16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Dave,

Thanks for your comments. Sunlight may not be all the problem because past years have had good crops. Maybe over fert? It is possible that fertilizer from previous year is still there... How much fertilizer are you using in your EarthBoxes?

It is possible that fertilizer from previous year is still there

Doubt it although I suppose it is 'possible' since they are inside and so less exposed to the elements. Mine all winter over outside on the deck until time to move them into the greenhouse, recharge them and plant.

But don't rule out sun exposure completely because even mine started in the GH really kick into gear once they are moved outside.

As to ferts, when ready to re-plant I dump each box out on a tarp and let the mix (I use ProMix BX in mine and since it is already pH balanced I don't add any lime) dry out well, re-charge it with about 1/3 new fresh mix and I stir in 2 cups of time release fertilizer such as Osmocote, repack the box and plant.

I water as needed (I use drip irrigation down the tube) until first fruit set and after first fruit set I give the plants 1 gallon of mixed-up per label water soluble fertilizer each week in addition to the regular watering - just pour it down the tube. Some I have talked to use MG fertilizer at 1/2 strength, some prefer the MG Rose fertilizer, I prefer to use Earth Juice (Sea Blast Transition) on mine but any water soluble is probably ok depending on the nutrient ratings it has and if they need to be diluted or not.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Thanks guys,

Yeah I used a soiless mix, organic seed starting mix. They are about 12" tall; the camera was just really zoomed in on the stem.

They were all started together which is why it's so odd, and I've had a fan on them until the last 10 days they've been outside (planting Monday - Thursday)

I'll plant really deep with those guys because it can't hurt anything really. If they don't grow I guess I'll pull them after a couple months and plant something else.

Sincerely,
Martin

Yeah, don't worry too much about it. Just bury them with the ring below the new soil line and they'll catch right back up with the others.

homegardenpa, Actually, the salicylic acid (aspirin) is a good thing too. Salicylic acid is a plant hormone that regulates plant defenses against many pathogens. It has been demonstrated that adding salicylic acid at low levels to growing plants reduces disease. Here are a couple of reviews to get you into the literature:
http://biologie.univ-mrs.fr/upload/p189/salicylicreview.pdf
http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/bio/2009-0512-200821/NatChemBiol-Pieterse-2009.pdf

It seems Ms. Sandberg is ahead of the curve.

Her techniques are certainly not for everyone. She does strongly recommend soil testing. Kudos to you for doing it. Not enough people do it. If your methods give yields and quality that you are happy about AND at a price you like, why would you change?!?

Good luck with your tomatoes this year!

Carolyn - just got back from the farmer's market (I live in downtown Raleigh, btw) and brought home 3 dwarves - red robin, summertime green and sleeping lady; a Mexican Midget (of course!); black from Tula; rose quartz; and a speckled roma. Also a casper eggplant, and my boyfriend picked out a Vietnamese multi pepper and a NuMex heritage jalape�o. I'm excited about the dwarves (never grown a dwarf before) - already potted them into 6 gallon pots. Craig gave me the advice not to argue with you - said you're a teacher and you'll always be right. ;)

I'm with you on the pruning but mostly because I'm lazy. I will generally stay on top of the suckers and I'll prune all the lower leaves but I've found that Actin-iron, regular foliar application of Actinovate and mulch have kept disease down.

DWD2 - I think I'm going to use Carolyn's planting hole amendments. I'm a big fan of RootZone Mycorrhizal Fungi and I like the idea of the fish parts decomposing over time and continuing to nourish the tomatoes. My plants are about 18" tall so the hole will be pretty deep and I don't think I'll have to worry about scavengers. I'm doing all my eggplants and peppers in containers this year so I'll be able to give the tomatoes all the room they need.

Homegardenpa - I already have all that stuff laying around so I think I'm gonna do an experiment and plant a couple of the same varieties, one with Love Apple Farms' method and a control with my normal method (which, honestly, aside from the fish and aspirin is pretty similar).

well you did read it

There is a theory that pops up every so often that says you should remove all leaves on the vine except the top two (or something along that line). As the plant grows higher, you keep removing the older leaves. The plant is mostly bare stems.

I hope this is not what you read, ron2230.

There are two problems with this method. First, the leaves produce energy for growth and fruit. Fewer leaves ... less growth ... fewer fruit. The second problem is that without enough leaves to shade the fruit, there are likely to be sunscalded patches on the tomatoes:
photos of sunscalded tomatoes

I did a search on Anthrocyanins and found the following on wikipedia (yes I know that this may not be the best source): "Anthocyanins....are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue according to the pH. They belong to a parent class of molecules called flavonoids synthesized via the phenylpropanoid pathway; they are odorless and nearly flavorless, contributing to taste as a moderately astringent sensation.....In addition to their role as light-attenuators, anthocyanins also act as powerful antioxidants. ......Anthocyanins can be used as pH indicators because their color changes with pH. Anthocyanins are pink in acidic solutions (pH 7), and colourless in very alkaline solutions where the pigment is completely reduced."

SO, you may be able to determine the acidity of this tomato based on the color. This also may give clues to the developement of tomato acid/sugar balance in different climates. The J and L website states that: "The color is darkest in cooler weather and in full sunlight..." This statement suggests that tomatoes may produce less acidic fruit in cooler climates. Likewise anthrocyanins are used by plants as sunscreen, therefore darker in full sun. I happen to like the more acidic tomatoes myself, but the novelty is appealing.

