16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Don't give up!! If I were you, I'd try to save the seedlings but also get a couple of starts in case. I've noticed free tomato seedlings offered up on my local freecycle and craigslist, so you might be able to find someone who has extras.
Don't give up!
People at nursery's don't always know what's best for your particular situation. Anyone who suggested a FIFTEEN DOLLAR (?!!??!) bag of GARDEN SOIL for seedlings in containers should be fired.
Return the soil and ask for a potting soil mix. Dr. Earth has a potting soil - pot of gold - that will serve you well.
I have lots of extra starts! I have no idea how to mail them or I'd be happy to send them to you :). If you're near Raleigh, NC - come by and pick them up!
@ LoboGothic: "Hardening off the plants is going well, wind is the big problem. They're about halfway there. My question is about holding them back. I'm growing them for delivery in 3 1/2 weeks and don't want them to get much larger. I won't fertilize but wonder about keeping them at cooler temperatures, maybe give them less sun?"
Cooler temperatures will tend to make your tomatoes grow less. The wind will also make them stockier, provided they don't blown into the next province or get beaten to death by it.
Less light will tend to make them "leggy" so I don't suggest that at all.
Betsy
I read a post once on one of the Gardenweb forums by someone in the Arizona desert who planted Fourth of July hybrid for spring harvest, cut it back almost to the ground when the weather got brutal (for tomatoes) and let it re-grow for a fall crop. I think it may have been in afternoon shade. This is a very early little tomato, barely slicing size, on an indeterminate plant. Has some disease resistance.
Fourth of July has tough skin and sometimes splits, but in our climate, it can get very sweet when the weather starts to heat up enough to make many other varieties less-than-wonderful.
Almost impossible to say without at least a photo and much more info. Is this a container plant? How large a container? What variety is it? How old is it? Determinate or indeterminate? Is Edna's Best Potting Soil actual soil/dirt or is it a soil-less mix such as normally used in containers? If it is soil then that alone could be your problem. Fed it once? Container plants require regular weekly feedings. Water only when the soil is very dry but container plants require consistent soil moisture levels, not alternate wet and dry.
Leaf activity such as you describe is often a response to stress of some kind. What is causing the stress could be any of the above.
More info please.
Dave
Sketch info as Dave said. I don't want to second guess
(sort of) Dave's comments, but I'd suspect not enough
water. It's also the quickest and easiest to fix.
If you'd post a photo would be most helpful.
It might just only be wilted. I'd slop some water on it
(and wet the leaves too) and see what happens. If it's
what I suspect, you will see improvement in a few hours
or faster.
Apparently few here have used it.
I looked it up and it says it is 5 feet wide, right? So if you are growing determinates it could start at ground level, if indeterminates then raise it up a foot off the ground like those who use cattle panels do so you end up with 5-6 feet in height over all.
How close? As close as possible. Netting is going to be so flexible that support would be flimsy unless the plants are practically on top of it. Once they develop some size and have the weight of fruit on them it will sag a great deal unless you really have some good tension on it.
Dave
simple answer. NO.
120 degrees is harmless to seedlings so long as they have plenty of water. I routinely let my greenhouse get up to 120 degrees in early spring to encourage rapid growth. It also helps out with ensuring the plants can survive when planted outside in the garden.
DarJones
Stressful for them but no long term effect. But it's of no benefit either so I'm curious as to why the air circulation can't be improved in your hoop house? How long before you can plant them or remove the hoop house and provide more normal conditions?
Dave
My plants have been out since May 1st... Our temps went to about 49 last night, but it was only that cold for a very short duration of the night. Most nights have been mid-50s and most for the future appear to be the same. The highs have all been around the mid 70s and all my plants are doing very well.
It's all about the length of the cold exposure, in my experience. If the daytime highs are going to be 65-75 and it drops to around 48 for a couple hours on the nighttime low, it's not that big of a deal - not ideal, but not a deal breaker. The weather has been so wacky that if I were to wait until I were _sure_ of nighttime temps in the mid-50s, I wouldn't be able to plant out till June... And, at that rate, my late season tomatoes wouldn't get to produce much before they were killed by frost in October. It's one of the struggles of growing tomatoes in the NE.
That being said, at least for SE PA, after tomorrow night, there are no more nighttime lows below 55 showing up in the extended forecast... If you look ahead for your area, it might be better conditions on Sunday; You've waited this long, for one day it might be worth the wait.
I went to the nursery today and I bought 12 more tomato plants. Planned on buying a six pack of BIG BOY tomatoes and doing a row of six in the Florida Weave style. Well, I did buy the six pack of BIG BOYS but I have no will power. I swear I would buy every type of tomato plant in the nursery if I had room. So I saw these lovely single plants of SUN GOLD and CHEROKEE PURPLE, bought those. So my row of six idea was changed to two rows of 4 idea instead! Then bought a Siberian tomato I will plant between two others already planted here by the house. And I found this patio garden growbag that is 39 inches long so I will put the last three (two FOURTH OF JULY and one SUGERY ) in there.
I had to buy bagged compost as I will be using to set up the new tomato garden area.
My neighbor grows nothing but celebrity around 90 or so every year. His get over 6' tall and are quite bushy. This year it seems as though we are locked in a tomato war. He has over 100 and I just discovered he has a secret little garden where he has at least another twenty or so plants (not bad for an 85 yo man. He has a ways to go though as I have 150 plants in the ground....I NEVER INTENDED TO HAVE SO MANY....thats my story and I'm sticking to it..... I have to go now and make some more tomato cages....LOL
You've done the early part of hardening them off already! Midday sun is probably too strong for them at this point, but otherwise they could certainly be outside in shade or partial shade all day. [Now mind you, there's shade and shade. Bright shade is great, dappled shade is okay -- but if they're in deep shade, they'll probably become leggy.]
If they're outside all day, they shouldn't need any artificial light.
The important thing at this point is to introduce them to unshaded midday sun gradually. And keep in mind that the more sun they get, the sooner they'll need to be watered.
I've never read anything before this about holding off on water as part of the hardening-off process. And my attitude about my plants is ... well, I'll surely give them some stress of that type without having to plan it!
lol - I almost always end up stressing them w/too much love! Though the other day after turning on the grow lights and going back to sleep, by the time I woke up they were were pretty close to bone dry.
Typing w/dirty hands as I'm repotting as much as I can before my friend gets here (checking to see if she got the email about the need for party cups). While the Beaverlodge and Japanese Trifele toms didn't seem to be too rooty, now that I'm getting a look at the Yellow Pear and Stupice, they're definitely needing a pot up! So, hopefully that's going to be the solution. :-D