16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

That's when I prefer to plant. It gives the new transplants a chance to acclimate without getting the additional stress of blistering heat and sun. Especially if the roots were disturbed during the process.

Here is a link that might be useful: my tomatoes and garden

I had a large tree rose to put in the dirt and I decided the recent overcast spell we have had in SoCal was my last best hope this summer! Happy to report the patient is doing just fine! Linda

Why, all of sudden, are systemics being listed when we have been cautioned not to use them?

Corporate profit margins perhaps? Greed? Lack of effective FDA supervision? Inability of the FDA to force recalls?

The basic premise that something that acts systemically will also be incorporated into the edible part of the plants and thus into me is enough to convince me to stay away from them.

ACUTE HEALTH EFFECTS SWALLOWED
! Accidental ingestion of the material may be harmful; animal experiments indicate that ingestion of less than 150 gram may be fatal or may
produce serious damage to the health of the individual.
! Aromatase inhibitors (including triazoles and azoles) produce several side effects including mood swing, depression, weight gain, hot flushes, vaginal dryness, bloating, early onset of menopause.
Long-term use may result in bone weakness, increased risk of blood clots, gastrointestinal disturbance,and sweats.

EYE
! This material can cause eye irritation and damage in some persons.

SKIN
! Skin contact is not thought to produce harmful health effects (as classified using animal models). Systemic harm, however, has been identified following exposure of animals by at least one other route and the material may still produce health damage following entry through wounds, lesions or abrasions.
! Open cuts, abraded or irritated skin should not be exposed to this material.
! Entry into the blood-stream, through, for example, cuts, abrasions or lesions, may produce systemic injury with harmful effects.
Examine the skin prior to the use of the material and ensure that any external damage is suitably protected.

INHALED
! The material is not thought to produce either adverse health effects or irritation of the respiratory tract following inhalation (as classified
using animal models). Nevertheless, adverse effects have been produced following exposure of animals by at least one other route and good hygiene practice requires that exposure be kept to a minimum and that suitable control measures be used in an occupational setting.
! Persons with impaired respiratory function, airway diseases and conditions such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis, may incur further
disability if excessive concentrations of particulate are inhaled.

CHRONIC HEALTH EFFECTS
! Results in experiments suggest that this material may cause disorders in the development of the embryo or fetus, even when no signs of poisoning show in the mother.
There has been some concern that this material can cause cancer or mutations but there is not enough data to make an assessment. Limited evidence suggests that repeated or long-term occupational exposure may produce cumulative health effects involving organs or biochemical systems.
Exposure to the material may cause concerns for human fertility, on the basis that similar materials provide some evidence of impaired fertility in the absence of toxic effects, or evidence of impaired fertility occurring at around the same dose levels as other toxic effects, but
which are not a secondary non-specific consequence of other toxic effects.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Myclobutanil Fact Sheet

I am not one to condone conspiracy theories of any kind, and I make a concerted effort to dispel them wherever I find them, so I will not espouse any now...

That being said, know this: You should not blindly rely on big brother (government or otherwise) to always look out for your best interest. Your best bet is your own (informed) decision and a healthy does of common sense.

If it seems shady to you, it likely is, or at a minimum, you'll feel better not taking the risk. Me personally, I'll take a little risk of plant disease over the risk of ingesting (even small amounts) of systemic fungicide or (as stated above) negatively impacting beneficial insect populations.

To each his own, however.

Hey junktruck: great minds, etc. I have some 25-year-old wire-ring cages (much wider than the current WM ones) which I have used with Florida-weave above. The Florida-weave is supported by some of the even older (1970) vertical wire tomato stakes (the no-ring kind).

Thank you everyone for your responses. They were very helpful.

I'm going with the weave, and 8 plants. We will see how it turns out!

Last year was the worst in my part of NYS ( E NYS on the VT border) for lots of rain, and the year before that as well.

But who knows what this summer will bring,no one can say, so if it were me I wouldn't be thinking about raised beds quite yet.

It could be warm, with occasional showers/ T-storms, with perfect weather for our tomatoes.

Time will tell.

Carolyn

What Dave said... He beat me to it.

I do raised mounds every year and have had great results with it. Where I live, the problem is rarely too little water. We often get way too much in the early spring and then likely too little in mid / late summer, right around August.

I do mounded rows and mulch heavily with hay in very early spring to keep weeds down, about a month or two before I even consider planting. I plant through that mulch (on the mounds) in late April / early May, and by that point, the mulch has compacted a little and broken down a bit, but is still fluffy to some extent.

Because of the mounds, the roots are never sitting in water, and because of the mulch, moisture levels are somewhat stabilized. I rarely water in spring, no need to really. When temps start getting hotter and the weather turns drier, I layer down some additional mulch to help replenish what has decomposed already and to help keep more moisture in the mounds.

It's worked out great for me as a tool for managing water. I recommend it for anyone that has potential for very wet springs.

Hi emileeg,

Dave's right, there are literally thousands of heirloom and open pollinated tomatoes. Personally, I have over 600 varieties of seeds and that is merely a drop in the bucket as far as that goes.

