16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
If they are outside, water every 5 to 7 days, if no rain. after a rain wait 5-7 days to water. fertilizer is good. you want to give them a side dressing after 1st fruit set. some people feed them at two week intervals with mircle grow half strenth. Good luck Bill
Thank you for responding Marianna. I mainly started this thread because of my frustration about the lack of communication from your company regarding shipping when the other companies I order from let you know when it's shipped & expected. And yes, in the past years I've had varieties that didn't germinate at all.
My email and vmail to you were about when to expect seed as I don't have a lot of spare time to start seed & want to start it all at the same time. I had already received my seed from the other places. To most on here this probably isn't an issue. It eventually did arrive so no biggie, but a simple email saying "It's been shipped, expect it on Tuesday" would have possibly nipped my vent in the bud.
NOW I have to eat crow. Apparently Matt's Wild Cherry is a late bloomer. After 4 weeks I now have a few tiny little seedlings.
Suncity - the main reason I have continued to order seed from her over the years is that she has a really diverse variety of all tomatoes. It's easier/cheaper to order from one site, even if they've had some not viable in the past.
Willys - Where did I trash anyone's reputation or "attempt to stir up the masses"? That's just silly to say- It's a freaking tomato board. Dude, you need to get a daytime job or something.
I don't think she's a horrible person. I'm sure she is a wonderful individual!
I didn't "trash" her business. I posted my experience/opinions.
I attempted to communicate and didn't get a response. I've had germination problems in the past & won't order from her again.
My experience, my opinions. :)
If they have been outside in a cold frame then they could easily have contracted Alternaria. It is a different disease from Early Blight and you can read all about it on any of the tomato disease websites. But no you do not want to use those plants. They will just spread the disease - the fungus is air borne. They need to be bagged and disposed of away from the garden.
As to fertilizer, that is your choice out of the 100's available, both organic and synthetic. Most do a hole prep including fertilizer before planting, some use liquids, and some side dress the plants with a granular. But either way you have to feed them something and do so regularly.
As far as my plants in the garden, should I pull them up and just plan to replant with the new seedlings I have or should I keep trying to save them?
Yes I realize it is stress from the weather but the damage has been done and they can't be left like they are in the pics. They will just collapse. So just as I answered above - Just trench them in - "lay them over on the soil and bury all that naked stem under several inches of soil. Just leave the tops above ground and move your cages over. Water them in well. Give then a week then feed them well."
If the weather cooperates and you feed them within 2 weeks you won't recognize them.
Dave
Thank you so much. I will work on getting the tomatoes planted tomorrow or Tuesday, although I was going to try that when I planted them initially and chickened out because I felt like I was going to break them lol.
Now my worst fear question... since it is alternaria and I had these plants in the cold frame with other tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants... will they all get it? Is there anything I can do to prevent further spread, especially since I planted out 2-3 plants in the garden that are now showing signs as well? I will pull up any with signs and dispose of the other ones right away.
As far as fertilizer also, should I worry about high nitrogen ferts now or just feed them anything at this point? I have 5-10-10 granules, 8-8-8 granules, liquid soluble miracle gro. I know high nitrogen is bad for them for the most part, but should I be concerned with that right now? I am sorry for all the questions but I think nothing is better than hearing from someone who has experienced this before :)
Dave, I have thought of using the planter for flowers or whatever but I guess I'm just stubborn. I just keep hoping to find some veggie that works in the durned thing... "Patio" sure didn't. (That's also why most of my tomatoes are in the garden, cause if they were only on the deck I wouldn't get many!) My youngest loves to see the tomatoes growing on the deck too, so I'll keep trying... thanks!
Marcy
My dad had a habit of over fertilizing his tomatos albeit in the ground. He usually overdid the nitrogen with bloodmeal. They were so dark green colored they almost looked blue. However, once they got their feet braced, they exploded with blossoms and tomatos. Moral of the story is when you repot don`t worry about the manure you used, just wouldn`t add more.
Hi Jay,
To answer your questions:
When can I expect true leaves to appear? Your first ones should be appearing any time now, probably in the next three or four days. (You might be able to see them starting if you look in the angle where the two cotyledon leaves meet.)
Do these look "too leggy"? ... It's not too late for me to re-seed. and When should I pot up? They do look like they could be a bit leggy, but I wouldn't be too concerned about that at this time, since you will pot up when they have their second set of true leaves. Just plant them deep when you pot up.
And to what size pots? I use 3" "Cowpots î" and they carry through just fine to 6 - 8 weeks when I put them in the garden (actually, they last until 10 or more weeks if I'm late getting them out because of cold weather like last year or other issues.)
