16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Ok. No problem. I should be a pro at this by now since I have had so many problems this season. It just seems never ending. But on the bright side I do have successfully pollinated peppers and I believe my FIRST TOMATO!!! starting to grow. Sorry, I'm really excited about that, it's a Big Rainbow Tomato. I'll get pics of it tomorrow too so I can make sure it is healthy.
Anyway, the following pictures I have attached are not of the originally wilting plants I mentioned. These pictures are of the other tomatoes I planted on 5/8 in a raised bed across the yard from the other tomato plants. So far in this bed I have had to pull one tomato due to something burrowing into the stem and eating it hollow (never figured out what it was but found the entry hole right below the first stem, so ruled out disease). Also found a small black catapiller with I believe 2 green stripes on the sides eating one of my plants. I was surprised it wasn't a hornworm as I have spotted them already as well. Otherwise these problems have just arised in the last 3-4 days probably. I also have leaves that are not pictured that have a "shot hole" like appearance. I thinking that may be from flea beetles as the eggplants have the same "shot hole" spots, but haven't seen the flea beetles yet, so not 100% confident about that. These plants have not been fertilized yet as they were just planted 2 weeks ago and most of the have the yellow-green color you see on the single leaves. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
Also, the pictures of the beds were taken 5/9 so everything has grown a couple inches since these pics.
Here is a link that might be useful: Plants and problem leaves Pics
"This is a Black Krim. It's unusual as it appears two seeds grew together and one is potato leafed while the other is regular. Regular leaf is much more adept at setting fruit in this case."
Are you telling us that you have a single main stem with both Regular and Potato leaf types growing from it? If you had two seeds stuck or fused together, I would think you would have two main stems. I've seen that happen. If you do have just a single main stem, is there just one branch (lateral or sucker) that has the potato leaf form? If so you have a "sport" or spontaneous mutation.
If you have multiple branches with the potato leaf form, then I am truly puzzled.
Please note any fruit differences and let me be the first to say I'd like some seeds from both the "normal" (Regular Leaf) and the "sport" (Potato Leaf) branches. I'd be happy to send you a SASE.
Betsy
(You can click on the "My Page" link by my user name then click on the "Send me an email" link and let me know.)
THE link to Tania's page indicates that that variety was introduced to the US as Carrot-like, which I mentioned above and isn't that different from Silvery Fir Tree as Tania also mentioned.
Where did you get the seeds from that you've been growing Carrot-Like for so many years?
I can think of very few places where seeds are available, or were, or are now, see Tania's page for the now part. ( smile)
Carolyn
Healthy plants, lots of tomatoes but they all get the bad spot that rots the whole tomato. What is going on ??
That could be many different things. Tomatoes don't get the disease that roses get called "Black Spot" but there are many different things that can cause a 'black spot' on a tomato - some of them serious, many of then nothing serious at all.
Can you provide a picture of what you are talking about? More details and description?
There are lots of photo tomato problems solving websites with pics to help you identify exactly what you might be seeing. I linked one of them below.
As for giving away extra plants, I do it and so do many others here. Same goes for giving away tomatoes.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: TAMU Tomato Problem Solver
Betsy, I think you need to distinguish between black spots on the foliage of which the most common are Bacterial Spot and Bacterial Speck, as opposed to BER ( blossom end rot), which is almost always found at the bottom of the fruits, the blossom end.
BER usually doesn't cause the whole fruit to rot, just the blossom end but there's also a condition called internal BER where there's no indication of anything wrong with a fruit until you cut it open and it's all black inside. But internal BER is the rare form of BER.
BER and the common foliage diseases have been around forever and ever, so I'm not sure why you suggest that either BER or the bacterial foliage diseases seem somewhat new to you ( "black spots")and by implication, perhaps some of your friends.
The TAMU Problem Solver that Dave linked to is a good one and I'll link to another one I think is good, which is the Cornell one, below.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Problem Solver
Should do fine. It has for me and I have the same heat issues as you do just not as much drought problems. I checked all the previous discussions here about that variety and there are several zone 7 growers who report good results with it.
Most any variety does well in Texas or any part of the south as long as we plant them early enough and can keep them adequately watered because we have such a long growing season. Of course none of them will set fruit in the worst of the heat no matter where you live.
Dave
Well, I have a trick regarding heat that works for me. Right now I grow in containers. I move the plants out for morning sun and then put them under cover when I go back to work after lunch. when I get home I put them back out, getting about 8 hours of sun a day and avoiding the afternoon highs.
Next year I'll be switching to EarthBoxes, which should allow me to do the same since they are wheeled.
Is the ground around them well mulched so all the dirt isn't splashing all over them? If so then as long as the soil drains well so the roots don't rot they should be fine. Maybe a little bedraggled looking for a few days but they will bounce back.
Dave
It has to be an issue with water or specific spots. Just recently my container plants showed stress (waited too long to water) across multiple varieties of heirlooms and hybrids. My raised bed toms are all monsters, mixed hybrids and heirlooms. Now if we were talking production, I think the hybrid vs heirloom my ply in, but more importantly the variety.