Of the plants listed, Atkinson, Homestead, Pink Brandywine, perhaps Red Beefsteak, and Cherokee Purple are heirlooms. (If I am not mistaken, Red Beefsteak is also known as Crimson Cushion, Henderson's Crimson Cushion, Ponderosa Red, or just Beefsteak.) All should be good tomatoes.

Atkinson did well at the 2009 SETTFest tomato tasting in Texas. 6-10 oz fruit, red in color with green shoulders, DTM aout 80 days, indeterminate, Regular Leaf. I have not grown that one. (Jeez, now it is on my list for .... someday. *sigh*)

Brandywine, a Pink Beefsteak 12-16 oz. range in size, DTM 78-85, Indeterminate, Potato Leaf.

Cherokee Purple, Dusky Rose Beefsteak, 8-16 oz. DTM 78, Indeterminate, Regular Leaf

Homestead is good for fresh eating or canning, about 4-8 oz. in size Red Globe Slicer, DTM 60-70, Semi-determinate, Regular Leaf.

Beefsteak, a.k.a. Henderson's Crimson Cushion, Ponderosa Red, etc.; a 1 to 1 1/2 lb. Red Beefsteak, DTM 80, Indeterminate, Regular Leaf.

I don't think you can go to far wrong with any of them. I realize there are some good hybrids out there too, but I only grow Sungold hybrids, so really can't comment on the others.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

Betsy

I'm just stumbling across your post after doing a search for Bonnie Select. I too have always hated tomatoes. I love spaghetti, chili, everything with tomatoes in it, but whenever I eat out, I always order my food with no tomatoes on it.

This year I'm starting my first vegetable garden. It's going great and I have several tomato plants too. Why? The same reason you started yours. I've heard and read that if you've only ever tasted store-bought tomatoes, you've never tasted a real tomato! I just harvested my first two off the Better Bush plant and they're yummy! I took some to my mom to try and she said it was freaky to see me just munching on a slice of raw tomato. Honestly, she's right. Haha! So far I'm impressed with the Better Bush. I have it in a 5 gallon pot on the patio and it's doing great. Once it had its roots established (just like any other tomato plant) it took off. It's a much smaller plant than the heirloom Marglobes but it's been a very early producer. It's still growing so hopefully I'll get lots more tomatoes off of it. I can't wait to try the Marglobes!

One of my Marglobes has been lost to wilt. :( The container said they are VF resistant but that doesn't mean they're resistant to all strains of verticulum or fusarium. I've had a hard time identifying it but I think it's probably something that was spread by a pest. Before I planted flowers near the garden, I hadn't seen any ladybugs and the aphids and spider mites were already getting really bad. Since planting flowers, I haven't had to use my insecticidal soap once. Yay! I love how nature works!

Anyway, I bought one Bonnie Select plant to replace the lost Marglobe. It's supposed to be extremely disease resistant. We'll see!

So how did your tomatoes do last season? And what are you growing this year?

What kind of tomatoes are they? Also - the first fruits of the year often have blossom end rot (though I rather like "bottom" end rot ;).

And BER is not necessarily from too much watering - rather inconsistent watering. Dry soil then saturated soil, then dry soil then saturated soil is not good. Especially in containers.

Also - I believe BER can present up to three weeks after the watering problem has been corrected. So if you believe your soil is maintaining moisture evenly now, you might not have to do anything - just pluck the problem fruits.

I supplement my Earthboxes with calcium nitrate as a snack to help avoid BER. The only year I had it was the first EB set up and I was growing paste type toms (Super Marzano as I recall) which are particularly susceptable.

If these Violet Jaspers produce like you say they do, especially in this heat. I may grow more next year even if they do taste a little bland. We can use them in salsa. It should be interesting to see how these tomatoes act in perhaps the hottest area if the nation outside of Death Valley. I know my peppers are going nuts right now. I already have red Chile de Arbol and bell peppers, but I wish my Pasilla would turn black. They have been huge for a while now.

You're outside of Death Valley? How cool! Ha - or not. :) Another heat lover I would recommend is the costoluto. I am also not a big fan of that tomato but production was good during the hottest part of the summer last year.

Big Rainbow and Cherokee Purple are also good with heat but are later to produce. And yes - pretty much all of my salsa last year came from the Violet Jaspers.

This is a helpful string. I am planting tomatillos for the first time this year and have wondered how much to treat them like tomato plants. What if the tomatillo seedling has flowers and buds. Should I pinch them off prior to transplanting so that the plant puts it's energy into root development?

I would pinch them off, yes.

Look here http://msucares.com/crops/comhort/tomatodisease/images/glyphosate.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful:

" plants are turning yellow where the leaf stem attaches to the maint stem and the yellow runs up to the leaf. It is a very bright yellow not like it is dry and lacking water"

Agree with Jean. That description is classic for weedkiller damage. Drift. Contaminated mulch.

If that's the case then they may recover all depending on how much the exposure but the damaged leaves are a loss.

Dave

I have had pretty good luck with Pineapple in clay soil garden in southern Ohio but as been pointed out my plants grown from purchased seed may be diff than your plants. I have two plants this yr so we will see.

It's only May 6th! If you are in N. Cal. it hasn't been hot much yet, especially not the nights. I love growing pineapple, and near Davis, it helps a lot to have blooms by May 1st, which is when the nights start getting over 55.