16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
I don't know about others but I have drip setup where I put flag drippers, 4GPH. I figured tomatoes need 4 to 6 Gallons of water per week depending on soil conditions. I have set the timer to water once every 3 days, for 30 minutes. It keeps the soil moist throughout the watering cycle and never gets dry. I plant tomatoes on raised masonry planters that has sand/clay and lot of compost fill. The reason I water every 3 days is because the same waterline on same timer waters my entire veggies garden with 5 other planters. I had to find balance between eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes.
I have a south facing sunroom in upstate NY. I am planning to keep the windows to the house opened so the sunroom stays warm at night. It gets warm enough during the day. Do you think I will have enough light to prevent leggy seedlings if I have an oscillating fan blowing on them from day 1? I origionally planned on starting my seeds 2nd week in april, but it's been so warm up here, I thought maybe I could do a small batch a month earlier to see if I could get lucky and get a jump on part of the season. Also the sunroom has south and west windows, so I get good light in there from 10:00 AM till about 5:00 right now, it will be until about 6:00 in another month.
I do have a good-sized double-layered hoophouse, though even before I had that I still started tomatoes quite early, transplanting out under wall-o-waters. One pre-hoophouse year I had ripe 'Early Girl' tomatoes by the end of May.
In retrospect though I might should've held off the bulk of the planting until this month, which would have had the later-planted seedlings at about six weeks for giving away to people without gardening structures around our frost-free date of ~April 15. But we'll see how the Nebraska weather looks then. I've only been doing seedlings for other people for a few years, so I'm still working out all the kinks.
The Siberia and Wisconsin 55's, plus the ones for my own family's consumption get seeded early though, and go into the hoophouse (or under water cloches) well in advance of the frost-free date. Before too long they'll likely be living outside, too, in the hoophouse or in the 4' x 8' heavy-duty cold frame supplemented with a seedling heat mat.
I broke a san marzano redorta tomato plant that was about 6 inches tall and about 3 months old that I was about to transplant in my garden outside last season. I was left with a 3 inch top broken part at transplant...so I just put it in a hole in my no till brand new back yard area. It grew without any fertilizer..no kidding, into this beautiful plant...it had a good amount of fruit on it, but blight killed it all.
I believe that clicking on articles like this one just encourages more of the same. This 'click-harvesting' can be seen in action in the 'Spotlight' section of Google News. Check out the provocative titles there, but don't click! Clicking on this junk is akin to doing business with telemarketers.
I put pictures on my blog so you can see what I'm talking about. Link is below.
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato seedlings
Here is a link to this same question, and the answers, that is currently running on the Growing from Seed forum.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Stuck seed shells
For avoiding EDEMA:
1. Avoid irrigation or watering during cool, overcast humid weather. For potted plants in greenhouses, remove saucers under pots, or discard any water that remains in the saucer 30 minutes after watering. Irrigate or water when air temperature are rising or humidity is low.
2. In greenhouses: a) reduce the humidity of the air by venting and increasing heat; b) improve air circulation; c) increase light intensity; d) space the plants farther apart; e) for potted plants use a well-drained potting medium for potted plants and avoid standing water in saucers under the pots.
3. Avoid overfertilizing, especially when the plants are growing slowly, such as during the winter months. Maintain fertility based on a soil test. Avoid low levels of potassium and calcium.
4. Avoid cultivars that are highly susceptible to edema under your growing conditions.
i have the same issue here in phoenix and i'm wondering y pull up the old plant i have 1 orange cherry and one grape that i've allreedy potted some cuttings from but what is the downside to letting these continue to grow they are loaded with flowers now and i'm getting about 10 pounds of fruit a week, so why would i pull them up?
I don't believe that there is any reason to pull them up as long as they are still healthy and productive.
The only thing I would do is make sure to keep fertilizing them so that they can keep up production. Top-dress them with a couple inches of compost now, and continue what you normally do to keep them healthy.
Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are actually tender perennials, not annuals. I have peppers in the basement that are five-year-old plants. Every fall I stick them in a pot and overwinter them in the basement. When spring rolls around I transplant them back outdoors and get at least a month head-start over those puny seedlings!
The Growing Under Lights forum here often posts info on the benefits and limits of each color type. It would be your best source of info I think.
Personally, when we used T12's in the greenhouse we used a mix in the same fixture - 1 daylight and 1 cool white or 1 warm white with with 1 daylight (aka sunshine). Tomato plants rotated so quickly under the various fixtures so I couldn't note any benefit of 1 type over another.
We have since converted everything we could to T8 sunshine bulbs and added some T5 fixtures. Both make a BIG difference in the plants.
Dave
Seeds were in the mailbox when I got home! I haven't saw them at the Big Box's or any nursery's around here. I have been trying to remember the name for a long time. I know I would have remembered the name if I had saw it. It just kinda hit me one day! LOL
Two things come into play here. Few of us have ever experienced TMV to my knowledge. I've seen Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus, a few bacterial diseases and a host of fungal diseases but never TMV. Secondly if you are concerned,I know many seed varieties are available with resistance to TMV. But although fewer people smoke nowdays I believe the TMV concern from having smokers handle plants was dismissed as insignificant a few years ago. If I were you I wouldn't lose sleep over this disease.
It's not red, but Cherokee Purple has been practically free of diseases for the last 3 years, whereas most of my other 20 or so varieties have not had the luck the Cherokee Purple has had. It has also been the best producer and one of the first to produce. Of my 66 toms this year, at least 15 will be Cherokee Purple.
celebrity is a real good one. Holds up good under disease pressure.