16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Don't forget to consider what chemicals may have been applied to your lawn and still exist in the soil. A lot of the chemicals used on lawns are not recommended for areas where food crops will be grown. I also saw a family member plant that way and grass was allowed to grow right up to the plant and I don't know if she got any tomatoes at all but if so, very few in a stunted plant. If you haven't used much chemicals on the lawn and its all you have, nothing to lose by trying. Heed the advise those above mentioned and maybe consider planting one or two in the largest post/containers you can find.
On Overwintering tomatoes and peppers, just use indeterminate tomato varities, they live for many years if taken care of. I overwintered 6 pepper and 8 tomato plants, the cherry tomatoes never stopped producing even in winter while other went dormant and woke up like crazy. I would not pull out the healthy tomatoe plants this season, but prune them sometime in mid Jan to early Feb to stimulate growth, also fertilize at that time.
Wow, that's exactly what's happening to one of my tomato plants, too! They're up against the fence that separates my yard from my chem-using neighbors. Should I leave the affected areas alone, or should I prune them off? Is the plant a goner, or will it survive? None of the other three tomatoes seem to have been affected, including another growing in the same earthbox.
High North. For future reference, Laying down a couple layers of cardboard and holding it down with some rocks or something would have killed the grass and weeds in a chemical free way. In fact, many people use cardboard or newspapers as a water permiable weed block under normal mulching circumstances, not just for killing off a large area of lawn.
It is very lucky for me that my family loves 'maters as much as I do. My sister keeps leaving cook books open as subtle hints.
I might just have some mystery plants, the Yellow Brandywine (according to Tatainia) is suppposed to have potato leaf, my reds do. These do not, but the undersides of the leaves are dark veined, if you know what I mean. and boy, are they so far behind mine in size but most of them have fruits.
I love surprises!
I've got a pepper like that - brought some cayennes, cherries, frying peppers home from my cousin last year, ended up with a Numex Big Jim type plant that neither of us started, I saved seed since it was so yummy on the grill, but it could have crossed with the cayenne, my Hinkelhatz, serrano or Thai since I didn't bag it - who knows what those plants will produce this year! Then again, it could have crossed with a bell...
I had a few tomato plants in my greenhouse that were starting to stall in development and had some purple leaves. I used that spray n grow solution mist on them and within a day or 2 they sprouted new growth that was nice and green again. Now maybe it was a coincidence, but it's worth a try. I agree with the others about trying to intervene too much though as you might through off the balance of other nutrients.
If you're talking about the regular Spray N Grow, it's a solution of iron sulfate and zinc chloride; no phosphorus at all....
Uhh more likely it has some sort of added binders or inert additives that while fine for grass isn't approved for use around edibles. Found the MSDS for it here. Manufactured by Espoma and sold under the brand name Organica Lawn Products
At the very least i'd return the remainder of it to the store that sold it to you and demand money back for mis-representing the product as one for the garden.
The MSDS doesn't list any hazards that jump off the page but the link above does provide the phone for calling Organica for more info on safety.
Dave
I have an observation about brandywine. I have two gardens, a modest one in my yard and a second larger garden in an empty lot that is used somewhat as a community garden. I planted brandywine Suddeth's in both plots last year. The mineral soil is the same in both locations but the amendments are different. I use compost and manure in my home garden, and just manure in the community. The watering in my own back yard is through flood irrigation from a secondary water spigot. I flood irrigated it because I don't want tomato disease from splashing soil. The community garden is sprinkled with a single rotating head sprinkler that waters everyones crops at once. I am the one who does the water management in both plots so I manage soil moisture properly. One thing I noticed last year was that the brandywines in the community garden were very productive whereas the ones in my own back yard were less than half as productive. I am not sure whether the better production was caused by better pollination from the water drops falling on the flowers or whether the water on the plants cooled the flowers enough to allow pollination. I suspect the later because I do go out and shake my plants daily to help them pollinate and set fruit. I suppose it could be both. Brandywines have never been that productive for most people here in Utah because of the warm temperatures. So perhaps some of you in hotter climates might help your brandywines set fruit by sprinkling over the plants. Interestingly I did not get disease in my garden plot tomatoes from sprinkling because I mulch and because the water washes off the dirt that splashes up from the soil. Just some of my thoughts.
