16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Windburn and sunburn are unfortunate, but will not affect the new leaves.

I'm wondering about the purpose of the pots set in the earth in the background. What kind of pots are they? (They don't look like peat pots -- which despite all the advertising, really do need to be removed before planting.)

Thanks for the replies. Glad it sounds like wind/sun as opposed to a disease.

The pots you see in the background are made of coconut fibre and I had my celery in them. First time I used them, but look like they will break apart pretty quickly.

Thanks a lot for your responses, Just found these forums yesterday - what a wealth of information!

Best regards

the picture doesn't really show the "big difference".

Doesn't really look that odd to me. Usually there is at least one fruit on a plant that looks like this. The "One side larger than the other side" thing is the result of uneven pollination. When this happens, one side grows faster/bigger than the other, but it doesn't detract from the health of the tomato.

Basically, I wouldn't worry about it. It's just a tomato with character. :)

Dave, I bet you meant to say Fusarium or Verticillium, for instance, for soilborne instead of Septoria Leaf Spot, which is not and is strictly a foliage bad guy. ( smile)

Other than that if one of your plants goes down with a confirmed diagnosis with a soil borne disease then it means that there's a good possibility that plants in the same area might also do the same since usually the soil in an area has that bad guy and it's not jsut the bad guy underneath the affected plant.

The main foliage pathogens are:

Early Blight ( A. solani), fungal
Septoria Leaf Spot. fungal
Bacterial Speck
Bacterial Spot

....and those four are transmitted by wind and embedded in rain drops or irrigation waters.

Then there are the insect mediated viral diseases of which there are many as well, but they don't exist in certain parts of the country since the insect vectors are not found there. Same with many of the soil borne diseases which are not found in all parts of the country.

Although not widely known at least Fusarium is known to also be transmitted by wind.

So the key to knowing what you have is proper diagnosis and one place to go is to the Pest and Disease Forum , link at the top of this page, and look at the Problem Solver thread if no one answers your questions, or better still show some pictures if you can.

Finally, I know of nothing that is effective against soil borne diseased plants, since you said above you were treating them. Varieties with tolerance such as F, for fusarium are only tolerant and live longer for a week or so more but that's enough time to get the sugar concentration up for large scale farmer's harvest. Tolerance for several seed borne diseases do exist, but those were developed mainly for the large scale commercial farmer, not for we backyard hobby growers.

Carolyn

Dave, I bet you meant to say Fusarium or Verticillium, for instance, for soilborne instead of Septoria Leaf Spot, which is not and is strictly a foliage bad guy.

Duh! Yep, thanks Carolyn. That's what I get for thinking faster than I can type. And that's hard to do at my age. :) Septoria goes later in the sentence.

Dave

the one on the right is showing signs of the deaded (plumbers crack). ;)

Mega-blooms are also called fused blossoms.

I have also seen them called king flowers (though as far as I know tomatoes don't have king flowers like those on some other plants which bear both large and small fruit at the same time: for example, some strawberries, also artichokes).

Someone also used the term conjoined flowers. I don't know if that is correct, botanically speaking.

I have also seen them called tomato sunflowers; that seems like a gardener's imaginative term rather than a botanical one.

Coconut Head,
My market plot is actually in Clinton, NY and I work in Utica. I was thinking Syracuse mostly because I know a very good and inexpensive venue there and I know a fair number of people that would attend. I really didn't figure that I would draw much from the Buffalo event since that is still close to three hours from here but in any event, I would make sure that it is not within a few weeks of the Buffalo gathering.

Hi All,
I'm one of the people who hosts the Buffalo~Niagara Party. As Carolyn said, we do have a forum, but unfortunately it can't be link to from this forum. Below on the link I have some pics from last year's party.
It all started out with just 3 of us deciding to have a party. I didn't know how many people would come, but I figured we would have a good time if was only a few people. But quite a few showed up, and we've had a good crowd ever since.
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: 2011 TomatoParty Photos

I've seen WAY worse than that.

ive grown way worse then that.

