16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Yes we grow in them all year around. In the summer, we pull up the sides, open up the endwalls and let the breeze blow through. We usually have a good breeze all summer so that helps. But it can get warm in there. I would like to buy some shade cloth and use that to keep temps down, but I haven't made that investment yet.
Jay
Terrybull: I think you mean to choose one of the second, third or fourth steps, not to take all your steps? I've never had leaf minors, but I have had other pests that any one of those last three steps would have eliminated. I particularly like spinosad, which seems gentle on the plants but deadly for most leaf sucking and chewing insects. Be sure not to apply any insecticide in full sun. I do mine in early evening.
thank you for the replies, i will try your suggestions...is it possible for the plant to recover at this point? alot of the leaf look like the photos except the new one forming at the top. this is the first time anything has been planted in that garden bed.
I noticed several of your pots have more than one seedling in them. At this stage (one or two pairs of true leaves) I think there should be no more than one plant per pot. Fertilizing seedlings often causes problems for me. I find its better to keep potting up to larger containers and use a quality soilless potting mix with some fertilizer in it. Bury the stem up to the first or second set of leaves to encourage more roots. I don't fertilize until they go outside because of the risk of burn. I think what you describe as sunburn could be fertilizer burn.
Hey! Thanks for the input Ohiofem!=) My tomatoes had 2 seedlings per pot, and I just culled them to one each today! Much more room for them to spread now!=D Anyways, it totally could be fertilizer burn! But only one leaf is like that, so I don't think it's too bad... I hope!=P I'm definitely going to be holding off the fertilizers like everyone has said, until they're ready for it. Well, hope my seedlings perk up soon!=)
Our temps were lower than predicted (grrr) and the covering I used wasn't enough for 27 degrees. I have two Husky Cherry Reds which were about 9" tall and have now lost their leaves. The lower stems are still green. I'll keep watering them and see what happens next.
Lost most of the leaves on the figs (right next to the house), all the new growth on the spring-flowering camellia (right next to the house), all the new growth on the dwarf Burford hollies on the side away from the house, much of the new growth on the inkberries I planted last fall, and most of the (very new) leaves on the young walnut trees.
Of course this is NOTHING compared to the infamous 2007 freeze.
So far the apples and cherries (which had already flowered and set fruit) seem okay.
The two podocarpus (which some people say shouldn't even be grown in anything colder than zone 8) are just fine -- even the new growth. Go figure.
I am not a tomato expert, but geraniums (pelargoniams) get edema when they are in a cool greenhouse and cannot expire water quickly enough. They completely recover when put out into the warm sun. Can you put your plants out in the sun for about a week to see if they recover?
I didn't ever figure out what was on my tomatoes, but went ahead and put them all in the ground. I had two plants die on me last year (both Green Zebra plants), and everything else turned out completely fine once I put them in the ground. It was an incredibly hot summer, so I had some issues with lack of pollination come July, but overall, they were safe as they were to be put in the garden (as far as I know anyway!). Hope that helps!
Here is a link that might be useful: Megan's Messy Garden
I got the Flower House FHSP300 SpringHouse Greenhouse. It is advertised to be able to fit two 6 foot tables in the greenhouse, but I've found that I can't zipper it closed because the table fits too tight from front to back. So, I have one 6' table and a card table in there along with a ceramic heater and a fan. It was very easy to put up - just shake it open and it actually popped up quite easily. The poles were easy to assemble too, it probably took about 20 minutes to assemble in all.
I devote 1.5 of my stationary tunnels to early tomatoes. 200 big tomatoes and 60 cherries. Then I use the other 4.5 for other crops. This year one is for peppers, the other one is early greens and onions. Then the movable tunnels are for carrots, greens, cucumbers, onions, zucchini and tomatoes. I am trying something different this year. I am planting 4 succession plantings of tomatoes. The first one is the largest and the remaining will be about 80 to 100 plants. I am doing all of these in high tunnels to keep the size of my tomatoes up this year.
Jay
The best place on LI that I know of, via others who are also on LI, is Hicks Nursery which I've linked to below.
They are said to carry a very large selection of heirloom tomato varieties.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Hicks Nursery
In a word: yes.
Betsy
You can save seeds from the hybrids too but they might produce offpsring with slight differences, but some may also be stable. You won't know until you grow them out, and then you save seeds from the best of the best, repeat year to year to develop a set of seed the reproduce truly with the chracteristics you like.