16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Here's my .02 on this subject: I wrap each ripening tomato with a paper towel or newspaper. No baggies. The tomatoes don't need the sunlight (or any light) in order to continue to turn red at this point. Also, I put a some apple cider vinegar or even apple juice into a small bowl with a few drops of dish detergent. The fruit flies will sink into the liquid immediately upon sampling. I usually place the bowl away from any tomatoes; I imagine that I'm luring them away.

Anyway, it works. ;-)

if you simply fill a container with apple cider vinegar, a bit of tomato juice and a drop or two of dish soap the flies will drown in it. The soap acts as a surfactant which breaks the surface tension of the vinegar. Normally when they land on it they won't break the surface tension. But with the soap, down they go.

Change it out so it doesnt smell too nasty.

Hi Greg,

Just about to go through the plants for the best to bring, we'll see you on Saturday.

Trudi and Steve

Thank You!

It was a wonderful day and my first official tomato tasting event. Thanks for all the effort all of you put into this. Absolutely great!!

Thanks again.

Cindy

I used wooden shish kabob sticks I had laying around. About 12 inches long each snapped in half, one half stuck in the soil on each side of the plant.

Only my second year trying it, but it worked ok last year.

Biodegradable is the key for me. Anything plastic ends up getting lost in the soil and popping up later looking like litter.

Cool. We used aluminum foil strips - right from the roll - cut them to size. But would like to try the 3 toothpick option mentioned re: biodegradable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Family Favourite Recipes

Black plum?
You don't say how big they are.

Here's a link to a photo of Black Plum

Carla in Sac

Here is a link that might be useful: http://tomatogrowers.com/black.htm

It is black plum.
I did buy 4 tomato plants this year and kept the tags.
This was one of those 4.
So sorry about that.
But you guys guessed pretty good. Thanks.

"Disproving what? Science doesn't DISprove, it either proves or fails to prove."

I disagree. What the data from properly designed randomized, controlled studies can tell you is whether to reject the null hypothesis. Rejecting the null hypothesis is synonymous with disproving the null hypothesis.

As far as what I was asking above, I will rephrase it for clarity's sake. I was asking whether or not there is any scientific evidence supporting the belief that pruning does not lead to larger fruit. There sure are a lot of people who believe it does lead to larger fruit.

Of course, just because lots of people believe something doesn't mean it is true. That is why I was asking if there is any scientific evidence.

My garden buddy prunes. I don't. He always gets better tomatoes, but his place is in a better location and my greenhouse is too shady. I keep telling him to try leaving one alone some season and I'll try pruning. But old habits die hard and we both can't stop following our old methods.

It's a simple enough experiment to try yourself and answer the question in your particular garden.

-Ed

My leggy tomatoes seem to be slower to bear fruit and not be as filled out as my short ones. Any tomatoes plants I have that wind up leggy get special treatment. I plant them as deep as I can and set a raised container (usually a tire) over the top of them. As they grow, I fill in the tire with soil and mulch. This gives me really good root systems and a chance to plant about three weeks early. A plexiglas frame makes it a nice hotbox. One day I will pick a ripe tomato in May, I've gotten close a couple of times.

Dave...you were dead on about pepper feet liking shade.

zackey - growing outside in south florida. They get direct sunlight from 7am to whenever it starts raining, which is usually between 2pm and 4pm, although some days it starts earlier and some days we have had rain all day due to a tropical system.

I think the Jubilee tomatoes are all about the same.....just different names.
I prefer the flavor of Pineapple, so don't bother with those anymore anyway. As you can see from the picture, they grow large and yummy:)

In the early 70's this is what my mom and then later I raised with FANTASTIC results. Relatives started planting them also. They would get about 5' tall and fruit(big + firm + few seeds) til the cows came home. We took extras to the town's rest home. + no canker sores from the acid Loved these tomatoes!

I think you should root a part of the sucker stem normally in the soil as you grow a tree from a seed........It works..Trust me..

I think suckers are easy to root in soil. I don't use root tone. I use a 4" pot or a bigger one for several cutting. I wet the foliage of the plant daily with a gentle squirt from the hose. This has always worked great for me. Water roots are weaker than soil roots. They don't have to work to get to the the water.

I recieved San Marzano seed in a trade last winter and expected them to be similar in size and texture to Opalkas. Now that they're ripening I'm very disappointed to see that they are more like Dave's 1st 2 photos and about the size of Romas. I'll definitely drop those next year and stay with Opalkas and Big Mamas.
John A

John, how big are the San Marzano tomatoes you grew? 2 or 3 inches long? How is the flavor?

It would help to see the entire plant.

Yellowing lower leaves can also result from low fertilizer and/or a water shortage. Much more common than fusarium wilt.

The tops of the plants look healthy. Lots of new growth. All the lower stems/leaves are in some stage of yellowing as seen above. The fruits do not appear to be affected. I've had some catfacing and some early BER which has since cleared up.

Your plant is obviously highly stressed so there may several things going on with it. Sun scald, tomato leaf roll, etc.

If you Google 'green shoulders' you'll find much more info. But basically green/yellow shoulders is primarily caused by high temperatures. The chlorophyll in the shoulders is slow to break down and results in a patch that remains green or turns yellow but not red.

Providing some shade for the plants and especially the the fruit helps and can reduce the sun scald too. You can also pick the fruit at color break instead of leaving it on the plant and let it finish ripening indoors to eliminate the problem.

Dave

The normal color progression is green to yellow to orange to red. If you get tan patches, it's sun-scald.

Thank you for all your replies!

I will cut way back on watering. Is it better to give them 60 minutes once per week, or spread it out to 10 minutes per day? Either one is easy because it's on a timer.

I will also start picking them sooner.

Thank you!!

"Is it better to give them 60 minutes once per week, or spread it out to 10 minutes per day?"

It is better to water deeply once a week than water shallowly multiple times. (Unless one's plants are in containers, but that is a whole 'nother kettle of worms.) When you water shallowly, you train the plants to seek water near the surface of the soil. This makes them more reactive to variations in moisture, temperatures, and other environmental factors. Deep watering encourages them to send their roots deep so that the moisture is more consistent and temperatures are buffered by the soil depth.

Betsy

I clean up the bad spots, cut into pieces, and shove them in freezer bags. They stay good all year and I drop the whole frozen chunk into soup or chili. I don't mess with skins.

If you are using the defrosted tomato for sauce, it will work really well. But as Dave said, the texture will be very mushy so it won't be good in things like a chunky salsa. I generally peel and half the tomatoes, take the seeds out and drain them well before I freeze them in gallon size freezer bags.

I've also frozen them whole with skin on before. The skin comes right off but taking seeds out is much harder at that point. Plus my hands get very cold.