FWIW, I was in the same boat just a few days ago. Essentially, everything else I had planted started to set fruit 2-3 weeks ago, but the brandywine? Zilch.
Well I checked on monday and finally had not 1 or 2 but 3 tiny brandywines growing. So I guess Id give it another week or two before you really start to worry.
Talk about missingtheobvious.lol I guess I should have taken a look around before posting today. Indigo Rose is a beautiful looking tart tomato.
Like the poster in the other thread though. I can't tell when they are ripe either. They turn purple in sunlight not because they are ripe. On top of that. To this point they are all hard no matter how long they have been on the vine.
When I was in my late 30s or early 40s I realized I consistently missed things that should have been obvious -- and in fact were obvious to everyone else. (It took me that long to realize because ... well ... I miss the obvious.)
I was in a weird mood the day I signed up for GW. But I was right in that it's a unique user-name.
mto
Thanks digdirt, yes that makes sense. We have been in the process of moving so I have nothing unpacked right now to test the soil temps. What soil temp do you think would cook the seeds? Since it's June 6, I am going to replant, otherwise I may not end up with anything.
I fed my tomatoes at the time of planting. 2 cups of tomatotone, 1/4 cup ea of bone meal and espoma lime went into the 12" deep hole, then I placed my seedlings on top. In 10 days they took off like crazy putting me under pressure to do staking or risk damage from winds.
Well, maybe either a little bit of tomato tone or fish emulsion wouldn't hurt. I plan to mulch with a commercial hay/straw product. Not sure about the grass clippings since my grass isn't organic, and I don't know that I want whatever the lawn service is using in my vegetable garden. I think I should stay away from high phosphate fertilizers or use them sparingly considering everything was so high in soil tests. But I do want a good strong start for them and its going to take a little while for those roots to really get down well into the old compost.
I have used beneficial nematodes for control of flea beetles (they kill the beetle larvae in the soil) and I had great results with it, their numbers declined very quickly after the initial application, and since then haven't seen them hardly at all (a year later).
If you read the information provided with the beneficial nematodes (at least the ones I used), you will see a statement that says that their efficacy and their ability to take hold in your garden is increased if the soil is not disturbed (not tilled, etc.).
Being as they hang around longer and do their job better when you go no-till AND, as Dave said, tilling tends to spread the bad guys around - I'd go no-till.
I personally have gone to a no-till system for the past few years and I have had great results with it. I've found that not tilling the soil not only benefits beneficial nematodes, but it also helps other beneficial insects and microorganisms. I've started to notice a wider variety of insects and most of them beneficial. So far this year I've seen lady bugs, brown lacewings, hoverflies, parasitic wasps, and, most recently, soldier beetles.
When reading about soldier beetles for example, I found this little tidbit which might explain why I'm seeing more of them now: "It is important to the life cycle of soldier beetles (and many other beneficial organisms) that they have undisturbed, mulched soil in which to pupate..."
Thanks for reminding me on no tilling. I had no choice. When I moved into the new home, the planters were full with sand/clay mix with rocks. I added a boat load of compost last year. this year I added a lot of compost and composted manure and tilled it so its easy to dig and roots can spread well. hereon I dont plan on tilling as now I am going after nematodes.
I want to use double the concentrate in my affected planters, would it hurt? I want to put all 10M application into some 200 SF planter area.
Sorry but drilling holes won't help. The plant will still get root bound in such a small container. If you are willing you can cut the old plastic pot off but that is seldom needed. You can usually just pull plant and all carefully out of the old container and move it to the larger - much larger - one.
Dave
I love KBX ( Kellog's Breakfast which is PL) and was one of the first to get seeds from Martha, in whose garden it appeared. The history can can be found at Tania's site which I linked to below.
At the time Martha and I were both posting in the AOL Tomato Forum and she distributed seeds to several of us.
It's also one of the few PL variants of an original RL that I feel is the same as the original except for leaf form, which indicates a single spontaneous mutation.
Many of the PL versions of original RL's are not the same as the original except for leaf form b'c there are several kinds of DNA mutations that can lead to more than one gene being affected.
But this has been discussed here before.
So yes, I encourage everyone to try it, great taste and production and as Martha said at the Tania link, not as susceptible to CRUD as is the RL form of Kellog's Breakfast.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: KBX