16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Bah! Thanks to you both! Looks like I'll need to scrounge up a bigger pot. Slowly but surely, my collection of tomatoes threatens to take over my whole deck....

Glad to know it will taste good, and be worth the extra effort!!

Definitely not a determinate!

Indeterminate ALL the way. Prolific.

Cenesia,

Very nice photos of your blossoms! Here they are for others to see!

Betsy

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

Actually I checked and Im in zone 7B. NOAA is predeicting temps in the lower 40s overnight for the next week or so... . I dont think that would kill them though.

It's still a bit early to get those into the ground. Hold off at least two weeks. This is an oddball year for weather and it's not the norm. After five or six more years of this mildness then you could likely to be safe to get those maters into the ground in early April.

It's dead.

Chuck it. You have others, this scrawny one is not worth bringing into the garden. Sickly plants invite problems.

Thanks for the comments. To help you understand what happened, I probably need to explain my green house. My green house is a pop up variety, called spring gardener gable greenhouse shown in the link below. I set my greenhouse up so that the windows on one side face directly west and the ones on the other side face directly east. So in the early morning and late afternoon the sunlight shines on the east and west facing walls of the greenhouse. If the windows are open (rolled up) the light penetrates directly onto the plants for a few hours in the morning or afternoon. The windows do have screens underneath that partially dims the sun when opened but not fully. Today, I opened the windows early in the morning and the sun probably was directly on the plants through the window on the east for a couple hours at most but it was still enough to cause some sun damage. Some of the plants came up four days ago when we had a snowstorm come through, and yesterday and today were their first real sunny days. So they just weren't ready for that direct sun after the storm. There must be something that happens physiologically when they first sprout that determines the amount of pigments they develope right off the bat. I just speculate that if you could provide them with the right sunlight intensity right as they sprout they would then not need as much tenderness when hardening off. And like I said it was not a lot of damage, just a little light coloration on some of the leaves that faced the sun. So its not a big deal, they will all be fine. It just reminds me how slow you have to take it hardening off tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Green house

Incidentally, those tomato plants that sprouted a day or two before the storm, when conditions were sunny, did not suffer sun scald. Only those plants that sprouted during the storm had sun scald. This is anecdotal of course but of interest.

For bottom heat, see if you can find a string of old Christmas lights, or better, a rope light, and coil it under the tray. Cheap and easy.

Light above is harder. More is better, and on the floor is not really light. I know because I'm having the same issues. I know it's tough on a student budget, but using the window and the light would be better.

I've read about epsom salts for purple leaves. But yours don't look all that purple to me. There is so much information around. I'm sure you'll be fine. 8)

Since you're in a dorm, how about just taking the tray off the floor and letting it live in a higher place? The floor can be 5-10 degrees cooler than up near the ceiling. Also, it could be that your seed starting mix doesn't have much fertility, since often seedlings are moved into bigger and better environs once they are up and running. If you can't afford some plant food, maybe make friends with someone in the bio department, especailly their plant person, and maybe they will help you out. Or make a request for help from the homefront? Good luck!

Check out the Winter Sowing forum for more info too. It's here on GardenWeb. Also, wintersown.org has a ton of useful information on creating your own mini-greenhouses. I start my tomatoes, herbs, and peppers like this every year now. That way, you don't have to worry about hardening off your seedlings. It's pretty amazing.

You can also cut a 4 inch thin walled pvc pipe into 6 inch pieces and stick them around your plants. Then slide the soda bottle over the the plant and onto the pipe. It will give you a little more height, if needed. I use to do this before I started growing inside my high tunnels.

Jay

Hi dirtguy50 and welcome. No upper 40s won't hurt them. I tend to cover them if we get down to 40 since I know it will be colder than that at ground level.

We had such a nice long run of upper 50 and 60 degree nights that I decided to jump the gun with a few test plants too. After the next couple of nights the long-term forecast looks good unless we get hail storms.

Dave

Dave,
thanks for the help. The forcast is now saying 40 on Thurs night, so I may cover them that night at least.

Does seeing spider mites require some sort of magnification? from my careful inspection I can't see anything movie, but I may just not be able to see them.

Anyone else have a suggestion if it is not mites?

Mites are one of the smallest pests out there. Usually best to use one of those 20x or 30x magnifiers to see them really well. Another clue is that they prefer low humidity, and dry soil. If your humidity is high, it's likely something else.

I already started some new seeds after washing everything in bleach solution. Had to toss out almost all of the opalka, eva purple ball and san marzano to prevent further spread of the problem but thankfully there still is time. I also sprayed the other seedlings with safer soap last night and so far they look good.

I believe I got the aphids from miracle grow soil mix. I always clean everything thoroughly before starting new seeds so I know it isn't anything from inside the house. Definitely won't go for that mix again.

So Dave you think it is the aphids? That is actually much better than what I expected. I was totally thinking that it was some kind of bacterial/fungal problem and I will be doomed this year.

I contacted the local extension office and they said it could be: 1) ethylene damage 2) temperature fluctuation, 3) whitefly damage. I am pretty sure it isn't 3. I had bags of stuff ready for the compost bin near the seedlings and they were definitely decomposing quickly before I got them outside. Also had mangoes on the counter near them. So it is quite possible a freak ethylene damage.

I never heard of ethylene damage myself but evidently tomatoes are very sensitive.

Heat mat usually helps, but I think a controller is mandatory as most mats run way too hot without one. I have had no problem sprouting up to five year old seeds with regulated heat in a reasonable amount of time.

Interesting. I assumed the larger plumper seeds had more stored nutrients and were probably more "mature" and more developed when they were harvested.

This is the first time I've tried to grow tomatoes from seed, and it's difficult figuring out what could be wrong and how to fix it. Three different varieties have been under a grow light since sowing, and are now 8-12" tall ~ they've been transplanted into larger pots once.

Here's what's happening. Some curled leaves and some yellow leaves. There are a few that look just fine and strong; some that have 10% yellowing on leaves that look otherwise healthy; some that have 80% or more yellowing leaves (kind of striped with yellow, the plants look OK except for the yellowing); some that look good except for some curl in the newer, topmost leaves. Some leaves fell off of the yellow ones, or looked dead so I pinched 'em off.

I may have watered too much... and unfortunately, I also added fish emulsion (2 Tablespoons to 1 gallon of water) which, after reading this, appears to be way too much fertilizer for them.

So the next time I watered them, I made sure they were pretty dry and just used plain water and soaked them good. I've always avoided getting water on the leaves.

I also didn't have much air circulation going on, when they were under the grow lights. I also think the grow light may've been too close to the leaves. Additionally, they were really close together under that one grow light. After reading this, it occurred to me that they might need more room. I guess tomatoes need elbow room and fresh air, just like everything else :-)

Today I am setting them outside in a large cold frame, plenty of elbow room, and there's a light bulb installed (to keep it a bit warmer inside the cold frame).

The tomatoes don't look like a lost cause, yet. I'm hoping they will recover in their new environment. I'm praying they don't have a fungal disease.

Wish me luck... and oh, any comments or advice would be really appreciated.

Bigtomato ~ what does the epsom salts do?

Thanks all for the helpful comments on here. My Roma's looked puny and yellow so i decided to search. i think I am over watering. All my other plants are nice, green and growing, including other tomato varieties, but the flat of Roma's is not doing much. I use recycled materials for my pots, but have drainage holes, etc. Anyhow, great advice. thanks!