16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Your setup is similar to mine. Raised beds in a compact area.
Why not give my PVC cage a shot? You could pound the
uprights in the box for stability. My cages don't fall
down because they're driven into the ground about a foot.
I limit my plants to 4 main leaders and tie one to each
upright of my cage.
Here's a couple of shots of my garden.
And down below is a link to a page telling you how to and stuff
like that about the cages.
Here is a link that might be useful: Tom's PVC Tomato cage page
Right now I'm debating between the Florida Weave idea and DIY round cages from fencing material with larger openings than my gaden fence. Obviously the latter will cost more.
The boxes are going nowhere...I used nail stakes to level the beds. You can't see them in the photos unless you look very carefully at the last pic which is more recent.
Consistent 50+ degree nights is the usual recommendation to avoid problems. Trying to rush it usually costs you and like you said you'd really hate to have that happen now. May 15th will come soon enough.
Check out the post titled "Planting early -- is there any risk but frost?" further down the page.
Dave
It's funny that no matter how many years you garden, and even if you've lost crops in the past, it is very hard to resist the urge to plant out early, especially when the weather looks good.
I have successfully planted early, due to lucky weather, then put plants in later and by the end of season, they all seemed to yield the same anyway, so why risk it?
If you are lucky: No germination.
If you are unlucky, bad tasting tomatoes.
******
Now td, that wasn't very nice.
In your opinion Yellow Pear doesn't taste good but in the opinion of others it does/
If I were to list what I call my spitters there would be folks who just LOVE some of those on my spitter list.
Taste is personal and perceptual and there's even a human genetic issue involved, so not every person tastes a tomato variety the same way.
And I say good on that b'c if we all tasted tomatoes the same way it would be just darn boring. ( smile)
Carolyn
here's the link to the gardenweb forum.
Here is a link that might be useful: Soil, Compost and Mulch forum
I've never heard of any of these brand names in Canada. We use a copper-based fungicide (brand name Bordo); it's commonly called Bordeaux mixture and can be homemade. Is my stuff more, or less, effective/toxic than what you guys are talking about?
Don, I feel your pain. I'm in San Diego and have experienced major problems in the last three years. By early July my tomatoes are losing all of their lower leaves and just look hideous. By August, I've usually given up (and they have too).
I've tried so many different things I don't know where to start.
This year, I hate to admit it since I've always been an organic gardener, I've decided to say screw the organic stuff. I don't want to lose 20 plants I started from seed. I've been spraying with Ortho Disease Control (pretty sure that has the same active ingredient as Daconil). So far, so good. They are healthy and lush and about 3' high. No signs of the first lower leaves turning brown and drying up but I guess that usually doesn't happen until sometime in May.
I also realized I have a liquid copper spray that I use once a year on my orange tree. Maybe I'll try that on the tomatoes instead of the Ortho thing. Thanks for creating this thread--some interesting ideas.
I guess living in So Cal comes with its blessing and curses. While plants may thrive, so do the garden pests/diseases.
Here you go for starters -
No probably they don't need fertilizer. The leaves are purpleing up because it's been cold outside. A normal reaction. They will outgrow that if they are in normal garden soil, and the temps warm up. I think the first picture might be trying to show some small spots on the leaves? if so, keep an eye on them. If the spots get bigger, cut those leaves off and dispose of them just to be safe.
I made the same stupid mistake over the weekend. Out of the 5 plants, one was quite badly damaged with burns on most of the lower leaves. The other 4 had burns but only on a few leaves. Mine are over a month old however, so i am hoping they will recover!
We learn....
I am looking at my whole mess of plants and contemplating the gamble. I don't mind if they stay in limbo for a bit. They are getting awfully big for their pots some of them, and the tomato leaves are turning their usual purple from deficiency. Would having them sit in limbo in the garden until it warms be a lesser evil? Just wondering.
Reporting back - I had a few out in the last month (covered) that withstood 7 nights below 45, with the lowest temp being 40. Again these were covered at night.
I had several more that went out 2 weeks ago, unprotected, and had to withstand 3 nights below 45, the lowest low being 42.
So far, all of them look absolutely perfect. Yet, after reading this thread, im freaked out that they may have suffered a chilling injury that will affect production, so im tempted to go out and get some nursery starts. My normal plant out date is tomorrow, May 1...
That would be P20 from OSU. This is the first year Indigo Rose was available to the public. I'm not sure if it's actually P20 (I would guess it is, but I know very little about breeding tomatoes!).
I'm growing it & while no fruit of course yet, it's a very very vigorous plant!
Indigo Rose is a single plant selection from the highly diverse population that was bred by OSU and known as P20. There was an earlier escape from the breeding program that was known as OSU Blue. In my experience, OSU Blue has less anthocyanin than P20 and P20 has less than Indigo Rose.
DarJones