16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Let us take the lower estimate here.
With 50 container filled with about 20 gallons each it will be 1000 gallons of potting soil. Ready made commercial potting soils cost upward of one Dollar per gallon.

That is why I make my own mix that costs me about $0.35 -0.45 per gallons. Last year I make about 10 cu-ft. which i am going to reuse them by some refreshing.

Another point is that a tomato plant can live with half that much soil. ie. 12 gallons happily.

Seysonn

Not all of my planned containers will be 25 gal., just for the bigger varieties. Some of them will prob. be more like 10-15 gal. I work in tree care/ landscaping and I have 5 or 6 truckloads of compost/ potting soil mix that was destined for landfill I got for nothing. I have access to as many free nursery pots of most any size. If I didn't have all the free materials, fuhgeddaboudit. I'm going containers this year because I need to rotate nightshades out of the garden for a season or two and I don't have other ground to grow them in.

After a couple of years of trying different catalogs, I tend to use Tomato Grower's Supply for my tomatoes and eggplants, Johnny's for just about everything else, and Park's/Burpee for a couple of flower seeds I haven't seen anywhere else.

I also really like Territorial and Seed Savers.

I've also noticed that the catalogs seem to be coming out earlier every year. I like that. If they arrive before Christmas, I stuff them in my bag and read them on the plane while heading off for the holidays.

I like territorial when ordering a large amount of seed for their flat rate shipping and I have always been pleased with the quality. For trying a new variety pine tree is good for their cheap small packets. For specialty stuff I like southern exposure seed exchange and seed savers. I probably do too much, but that's the fun of it.

Looking good, Green . Thanks for posting.

I have the seed for it to grow 2015.

This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Jan 10, 15 at 23:56

And who was the person who introduced Druzba in the US? Yes, me, read thelink below and it gets another vote from me as well. ( smile)

But there are others , round red ones only now, that I like and they might include:

Bulgarian Triumph
Red Brandywine, only the true RL one
Break O Day
Lida Ukranian
Red Barn ( flat globe)
Bulgarian #7

...... to name just a few and round of any color tend to have mid sized fruits, not as large as beefseak varieties.

You can find info about all the OP ones that folks mention at Tatiana's superb website if you don't know them where she has traits of the varieties, comments from others, pictures, seed sources and histories when known;

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Main_Page

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Druzba

I went to the J & L Gardens website, and actually found "Pink Ruffled", for sale there, under that name.

But the description for "Pink Ruffled" mentions this tomato name...

Violaceum Krypni-Rozo (supposedly a Latin name meaning "Violet Krypni Rose") "krypni" doesn't seem to be a meaningful word in any language, but "kryp ni" IS two words, in Swedish: kryp=insect & ni=you - so, a loose translation could be, purple rose bug or purple bug rose, or Violaceum Kryp ni-Rozo.

The photos of this tomato, do NOT look like the heavily pleated accordian types, but more like a round, pleated, drawstring pouch, that are 8 oz in size, much larger than the 2-4oz size, in the other description.

I will have to grow out the seeds I have, and see what size they are, as well as if the plant is indeterminate, and fruit ripens late.

What do you think about this theory, that "Pink Ruffled" IS or may be Violaceum Krypni-Rozo?

As you can see from the link at the bottom I was the one who introduced that variety to the US after getting the seeds from Norbert in France in 1992 after a huge trade between four of us and Norbert.

What I think is that it's yet another large pink that has ribbing/ ruffling, call it what you will.

I can't see that there is ANY one variety that was called Pink Ruffled from the get go, since there are so many large pink ribbed/ruffled ones.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Violaceum

Yeah, they can put out some bad ones. You have to let them get completely ripe. They are hard and take forever to ripen.

I believe 2014 was the first time I grew Tiny Tims. Started the seed in late January.. Got a few toms off them while still indoors in early spring. Planted them with other toms in raised beds. They kept making more tomatoes as the season went on. I believe they peaked late August, loaded with many handfuls of little red tomatoes. The taste was ok compared to the many late season heirlooms I had growing. But I am a little confused about the determinate classification. Those little guys made toms early and just more and more as the season wore on. They were still making fruit at the end of October. I have a photo or two of them. Think I will push a seed or two in the starting soil soon.

Besides being a nice looking tomato in the picture, what is the news about Brandywine?

It's gorgeous, it's tasty, and it weighed a pound and a half!

Too bad it fruits in January, as it would be frozen in the north (LOL).

Linda

Tommy Toe is my favorite red Cherry. They are on the larger side for being a Cherry tomato. They taste more like an old fashioned red beefsteak tomato than a cherry. They are sweet but also have a good amount of "bite" or acidic taste.That is the best way I can describe the flavor. If you are looking for sweet taste without the acidic flavor then these aren't the tomatoes for you. They are very prolific. I have been eating Tommy Toe tomatoes since I was a little girl, my grandma always grew them and now I grow them.

Thanks everyone! It looks like Sweet Million and Sweet Baby Girl are the favorites so one of those for sure.

Read about it, never grew it.

I grew it last year and I liked the taste but production wasn't great for me. I wouldn't let my opinion of production be a deciding factor for you though! Production can vary year to year for me. Most of my plants had diseases last year due to excessive amounts of rain, so that may have had something to do with it.

