16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

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.

Ah -- I was going to give you an edema link as well (for the indentations). But I haven't actually seen edema, just read about it.

Glad everything's okay.

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!

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.

Ditto bmoser, I smoke and I also plant tobacco near my Toms. I have never had TMV on my plants.

Celebrity! What method do you use? I do cold pack and mine do not have a lot of juice.

I cold packed the "Rutgers".
I will try Celebrity this summer for canning. Will it be good for salsa too, or should I stick with Roma?

Without reading a single post in this thread, which is a weakness of mine(ny resolution), I would say we could sum it up in 77 hours and 20 minutes. then again, in the spirit of late.

Had to go out of town in March, when the seeds had just started. Lost two weeks of seed starting.

Marmande : grown from a seed packet I bought at the corner organic market during my extended stay in Germany in 2010. Good flavor, good yield. Used primarily on sandwiches and pizza. Might do these again in a second growing season in 2012, if I'm feeling lucky.

Goldman's Italian-American : gave me one gorgeous-looking fruit for the whole season. Tasted good too, but a lot of effort for disappointing yield. Might try it again some time, but not this year.

Sungold F1: My first season trying Sungold. This was the plant that would not die (that is, until it finally did). It was the first one with ripe fruit (mid-August), and it kept going until mid-December. Unfortunately, neither my wife nor I particularly liked the flavor. Might have been the growing conditions.

Stupice : 2011 was the first year one of these survived long enough to make it into the ground. It lived up to its reputation. Started early -- only the Sungold had ripe fruit earlier -- and kept going even after the Sungold gave out. These were great in my wife's tomato sauce. Definitely will be on my list in 2012.

Some anti-hybrid people (like me) grow Sungold as it is generally considered the sweetest cherry ever.
It's the only hybrid *I* grow as well. The plant is HUGE and the fruits are notorious for cracking, but we still grow it. It's that good and a GREAT seller at the farmer's market. I've heard good reviews for Sunsugar as well. I grew Sungold Select (an OP) last year & it was good but not as good. Whenever there's a "best cherry?" poll the top cherries are usually Black Cherry & Sungold.

People recommend SunGold if they haven't tried SunSugar. Thinner skin, less cracking and splitting, and more resistant to late blight. Tons of tomatoes, sweet and early. What's not to love? Huge plant, though. Be prepared. 8-0

I've heard it will produce a more disease-resistant plant, at least underground, if the root stock is a disease-resistant hybrid and the top is an heirloom more prone to disease.

It's been over 2 years since the start of this thread - anyone have results to report? The University of Vermont video is now free via Johnny's Selected Seeds. I've jumped for some rootstock seed (Maxifort and Beaufort) and am ready to give grafting a try.

I'm planning to plant the "survivors" out in the garden and training to two leaders. Bad idea? Starting to wonder what I've got myself into . . .

All my Kelloggs's Bfast are coming up helmet heads this year. I usually use spit to moisten and let them hang if they can't get it done on their own. But for my KBs this year my technique is to snip one of the exposed cotyledons in half at the seedcoat and they will usually open out and grow just fine. I never pull off the seed coat.

I only do this with the strongest pushers that are trying to open their cots and are showing green. Obvious deadheads are not worth the trouble.

I'm a semi-professional grower and I still have problems with seed coat retention on a few things. I need serious help with this! I solved this problem with pepper seeds (all fresh seed) by providing 80-85 degree bottom heat from the beginning. All the seed coats popped off just fine, in contrast to cold sowing. My BIG problem is with snapdragons. Even with all fresh seed, most of the seed coats are tightly retained and the poor babies strangle themselves. Moisture, whether spit or otherwise, doesn't help. I suspect incorrect growing conditions, but I can't figure out what. Anybody else have this problem? An answer?

There is a great place called Tomato ville (one word) on the web that details this at great length. Wherever you go, here are some of the most important bits of information.

Use a seedling mix to start your seeds, not a soil mix which will be too heavy.

Do not bury the seeds too deep!

It is OK to have plastic over the soil to get the seeds sprouted but as soon as they sprout, remove the cover. Excess moisture will kill your seedlings faster than anything else.

This time of year you are unlikely to have the sun intensity coming thru windows that will give you fat stocky seedlings. Supplement with grow lights. Keep the bulbs very low, just over the top of the seedlings for best results. I move my seedlings outside into a cold frame as soon as they have their first true set of leaves.

Bottom water seedlings. Moisture on leaves increases disease.

Airflow via a fan in the room or natural air currents helps prevent disease and make stockier stems.

Don't fertilize until you have the first set of true leaves and then make it very very weak.

If you get stretching due to low light, transplant into deeper containers and carefully bury the step up to just below the top set of leaves. A tall weak seedling is bad. Stocky strong seedlings is what you want.

Get the plants into natural light as soon as feasible

Plant a few extra for the times you, your pets or your kids kill things accidentally. If everything survives, give the extra plants away!

Have fun! You are right, growing from seed is way more rewarding. Plus in doing so, you reduce the chances of bringing diseases into you yard as well as greatly expanding the variety of things you can grow.

Here are some step-by-step instructions for growing tomatoes from seeds, including videos on linked pages.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing tomatoes from seeds

I have grown two indeterminate tomatoes in a half whiskey barrel successfully. The first year I did it, I added only one drainage hole in the bottom. It was an unusually dry year, and water drained out between the staves, so everything went well. But in the second year, we had rain for a month before I planted out and the wood swelled so much, no water came out through the staves. The drainage hole in the bottom swelled and got plugged up with mud. Although I drilled a couple half inch holes in the sides near the bottom, the soil stayed wet through most of the summer. I was watering my other container vegetables every two or three days in July, but almost never had to water the barrel. Be sure to use a potting mix that drains well and make lots of drainage holes.

30 gallon is a good size for container tomatoes. One per barrel would be plenty. Be sure the barrel has good drainage.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to choose containers for growing tomatoes

Nope, no one to plant sit. I'll probably start about 6 early girls on the 20th since I have plenty of seed. I usually plant around 100 seed, different varieties, mostly heirloom. I plant around 20 in the garden and give my coworkers the rest. I thought about asking one of them to plant sit, but they all live 20+ miles away.

You could also use self-watering seed starting trays. They keep plants watered 5 days :) Here's a link that explains them. GS and Burpee both offer self watering trays. I'm sure there are other vendors too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compare seed starting kits for tomatoes