16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I just bought some new plants today at the San Gabriel Nursery. $1.95 each so I got four, two for my mom and two for myself. Planting one in a big pot and one in the ground where the old one was.

Here is the San Gabriel Nursery web site if you are curious -

http://sgnurserynews.com/site/

I have before tried to cut suckers off the plant and replant and hope it rooted but no luck. I gotta try again.

Another option is bending down a long stem so it contacts the soil (perhaps 12-18" from the tip), weighting it with something (the proverbial brick, landscape staples, whatever), and keeping that soil damp. You'll get roots.

Suckers are supposed to root better in soil than in water.

Pinch off any buds so the new plant can concentrate on making roots.

I get mine out as much as I can during the day. Seems like real sun and a little fresh air makes them stronger and healthier.
Just be sure to start slowly and gently. No direct sun and use a wind break first of all.
I bring them in at night unless temps are above 45 degrees.
I'm lucky enough to have two seedling racks with three shelves leftover from my medical clinic, used for my supply closet. I use one indoors with lights and outdoors which I can roll under the porch r out into direct sun.

As most posters above say. A simple guideline is to start hardening them off on the last frost date, then plant them 1-2 weeks later depending on the 14 day forecast. Start in shade. You can start sooner if you wish as other posters have mentioned, but the benefit is minimal over the long term, and you may have to start from scratch if you get a daytime cold snap. A fan on the seedlings while still indoors helps strengthen them up for transplant though.

Since you have cardboard between the leaves and the ground, I would leave it. Especially since they are already so big.

I really appreciate you all responding with such good information. The amount of shade my whole yard is an issue here. This area does get about 4-5 hours of direct sun in the mornings and indirect all afternoon.
Thanks again,

Keith

MG Garden Soil compacts and drains poorly. Even with ideal conditions if used in containers it results in root rot and a very stressed plant. Stressed plants are much more prone to stunted growth, nutrient deficiency, reduced production, pests, and diseases.

It's Ok to add to an in-ground garden but definitely NOT for containers. Hopefully you will not leave the plants in it in pots, especially such small pots. That size will work for one of the dwarf varieties but not for an indeterminate like Early Girl.

Dave

Yes, you goofed. But I've read posts from people that did the same and their tomatoes grew fine. If it is a problem, your tomatoes are going to grow extremely slowly and will ultimately probably only produce a tomato or two.

You can take your chances with what you bought or get a bag of potting mix instead of the garden soil.

To grow an Early Girl, you are probably going to want a 5-gallon bucket. Not much chance at success with a 12-17" pot except to get them started.

You don't need to till to grow a tomato. Just dig a little hole and stick it in there and water it.

You want the plants to be gradually acclimated to the conditions where they will be growing. The cold frame does not accomplish this. You may want to pop the in there if there is a short, unexpected dip in conditions, but otherwise you want to harden them off, gradually, outside.

Susan, you took the words right off my post that never went thru. I totally agree with both posts you offered.

The only consolation I might add is that once plants have been in the cold frame for a few weeks the transition to the garden is smooth one with little added care needed.

See if this works, pictures of what I am talking about.

I can see the pictures fine. The funny thing about cotyledons is that they act different from other leaves due to the fact they are not true leaves but storehouses that feed the growth of the rest of the plant, so they will always decline. That being said, I am concerned about the lack of true leaves. Other then that, the stems look ok. I would suggest you just cut back on the watering and see what happens. Don't give any fertilization until they are much larger.

Anyone else? I could really use some advice. This is my first experience with early blight and I want to make sure I'm treating it sufficiently. I'm using Serenade because it seems to treat many different plant diseases. But if it's not the right stuff to use I'd like to get on the correct regimen.
Thanks,
Don

Sorry but that isn't Early Blight. It is most likely Bacterial Spot given the black stem sections. Copper-based fungicides will 'help' (a little) but the best approach since it is so early in the season is to dispose of the plants and replace them.

Do some research into the disease for many pics to compare to your plants.

Dave

hehehe my husband was able to get free tickets for the tennis matches from where he works... Though he didn't since we don't watch tennis...I was obsessed about tennis years ago but for some reason lost interest in it...

Well, I pinched off all flowers over the next two weeks and then as the plant grew I decided to leave the flowers because the weather was getting hotter.

And now that the nights have consistently been in the upper 70s/lower 80s (it sometimes reaches under 75F but probably just for a couple of hours before sunrise) all the blossoms are dropping. I tried keeping a fan on the plant at night to make it cooler but that didn't work. :(

I can't bring it indoors because first, it is in a 45 gallon pot so it is heavy, and second, it is up on my roof and would be too heavy to bring it down and take back up every night.

I should have thought about the upcoming weather and left those early flowers even if it only meant I get a few tomatoes.... as opposed to none at all.

Well, I learned some lessons from this growing season and hopefully I can get successful plants early on so that I actually have tomato-making plants right in the middle of the winter here.

Dogs really go for organic ferts. They are convinced there's a bone in there somewhere!

I hate it when dogs get BER. ;)

Dogs love organic fertilizers for sure, but they don't even have to have bone or fish or blood in them. My dog loves to snarfle up anything poop based. Especially chicken poo, though horse is also favorite. Thus one of many reasons we have a strict "no dogs in the garden" policy. Also no dogs in the compost heap.

Fwiw, I've not planted Yellow Pear for many years simply because (imo) they're not worth the space as Dave and others point out w/ their mealy texture and bland taste.

Last year, my local nursery had a flat of mis-marked 4" pots so instead of getting Lemon Boy, which do well here in Orange County, I got Yellow Pears. Though fairly prolific and 'cute', which is why many restaurants use them in salads, I simply gave them away to neighbors along w/ some 'more desirable' varieties.

YMMV .....

"Yellow Pear sure isn't considered a good tomato. It is regularly rated as not worth the space to grow it."

Hmm. Interesting. Well, if they don't turn out to be big plants, I guess they made that worth decision on their own! I think my other cherries are going to start shading them pretty quickly.

I'll be forwarned, but I don't see any such consensus against them on the other forums I follow.

Carolyn - When somebody says they are growing Red Brandywine from TGS I feel compelled to distinguish what I am growing by adding the word Landis. Sorry if that created confusion. I havent grown the others either so I dont know if there are leaf diffferences. I can say this about the San Marzono Redorta leafs, definately skinny and pointy with more indentations on the leaf parameter. My Brandywine, although reg leaf is a fatter leaf, with fewer indentations.

Thanks for the insight. I'm glad to be part of this forum!

Thanks

Brian in Md

I bought a couple of Husky Cherry Reds at WM a few weeks ago, tempted by our own warm March to hope for some ripe fruit before I can expect any from my still-in-the-basement seedlings (which will be late, as usual). We had lower temps than predicted one night last week, and one of the plants has a 1" white spot on a top leaf.

Your plants are probably too large for OJ cartons or 2-liter bottles, but Capoman's suggestions will work, also old sheets or any spare fabric, up-ended buckets or trash containers, etc. You don't want to risk the temps being a little lower than normal and reducing your plants to stumps....

We're supposed to have lows of 36, 30, and 36 the next three nights. My tomato was damaged on a night when the low was supposed to be 36, so I'll be protecting them starting tonight.

Agree with missingtheobvious. Take whatever steps you need in your situation even when temperatures within a few degrees of frost are forecast. Remote thermometers with alarms can be handy if you are willing to get up in the middle of the night to save plants. These are the risks of planting out early. Set them a few degrees above freezing to give you a bit of a buffer to work with.