16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I would think pill bugs before I thought cutworms only because they seem to be everywhere. These bugs seem to have a million regional names so I included a pic below. I know some people think they won't do that, however I have watched one of these bugs cut down a healthy tomato seedling just as you have described.

You mean one of my favorite bugs as a kid, the rolly poly, can cut down a tomato plant? I did not know that.
According to Wikepedia, they can indeed forage on tender seedlings. And they do have lots of common names, although they will always be rolly polys to me:
Common names for woodlice vary throughout the English-speaking world. A number of common names make reference to the fact that some species of woodlice can roll up into a ball. Other names compare the woodlouse to a pig.

Names include: "armadillo bug",[2] "boat-builder" (Newfoundland, Canada),[3] "carpenter" or "cafner" (Newfoundland, Canada),[4] "cheeselog" (Reading, Berkshire),[5] "cheesy bug" (North-West Kent),[6] "doodlebug" (also used for the larva of an antlion),[7] "pill bug" (usually applied only to the genus Armadillidium),[2] "potato bug",[8] "roly-poly",[8] "sow bug",[9] "roll up bug",[10] "chuggypig" or "chucky pig",[11] "slater",[12] "gramersow" (Cornwall),[13] "butcher boy" or "butchy boy" (Australia),[14] and "wood bug" (British Columbia, Canada).[15]

I have some. It usually takes one to two weeks to arrive in
Canada. You can e-mail me if interested.

I've seen Burpee Seeds for sale at Safeway and Zellers. I know at Safeway, there is a display in the floral department.

Definitely not damp off. Actually they look like pretty healthy little newly sprouted tomatoes, as Homgardenpa said. They are leaning reaching for the light, or from the fan blowing constantly on them, but that is normal. 6" is a bit far to have the light, they may wind up leggy because of it.

There is no reason to fertlize seedlings, but it sounds like your solution may be so weak that it isn't a problem, though I did see a couple of crispy edges, but that looked like seed coat issues rather than fertilizer burn.

What makes you think they are sick?

Betsy

Agree with the others that basically they look ok, not great, but ok. But you do need to lay off the fertilizer bit completely. You can dilute feed after they develop their second set of true leaves if you wish but not before.

When you compare your plants in the peat pellets to these and see the differences then it's clearly ferticube related. One of the issues with both, and especially with ferticubes, is that they surface-dry so quickly. Makes it look like they need watering when they don't. So they both tend to get way over-watered.

Next year consider using the recommended alternative to both - seed starting mix in small containers - for best results.

Now with the ferticubes - do you plan to grow these hydroponically? If not you will discover that ferticubes don't transplant into soil at all well. They aren't intended to. So soak them well before transplanting and bury them deeply into a good loose soil-less mix so the roots can get around and out of the core cube easily for best results.

Dave

Well, first thing I see happening is someone spoiling their cat. Next Couple I can't tell. Last one sure looks like your tomato plant has Early Blight.
Not only reemove all leaves touching the ground. Remove all that are heavily infested with the brown spots. and spray the whole plant with a fungicide. Otherwise your plant will produce only a few tomatyoes before dying.

thank u, I think Ive decided I agree with the Early Blight and also may have a nitrogen issue. I will get right on it, again thanks so much!

Thanks for the replies. I was able to trade for some seeds. I see there are some mixed reviews of this variety, but most seem positive. I also realize that this forum is often heirloom-centric. So if hybrid variety "x" has good disease resistance, looks red and round, produces well, keeps well, and has less flavor than a Brandywine or Cherokee Purple, it's obviously not worth growing.(can you sense the sarcasm?) I just named two of my favorite tasting tomatoes, so I'm not hating on heirlooms. There are many good ones, but I have always had better luck with hybrids.

Totally Tomatoes lists the Parks Whopper CR Improved Hyb. as being earlier and tastier than the original. I never had problems with the original version. When Burpee came out with their "Huge" Steak Sandwich variety a few years ago I planted 8 of them right next to the 8 Whoppers. I expected huge 2-3 lb. Steak Sandwich tomatoes but the Whoppers averaged a few ounces larger and out-produced the SS. That being said I just didn't plant any this year yet.