As others have said, there is nothing particularly different with growing hybrids or heirlooms. Heirlooms and Hybrids can both present resistance to certain types of plant pathogens, but hybrids do have "hybrid vigor" and can sometimes tolerate a little more stressful conditions - the difference has not yet been particularly noticeable based on the heirlooms I grow.
That being said, what else is different about your plants? Did you grow them all from seed? If not, were they all purchased from the same supplier? Were they all the same size and of similar health at planting time?
I really like the smell of the cherry tomatoes. The Sungold leaves have a sweet smell about them.
Just an FYI, these plants were put out on March 19th.
Ernie: The wind pollinates the tomatoes by moving the flowers and that gets the pollen to fall. If it isn't windy or I have the building closed up for some reason, I will walk through the building and shake the trellis posts.
Dave: Lose the girls, heck sometimes I get lost!
Jay
Totally normal experience as stated earlier. I think that if you restricted full sun exposure when you noticed this situation you handled the situation properly.
But this can re-occur. I set a few hundred plants (well hardened plants) in my farmers' market box van (total darkness) around noon so I wouldn't need to load them in the rain pending. The next day at the market the sun was bright and the tomato plants wilted. Lesson: Even a day out of sun and you need to readapt plants to it.
I have a Rapitest PH meter that read below 7 most of the time. Then after not using it for a year, I took off the back panel to see if it had a battery that needed to be replaced. Well, no battery, but one of the two wire leads was not even soldered, just wrapped around the terminal. No wonder these meters always read 7!!
Char35:
I get an annual soil test for my garden. My garden is amended and fertilized uniformly. I sample my garden soil from several different locations, mix them in a bucket, and scoop several cups of the mixture into the sample bag the extension agent provides.
I believe the measures I use to till my garden every year negate any benefit of paying to test soil from different areas.
He sends it to KS. State Univ. Lab and they test it for the attributes I request. I tell the extension agent I would like amendment and fertilizer recommendations, and I get a report on the condition of my soil, (NPK levels and pH), organic material level, amount of fertilizer I should add initially and how I should side-dress crops through the season, and if I need to add sulfur to reduce the pH.
Cost me $16.60 this year, including postage for the sample sent to be tested. I realize my state income taxes probably also included a charge for this service, but that would have been paid if I had not used the service.
Hills and mounds have a new life Carolyn regardless of the seeds. :) Mounded rows aka wide-row gardening and hill planting to control weeds and improve soil drainage made a big come back right about the time of the raised bed revolution.
And yes they can make a big difference when it comes to preventing BER in in-ground planting IF one can anticipate the spring weather accurately. Not to mention they warm the soil much faster for spring planting. Hill planting also benefits vining vegetables in that they better support the vines and you get less stem breaks.
Regina - is that landscape fabric in the bottom of those beds? If so it is slowing your drainage. One reason why many recommended against using it under raised beds is because you can get water pooling in the bottom of the beds. Often if there is a poor performing spot or plant ramming a metal rod down through the fabric several times will eliminate the problems. And what is the soil like under the beds? Was it clay or rocky and slow to drain? If so then drainage given all your rain is even more problematic.
Just some thoughts to consider.
Dave
Dave, the landscape fabric is not under the bed with the problem. It's only under the new bed -- the plants in the new bed with the garden cloth are doing beautifully. We decided to try the cloth in the new bed b/c we have a problem with bermudagrass coming up in the 2 older beds. We also decided at that time, to spread the cloth all around the outside of the older beds in preparation to put down pebbles but then later pulled it up after deciding that the rocks would be too costly. The soil under the beds doesn't have much clay or rock at all.
Too little water is a possibility. Root damage during transplanting. Another possibility is bacterial wilt.
Here is a link that might be useful: My garden and tomatoes
Some transplant shock is normal. And drooping (loss of leaf turgor) of the leaves, as opposed to actual wilting, is common in the worst heat of the day. It is the leafs physiological way of conserving moisture, preventing/restricting transpiration (loss of water through the stoma of the leaves). Assuming soil moisture levels are sufficient and consistent, then as the plants mature and the roots expand and develop the symptoms are less noticeable.
Without a picture or more details it isn't possible to know if there something else going on but if they are fine in the morning and perk up again in the cooler evening then that is the likely explanation.
Dave
Sorry about your tomatoes. They look grim.
Need considerable info to even attempt to resolve your challenges.
How big a container are they in? Length by width by depth?
And how many in each container?
Are you fertilizing?
If so, with what? what strength? and how often?
As for watering, I trust looking at the potting mix (or soil, when in the garden) and feeling.
How deep is it moist?
Does water run out the bottom when you water?
How often do you water?
Seems like whats happening is they were are low on nutrients, started showing the signs(mainly yellow leaves from not having enough nitrogen) especially now that its blooming it uses more. You noticed and were hoping it was just lacking water and added even more which if anything probably made matters worse by keeping the roots from absorbing what little if any nutrients are left if any from the miracle grow soil.
Of course this just speculation and my theory of whats going on, considering Im assuming that they have not been feed besides what nutrients were in the potting soil. If there were the case I would let the soil get back to how you had it and FEED it!!