There are lots of 'favorite' discussions here. Favorite beefsteak, favorite cherry, favorite determinate, favorite 4-6 oz, red, favorite green, etc.

The forum search bar will pull them up for you - the one at the bottom of the page - if you just type 'favorite' in it.

Personally I have about 20 favorites because they consistently perform well for me and we like the taste. Of course the taste of them grown in your soil would be very different and may not appeal to you. Rutgers, Giant Belgium, Cherokee Purple, Arkansas Traveler, Champion, San Marzano, etc. just to name a few.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Some of the favorite tomato discussions

Matthew, I live in the US (the Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Southern Appalachians: a narrow band across southern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and ending in northeast Georgia; I'm in North Carolina).

Whatever it is, it's not any variety Bonnie Plants was selling last year. Almost certainly a cross of some sort rather than a known variety. (How many pink-purple egg-shaped tomatoes can there be?)

And who knows how the next generation will come out? Lots of seeds and gel last year, unfortunately.

I have thought about it

It could also be that the Tomatoe Plant is starving for water

so it is sucking the water out of the Tomatoes

then they might look like that

Well, the plant has continued to show the same disease signs. I thought maybe it would get better and looked like it might for awhile. The BER is on every fruit from top to bottom and now showing sighs of gray wall again. Will pull the plant tomorrow and get rid of it and the soil in the trash. This is the first time to completely get rid of the plant and soil. Bummer. I don't know what else to do. Thanks everyone. RIP Celebrity plant.

I forgot to answer the pruning: I did plant to a single leader (but I don't think I will next year!).

What fungicide do you recommend? I have a neem based one.

araomd, to edit the zone and location field,

1. At the very bottom of a page, click on "Member Pages" in the green bar.

2. If you are logged in, this should take you to your own member page. If not, I assume you'd need to log in.

3. Click on "Edit Your Membership Details."

4. The field you want is "Garden Zone."

5. Make any other changes you wish, then click "Save Your Member Profile."

I did it once, so I knew it had to be possible somehow....

I am not an expert, but it looks like something might have pecked it and healed all funny. My chickens have given me similar looking fruits, except dimple above it..
Now is the time for someone who knows something to pop in and say exactly.
They are close together, (mine ALWAYS end up that way despite my best intentions.) Fertalize, prune if you must, mulch, and water when needed. Just my .02.

I'm not an expert either, but I agree that the "white splotches" look like some sort of physical damage that has scarred over -- perhaps insects chewed on it. For whatever reason (presumably related to the scarring), that side of the tomato didn't fill out as much as the side away from the camera.

From what I've read, the stripes are seen on some CPs and not on others.

I haven't ever heard of a CP with the coloration of the lighter one. Are all the tomatoes with that coloration from a particular plant? If so I would suspect that plant is not a CP but either a cross or something else: probably a CP cross because of the striping.

Tomatoes ripen first on the blossom end. That may explain the bottom area being more liquid. Perhaps you should try eating them a few days earlier.

Hmmm, I had some arugula and burdock over a month ago. Shows how much they know! LOL.

been eating spinach and swiss chard for a month and no MG was used hehehehe

In that case, I'd call them and ask for the name of the variety they included in that packet. It could be any one of 100's of very different tomatoes or even a mix of several different varieties.

Dave

I didn't order anything from Shumway this year, but did last year and my free packet said the same thing. We planted some of them and they were quite prolific but terribly prone to BER. The ones we did harvest tasted pretty good, though. We actually have a couple plants again this year from last year's seed. Oh, and even though the packet said "Determinate" they lasted until frost got them just like my Indeterminates.

Edie

Awesome pictures! I feel sorry for him too.

Just to give an update. The guy was alive & sticking in the same place for a week from the time I took this picture. He felt down after a week and when I closely inspected all the cocoons had an opening and the wasps are gone. Guessing from the way they eat, I thought these caterpillars have high metabolism and they need a lot of food but he survived a week without any food at all.

Also I don�t find any more caterpillar in the plants, at least not visible anymore.

nirmal