Regarding your suspect of heirloom bias- it probably does exist here but you got to learn to ignore it. I wouldn't grow heirloom tomatoes if my market customers wern't so enthusiastic about them. I think I am maxed out having started 165 varieties this year but it's the hybrids that I've planted for my first tunnel tomato planting-414 plants; they set fruit better in extreme conditions and the fruit is almost 100% marketable.

Recently I have seen many pro Indian Stripe posts so I ordered it yesterday. Saw an amazing pic somewhere of a 19oz fruit that was awesome. Most are only half that size. But supposedly it produces well. Hope so. I plan to have 3 plants and 3 C Purple.

Paul Robeson is a pretty tomato but for flavor the smaller version that Sand Hill lists as Pol Robson is hard to beat. It has only 4 oz. fruits much like Black Prince. Also Cherokee Purple, like Indian Stripe, is a better producer than most other Blacks but Cherokee Chocolate is more stunning in color and produces well. There are days when I'll eat more Black Cherry tomatoes while picking than SunSugar. They aren't as sweet but have a rich flavor that sets them apart from other cherry types.

Yes, I sent it to both places. Mike at Victory mentions my name, but Adam doesn't, and actually no need to. I also sent it for trial to Glenn at Sandhill so it's available there as well, and if I go back to Tania's tomato base site I find that there are other places as well.

Tania hasn't finished updating seed sites for many varieties b'c with over 3000 varieties now having a page it's a huge amount of work.

And as she says it appears to be a strain of Stupice. There was a very long thread elsewhere about it and what it really is, and I think the consensus is that it probably is a strain of Stupice, but many of us like it much better than Stupice.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Moravsky Div

Thanks Carolyn, it is really nice to have responses from a true expert, and someone who is on the front lines of introducing new tomato varieties. I'll give her a go this year and see if it does well here in Utah. Its like any variety, some do well in some regions but not in others. I have even experienced seed of the same variety from one source perform different than seed from another source.

Kevinitis, I have 45 different tomato varieties, about 150 plants, almost all heirloom, that I have just started from seed. I am going to pot them up into 3.5" square pots this week. I am using a commercial potting mix that nurseries carry here in Northern California called Gardner & Bloome Blue Ribbon Blend Premium Potting Soil. I have used Sunland GroLine Premium Growers Mix in the past with excellent results. The wells are filled to ~1 inch from the top by sprinkling the soil in and shaking to level. NO packing! I put 3 seeds per well and cover with ~0.25 inch of the potting soil gently sprinkled over the seeds. The cells are gently watered 3 times with 15 minutes or so between waterings. I use a hose with a mist sprayer. The goal is to thoroughly wet the potting soil without compacting it. The tray is then covered with Saran wrap to maintain moisture. They sprout best at ~75 degrees F. Since I do this in my rather cool garage, I put the tray on a Seedling Heat Mat. I am very careful to check the temp with a digital thermometer as you do NOT want soil temps above 85 or below 60. So, you may have to put a thin towel or 2 between your pad & tray to get your best temp. Of course, if you can do this in your house in a room at 70 degrees or so, you can ignore the heat pad stuff. Check twice a day for sprouts. The second you see one remove the Saran wrap & start placing the tray outside in the Sun during the day. If you are doing it all inside, make sure you get a fan blowing on the new plants while they are under the grow light. Continue to water the plants daily. When you get several sets of leaves, transfer them to a 3.5" or 4" pot taking care to plant them deeper than they are growing after sprouting.

You can find a LOT of great tomato tips at the Love Apple Farm website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Love Apple Farm on Tomatoes

DWD2, thank you for posting your methodology. It always good to see how others grow their seeds and compare methods. I have grown my own starts (36+ tomato varieties) for the past 5 years. Before last year, I had not had too many plant health problems, except for the first year when my light system was not close enough to my plants. In that year I had problems with leggyness. I strongly suspect that my problem last year was the seed starter mix, but it could have been a few other things. I may have introduced disease into the first batch by incorporating compost into the mix. I think this is unlikely because in other batches and other treys I did not use compost in the mix but still had the same problems. Also, once the plants were in the ground they recovered and grew well the rest of the summer. If it were a disease I would have expected that the plants would still have had problems after planting, which they did not. Tomatoes are really amazing in what they can take early on and still produce well. For example, I had a mouse eat all the leaves of two plants shortley after they were in the ground. There were only stems left and I thought they were done, but I did not pull them out. Both plants sprouted new leaves again and became bushy healthy plants.