Here's a picture of my RubyGold T-shirt on Xmas (what better tomato for that?).

RubyGold is the variety, and has several knock-off names floating around due to people who pinned other names on it, including sweet Mr. Q.

He did what?! Everyone *blushes*.

I would like to know if anyone has an independent RubyGold line not from Q's. I have a similar, but not exactly same heirloom, that is as old as RubyGold or perhaps predates it by around 20 years which I am researching with great enthusiasm. That's why I have the shirt. ;-)

PC

PC

Seeds for Ruby Gold are sold separately and there are quite a few who still list it in the SSE Yearbooks and one of them is a long time friend of mine. See thelink below andnote that Tania also gives a link to Gold Medal.

I didn't know Ben Quisenberry personally but I knew many who did know him, his nephew posted at a site where I hang out and what a surprrise that was and it gave several of us a chance to ask questions about him.

The only way I could imagine that Papa Q. as his nephew called him, was that when he donated his seed collection to SSE he wrote in the margin next to Ruby Gold that he had changed the name. He was not one to do things like that so I'm not so sure about a name change.

The first SSE Yearbook came out in 1975 and there were quite a few gold/red bicolors listed and not surprising since most of them originated in Germany and came to the US from the late 1800's to about 1920 with German immigrants.

The same friend I mentioned above is a collector, if you will, of gold/re bicolors .

And most of the ones that became known via the early Yearbooks of SSE are still with us today..

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Ruby Gold

If you start with a commercial mix like Pro-Mix BX that is pre-fertilized, then no additional fertilizer is needed for at least 4 weeks. The reasons include that the pre-fertilized soil mix is also PH balanced and if you fertilize, you will most likely acidify the mix which reduces plant growth. Once the seedlings reach 4 weeks from seed planting, I encourage a very week fertilizer application to boost final growth. As stated earlier, I use 1/4 teaspoon of fertilizer to feed a full tray of 48 plants. This is more than enough but not so much that it triggers nitrogen imbalance.

If you start with an unfertilized mix such as Seysonn mentions, then it is imperative to add some fertilizer right from the start. Most fertilizers also acidify the soil so a bit of lime should be added too. The way I do this is to mix 1 cup of dolomite lime with 10 cubic feet of loose soil mix.

The fertilizer is best applied as a liquid to the soil mix to wet it for plants. I prefer to do this by mixing 1 level teaspoon of fertilizer per gallon of water, then apply 1.33 quarts to each tray of seed start mix. I am using standard 11" X 22" cell trays (1020NH from Morton Products). Coir and pine bark fines are two very common starting materials for seed that do not contain any appreciable amount of fertilizer.

It is important to me to apply the fertilizer in the bottom of the tray and let it wick up into the soil mix. This does 3 things that are important for the plant. First, it encourages the plants roots to grow downward into the denser nutrients at the bottom of the tray. Second, it avoids exposing the seed to excessive quantities of nitrogen which can sometimes cause problems with germination. Third, it keeps nitrogen off the surface of the soil mix where it can cause algae and fungi to grow. The algae and fungi are not necessarily a problem, but I've found that pepper seedlings really don't like to grow in soil mix that has a lot of other things in it.

I'm going to go back and read up on all the great tips. But I wanted to put in my two pennies too.

I usually get rather healthy seedlings.

I start out with a 2x2 pot. Then when the first true leaves really show, plant deep into a 4x4 pot. Then when they start chunking in that, transplant deep again into homemade pots that are half gallon juice jugs with the tops cut off. I try to encourage a lot of root formation.

While all this is going on, I have them in my solarium, which during the spring growing, hits those nice chill temps, but not too chilly. If it promises to get too chilly, I put them into a mini greenhouse with the bottom lined with milk jugs full of hottest tap water. I have a fan on a timer so they get a few hours on and off breeze during the day- but not all day or no breeze at all.
When I go to harden them off, I put them on the porch where they get a little screening from the deep eves from the full sun to prevent scorch, and some protection from the wind which might be more powerful than my fan. I bring them back in at night for the first few days... and of course if really bad weather is supposed to hit. Then I put them out for a few more days off the porch to get regular elements. Then I finally plant em deep in the garden.

The fertilizer I use is the couple gallons I drain off my aquarium when I do it's weekly cleanings. And my regular tap water, since I live in the boonies and have untreated hard water. And sometimes water from my indoor pond in my solarium- which is just run with a pump, no chemicals or other treatments in it.

rweakley, As fcivish said, they will grow!

As far as I know the only veggies that get treated to prevent sprouting are potatoes!

Sorry about the pic that I promised, I forgot about this post.

I didn't notice the thing below that say's: Check here if you would like post replies emailed to you. I checked it this time!

I grew some from the saved seeds last year and they are a keeper. I saved seeds again.

I've been experimenting with supermarket tomato seeds for a while now. See Supermarket tomato I, II, and III threads. These are from batch 2.

Thanks PC.

I will keep your advice in mind.

There is big place for foliar sprays in the organic garden, but on top of properly prepared soil.
I love my foliar sprays and will never be without.
In the following link also read link to mineralized soil as well

Here is a link that might be useful: foliar sprays