To Maturity -- not from the time seeds are sown, but from the time you plant out):
Fourth of July -- 49 DTM
Bush Early Girl -- 65 DTM
Goliath -- 65-85 DTM (no consistency)
Momotaro -- 74 DTM
Pink Brandywine -- If this is Brandywine Sudduth, 85 DTM
Of course, those DTM numbers aren't written in stone -- just general guidelines (sometimes indicative of the seed- or plant-seller's ability to lie positive thinking).
So you see, your early varieties are the ones which have set fruit. You may think the plant is old enough to set fruit, but it may have a later DTM and not be ready yet. And of course, the weather was way weird.
This timeline shows about 50 days from when the blossom opens to a fruit's peak ripeness. So for the plants which haven't set fruit yet, count the days since you planted them, then add 50: how does that compare to the plant's DTM?
http://www.tomatosite.com/index.php?NT=Cultivation&RE=Truss_Timeline
My ground tomatoes are far ahead of the containers in size, although the container tomatoes are fruiting earlier. I suspect it's due to pot size limitations. All in all though, I expect far more fruit from the ground, but the early havest the containers give you is nice.
Now peppers are different. They produce both earlier and more prolific in pots all around. At least in my zone.
Maybe its just something as simple as the a difference in the fertilizers your using. My neighbor put his plants in the ground about the same time as me but a lot of his plants are about 8' while mine are around 6'. He is using a 13-13-13 fertilizer he had and didn't want to buy any (he's kinda cheap) and I am using a 6-12-12. The higher nitrogen helps the plant grow but doesn't help with setting the fruit. While his are considerably taller he has picked maybe 20# while I have just passed 100#.
I did the soil test for vegetables before planting and amended the soil the way they recommended and I am very pleased with the results so far.
No, they aren't heading for the grave.
Your plants aren't old enough to be showing old age, as it were, when some of the bottom leaves normally turn yellow so I would think that it was due to the constant rain you referred to.
Yes, the one large lesion I see I think I see the concentric rings that would indicatre Early Blight ( A. solani).
Do you see any affected leaves higher up on the plant?
If only on the lower leaves it could be due to splashback infection where spores have fallen to the soil in a previous year.
Take off and dispose of any affected leaves, the ones with evidence of foliage infection, such as the Early Blight ones. Forget about the yellow leaves b'c they will probabky fall of naturally.
Then ASAP start with a regular shcedule of a good antifungal, I suggest Daconil, which covers the specific attachment sites on the upper leaf surface where EB and Septoria Leaf Spot attach, thus lessening the incidence of infection. It does nothing for the two other major foliage pathogens, Bacterial Speck and Bacterial Spot.
Daconil is a preventive, not a cure andhould be started as soon as the plants are put out, but starting now will help prevent any new infections.
Foliage pathogens are spread by wind and also embedded in raindrops.
Since you didn't give your gardening zone or at least indicate where you garden, in a geographinc sense I'm thinking FL, but could be completely wrong on that.
Carolyn, I forgot to say that Daconil can be sprayed up to the day of harvest as well.
Agree. You may not get fruit set in high temps, but indeterminate plant types will continue to set after they have a major flower drop. Determinates can be an issue if the timing is wrong, as they tend to flower all at once, and may not rebound with more flowers. Indeterminates are the best defense against weather.
Last year, after 70 straight days of 100+ degree temps, the super sweet 100s I nursed through produced hundreds of fruit once the heat broke. I also pulled over 40 hornworms off of those 12 plants.
That a hard frost came through and knocked them all off before they ripened, is a different story.
Here is a link that might be useful: DFW Gardener
ya sometimes the CP"s look kinda funny even almost bad