I was astounded. I have had others suggest that with an approximately 50/50 mix of vermiculite and peat, I may have had water retention problems that suffocated the roots. Thats possible, but I was pretty careful about my watering. I can't totally rule that out. It may also have been too many nutrients from a dilute solution of fertilizer at watering as the problems occured shortly after that. I have read that new seedlings don't need many nutrients becuase they get what they need from the seeds/cotyledons. Some have even suggested that you will cause more problems by fertilizing than just not fertilizing. The reason why I fertilized is because we had a number of storms in May that pushed my planting date back 3-4 weeks longer than our average frost date. So I fertilized a little. I may also have had root binding problems. There is another possiblity which DWD2 suggested. I used a seed heating matt for the first time last year and most of the tomatoes had it under them for at least a day. So I may have over-heated the soil a little and damaged the roots. However on the last seed trey that got started late, I did not use the heat matt because I suspected it may have caused the problems. Yet I still had the same problems in the last trey. My strongest suspicion is still the starter mix.

I have read the ingredient list on several seed starting mixes. In most cases, they usually contain peat (as the main medium plus it has high cation exchange capacity) + vermiculite (for micro nutrient exchange and water retention) + lime (to balance the PH of the peat). They sometimes include perilite, but sometimes not (example Jiffy), they also sometimes include a few other things (mycorrhizae for example or a source of nutrients). The main ingredient that I was missing that most starter mixes have is lime for ph balance. I could not find lime in any stores in Utah at the time. They do sell it here, but it is not a common soil amendment in Utah because most Utah soils are slightly alkaline (PH 7.8-8.2). So most folks would not want to add lime. This year I am interested to try mixing my own starter again but I wanted actual recipies to get an idea of the right proportions to use. Also I had no idea that mycorrhizae was available so I am defintley going to use that in my mix. Alternatively I could just buy a pre-made starter mix, but I wanted to save money and its a learning experience as well.

Tnanks for the info. Stuart I may leave 3 or 4 out of this list. my planted list is in the garden hot house. I will add 6 to 10 for a late crop .BW Red- BW croatia--Rose--Limbaugh`s--Stump--Ponderosa--Crimson Cushion=- Wins all--Brandy boy--Big Beef-Spudkee-chero Chocolate==chero purple- BLack krim Indian stripe-Kbx--( sure i missed 4or5)
Dig, thanks garden is 20+ yrs. old==(75x 100)Started with 20 cu yds. of natures helper tilled into good clay soil base. I have added 5 to 12 40 lbs. bags of black kow each year, plus home made compost. spray one gal of fish and seaweed emulision most years. Keep PH 6to 6.5. I`m 99and 44/100% organic. I have to cheat from time to time with white fly`s. THANK BILL

Then you will be in great shape Bill. Good Gardening!

Dave

Thanks for the advice everyone! I will keep this in mind when transplanting the rest of my tomatoes and peppers.

So if I understand you right Dave, I can still use the 18oz cups, just only fill them halfway with potting mix and add more as the plants grow??

Also, I seem to have a problem with my recently transplanted tomatoes. The stems and leaves are starting to curl under/down on the majority of the plants. I believe they have probably doubled in size since I posted the last pics. Otherwise they are still nice and green and healthy looking. I have tried to increase the lighting for them to 14-16 hours and will begin the hardening off process Sunday. I would like to be able to move them out to my cold frame 24/7 by Thursday or Friday. I'm just trying to figure out why they are curling down. Any ideas?

Thanks!

the purple is often causes by chilly soil,, also the plants need 16hr of light, and 8 hrs dark .. not providing the dark will also cause purple growth , but it sounds more likely to be cold soil .. the plant has trouble taking up phosphorous if the soil remains below a certain temperature.