Bosque Blue is a cross I made of OSU Blue/P20 and one of my favorite salad tomatoes. We have a farm so I try to breed new varieties for market which produce and sell well. I know several other people working on similar crosses and we trade seed and work to stabilize certain traits. That can take a while, but it is interesting and entertaining.

Can you also grow some winter cover crop, perhaps rye or favas? That will give you lots of organic matter that you don't have to buy or carry in.

Yeah, I can get rye. Favas is broad beans, right?

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention I had started them in the 50-cell Jiffy strips too, ripped those off (even though they took some roots with them) b/c I had planted densely (esp. the cherry toms - those seeds are tiny!) when I planted in bigger plastic cells (36 to a tray) and pots (what 4" pots I had). I also put them under 6500K CFL grow lights which I hadn't had them on before. I don't have enough grow lights to cover all my plants, so tomatoes get them for about 12-14 hours during the day and peppers get them all night (I try to move them about 6AM and then whatever time I think about it at night). All plants get some natural sunlight through a thermopane bay window (E-S-W facing) as well.

I was thinking about planting out mid-May, still may start moving them outside for a little during the day next week when it's in the 70's, but we've got a freeze warning tonight and who knows when the nights are going to get over 50 again so may have to wait til end of May.

HTH

We'll plant out probably around may 24 weekend. Yeah the tomato ones are the only ones worrying me right now... the peppers just started getting true leaves and look good, and the cukes I did too early I guess because they're just starting to look like the yellow flowers are coming out... They are pretty small still though so I think i'll be OK with those... The tomato's are starting to look a bit purple though now to....

and yeah in 4b (Ottawa, Canada) It's still way too cold to even consider planting out for at least 3-4 more weeks.

Thank you Dave! I was told your one of the best tomato disease specialists on here so I trust your opinion!! You actually diagnosed my original tomato plants with alternaria that also had some early blight (according to my county ext. agency) about a month ago. I ended up having to pull those plants up due to I couldn't get them trenched without breaking the stems and more of the growing tips were broke than I realized, so I just decided to start over. These are now the new plants and the only thing they have been spared of is a hailstorm and this time I was prepared with buckets! :) Lesson learned the hard way... don't plant when storms are forecasted on that day lol. We're supposed to have nice warm weather (80's day/60's night) with slight chance of rain the next few days, so hopefully that will help them recover.

Also, my transplants into the garden got some transplant shock and wilted/curled under somewhat but remained green so I'm not too concerned about that, but I was wondering if I was transplanting my plants correctly. since they were a little rootbound I have always been told to "rough up the rootball" by loosening the roots all over to prevent them from continuing to be rootbound. Is this the proper way to do it or should I just barely touch the roots just enough to untangle the roots on the bottom?

Thank You!!

ut I was wondering if I was transplanting my plants correctly. since they were a little rootbound I have always been told to "rough up the rootball" by loosening the roots all over to prevent them from continuing to be rootbound.

It's easy to get TOO aggressive with root balls. Only a small amount of disturbance is needed right where the worst of the root mass is. I can't come up with a really good analogy. What I do is use my 2 thumbs to tear the middle of the base of the root mass open just a bit. IMO good hole or trench prep is more important than tearing up the root mass.

Give them a good hole and the roots will do what root do.

Dave

Hi Betsy or whoever might still be reading this!

So my tomato plants are all between 40 - 50 cm tall now and ive started to sometimes put them outside when the weather is good and taking them back inside at night. A few of them have started to produce flower buds! (the buds are quite small still)

Is this too early?? I read elsewhere that I should pinch them off so they can concentrate on growing but that sounds a waste if these buds could flower and become fruit.

Currently, I fertilise every alternate watering. So one watering with a tomato specific feed followed by one normal watering, and then a feed again. Is this ok?

Thanks for any help! I hope I am doing ok so far with my first try!

Just leave the buds. They won't hurt anything and probably won't set fruit anyway. Fertilizing once a week is the usual recommendation. More often than that is normally not needed unless they are in very small pots that require daily watering.

Also keep in mind that moving plants in and out and in and out isn't hardening them off. They have to readjust each time. I don't know where you live but if the night time temps are in the 50s consistently then they can stay out. If not then it may be too early to harden them off.

Dave

I need to leave them alone and let them grow without overthinking it.

Good advice for all of us.

Spraying off aphids with a water hose gets them off the plants temporarily, but it does not kill them. They usually just climb back up. I have controlled aphids finger squashing, but when there is a lot like you are saying, that is tough to get them all. If it were me I would probably consider an insecticide. If you wanted to go organic, I knew a guy who would buy chewing tobacco, soak it in water, add a little Ivory soap and then spray the water on the plants/insects.

Right...they have been outside and hardened off for two weeks but it was in the forties when I got up and 60 was the forecasted temp so I finally put them out when the front porch got up to 50.

Thanks, Betsy, for that link.

I'm curious, Else, to get an update on how your tomatoes & basil are growing. Anything interesting to report?

Agree with Capo - MG starting mix is too water retentive - hence the black flies. The mix is heavy and is not letting your plants' roots breathe.

Look into Al's 5:1:1 mix. I have had the best results of my long growing career with his lighter mix. (Basically it's 5 parts aged pine bark mulch, 1 part sphagnum peat moss and 1 part perlite. Depending on the plant, I will exchange compost for the peat.)