When do I start using fertilizer? What kind? Don't. They should be fine with just what is in a quality soilless seed starting medium and then a good soilless growing medium. (Don't get one that says soil, it is not for use in pots and says so on the bag. It's too heavy and does not drain well enough for pots.)
When I do pot up, should I bury them deep like I normally do when transplanting into the garden? Yes. Some people pot up several times. I prefer to do it a single time, partly because of the number of plants I grow, and partly because I want a plant at 6-8 weeks that is 8-12" tall. Plants that are younger seem to adapt to hardening off much better than larger older ones. I have tried both and the smaller ones usually catch up and even pass the larger plants in short order.
I hope that helps.
Betsy
Here is a link that might be useful: How do I start tomatoes from seed?
Catching the ball from Remy......
It depends on which seed companites you're talking about. The smaller family run ones sometimes produce their own seed, which they usually do by fermentation, or they may subcontract out seed production or they may buy wholesale off the shelf, or a combination of those methods.
And here I'm talking about OP varieties.
Hybrid seed is produced for the US and elsewhere in several countries and that hybrid seed may be treated with TSP ( tri-sodium phosphate) or acid and that can produce seeds that are darker in color and have no fuzz and are flat.
Nothing at all wrong with those seeds but they can be smaller b'c of the treatments,etc.
TSP is often used b'c it's known that it can cleanse the seeds of TMV ( tobacco mosic virus) which can be a problem still, especially in large commercial greenhouses where it's spread mechanically, not by the usual insect vector.
Hope that helps.
Carolyn
Did the transplant5 days ago deeply in cups in Jiffy mix.
The roots were almost non-existent and they just don't seem to be coming around yet.
Have had whole lower branch with leaves on some get really soft and fall off at the stem.
Also some of those white spots are raised above the leaf surface and some of the white spots are actual raise lines.
They also don't look to be growing but just sitting there.
The raised white spot thing and the soft leaf with branch falling off makes no sense, well to me anyway. Can't really find anything googling etc.
Wondering if anyone has seen raised white spots on their seedling leaves.
Have re-sown everything in case. Have 3 or 4 weeks before I can pant outdoors. Oh well. If the new ones do ok what's a week or two.
I didnt have any particular problem and always have my seedlings outside at least during the day as soon as they sprout. It has been very windy and wind can really do a number on any potted plant. I usually let my seelings get bigger than is recommended before I pot them up. When I take them out too young I think they can get overwatered too easily. Seems like too much soil in relation to small little plant. LInda
Best guess is 1) transplant shock, 2) bad mix since it is a soil not a soil-less mix (name is Supersoil Potting Soil) and it is just beefed up Hyponex and most know the history of the problems with Hyponex when it comes to containers), 3) trying to rush hardening off or not monitoring the details given the weird weather - we have to adjust to the changes because the plants can't and lots of us all over the country are having to adjust this year.
Best chance for salvage - transplant them inside into a good soil-less mix (one that says 'mix') on the label and don't use one with moisture control added as that just creates more problems. Then keep them inside for 48 hours til they recover from transplant shock and then they can go outside for an hour or so at a time slowly increasing the time as the weather permits.
Hope that helps.
Dave
And MTO is correct, that is normal drying of the blossom after they are pollinated. Blossom drop looks more like the picture on this page: abscised flowers
There is some great info on Keith's site: Online Tomato Vine
Betsy
Kim, no, I've never heard of it and I did some searching for it as Gold of China and China Gold and all I came up with were lots of links to tomato paste made in China with gold tomatoes, but no info about any specific varieties.
IS it possible for you to contact the person with whom the trade was made?
Carolyn
Hi and welcome to the forum -
I don't pluck. I start 10-20 in each cell/cup and then transplant them all to their own cells. And "plucking" isn't usually recommended because doing so can damage the roots of the remaining plants. If you don't want to transplant and grow the others just snip them off at the soil level with a small scissor.
As to when to snip? Any time really but I would wait until the first set of true leaves begin to form and it becomes really clear which is the best one. Don't worry about where it sits in the cup since they will need to be transplanted later anyway.
Hope this helps. And if you haven't already seen it be sure to check out the How to Grow Tomatoes from Seed FAQ here.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato from Seed FAQ
The heirloom plants I bought were 3.75 in 4 inch pots, but I only bought 5, I paid for 4 and got 1 free so it wasn't too bad. If I grew dozens of plants like some people here I wouldn't be able to afford to buy plants.
We used to buy some from nurseries, but had too many issues with diseases and pests. Big box stores are some of the worst. Much better off starting your own indoors. My wife never liked doing seed for tomatoes and peppers as she was only using the window sill. For several years, we have been using fluorescent lights and heat mats and now have much fewer problems and much less cost, and more variety. If you are willing to look after plants when they are big, why not when they are small? It's a great break from winter starting starting seeds.