16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
The seedling will be ok. Most likely it will be the most beautiful plant you have. It happened to me.
Regarding tall plants with 1 tomato, same thing happened to me last year with a Brandywine - huge but only one.
This year, I have 2-3 plants with few stems, that are 8 ft. tall, and just started to have flowers - mid August. Most likely there will be no ripped tomatoes on those plants.
I also have plants - NOT bush - that had flowers when they were 1 ft. high.
This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 14:15
I accidentally broke the growing tip off a determinate seedling (Latah) and had room so I planted it (June 30) to see what it would do. A lateral (sucker) did take over and when I transplanted it I pointed that straight up, the plant has grown but is much shorter than the others, 2ft tall rather than 3-4ft (I planted 2 other Latahs at the same time, right next to it, for comparison).
It got flowers and now fruit on the tip of that lateral so I thought it was all over, that I would only get fruit from that cluster, there weren't any other flower trusses, but other laterals have grown taller and I have flowers on those. I will report back on fruit set. It will be much less productive than the other Latahs but may not be as bad as I originally thought.
I would not add water. sounds dangerous to me. I might add vinegar as it is most important to keep the Ph low. adding water could cause a dangerous Ph in the final product. Even with canning tomatoes without anything added some tomatoes require some vinegar to make them safe.
well some people might use lime juice or lemon juice in place of vinegar. but all are acidic. some water can be highly basic in certain parts of the country. I think out West. things are more acid in the East. But everyone must be careful. I like to add a touch of vinegar to all my tomato canning in jars. just to be safe. but then I like low acid tomatoes to grow.
many recipes are dangerous and I would get a new up to date Ball Canning jar book. they sell them in most Wal Mart stores at a discount of some kind.
for safety I prefer to can my tomatoes plain with nothing added to the jar but some vinegar. then I use that to make my recipe when I cook. that way I do not have added ingredients that might cause the entire jar to go bad. not worth the risk to me.
No one said anything about water. The liquid called for in the recipe is 1C wine, 1C vinegar, and 1/2C water which is safe. The recipe is from the 2006 Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving which is still considered up to date (I forget when the last Blue Book was published but maybe 2010? They don't actually update it every year).
mary - I didn't see a post over on Harvest - did you get your answer?
Here is a link that might be useful: Ball Bruschetta recipe
I been drying Glacier and Bloody Butcher. Both are fairly small tomatoes but have big tomato flavor. Being smaller, I don't think that it is worth the time to remove the skins before drying.
The skins are a little tough after drying, but they are still fine with me. After drying, they have that classic "sundried tomato" taste.
Gardenwheels: My Black Krim have a few similarities to yours, but are different in many other respects. It's amazing how much different areas will vary with the same variety.
My BK are the most robust of the 11 varieties that I am growing. They will need my biggest cages next year. They are about 6ft tall, and a lots and lots on stems that have been pulled back to the outside if the cages with wire ties.The plant is so dense that you cannot see through it.
The BK tomato plants have a very heavy set of fruit, but are so slooow at ripening. I've only picked 1 BK so far (very good taste). But we have been picking CPs for about 3 weeks now. Seed start, and plant out date was the same for both of these. Maybe BK doesn't like cool nights. We have had a lot of night is in the mid to high 50s this summer.
I had some issues with Black Krim last year and this year Noir de Crimee is wonderful and full production. IS started very early and now taking break, 1884 Purple started later is large robust plant, just as productive as IS. Gary o'Sena is producing less than IS or 1884 but very nice flavor. The best is Haley Purple comet which is from doublehelix farms, tasty!!!!
Grown Amazon Chocolate this year RL and I think I prefer PL version of it, have to grow both side to side next year I think.
Black Yum yum was on early side, larged than Haley and more buttery in taste.
Now Tasmanian Chocolate, Rosella Purple and Wild Fred are still coming just got first ones to ripen but did not taste.
One that does not seem get mention often is Pierce Pride, stunning, loved the taste very much but am not growing this year, will do for next.
Yes, it is not definitely "Brown" . As I increase the light intensity/angle on my monitor it gets close to yellow. It also depends on the light exposure at which you took the picture. My opinion is that it is some kind of "Pineapple"
Now The most important thing (IMO) is how doe it taste to you ? is the plant producing in good numbers ? I personally don't care a lot about the name as long as I like it , it is heirloom/op that I can save seeds and plant them. That is all that matters to me, personally.
The ribbed tomato is far more productive. Tons of big tomatoes, even with a fair amount of blossoms dropping off. The taste is...just ok. Not very sweet, and more bland than my other heirlooms. The smooth round, yellow orange ones are little less productive. They are, however, delicious. Every bit as good as the best tomatoes I have in my garden. Very sweet. They're pretty dense too. However, I've noticed more splitting on them than my other varieties.
Worst year ever!
Same thing happened to me. Plants grew quickly to 6 ft
and then just stopped and started turning brown and
crispy.
What few tomatoes I got were without much flavor too.
I talked to my nurseryman and he had the same problem. He said it was blight.
We have had early heat and much higher humidity than
normal this summer. Usually humidity is in the teens
and 20s, but this year it's seldom below 35% with even
higher numbers at night when it hits 80-90%.
Don't know what's going on, but I sure don't like it!
At least here in Orange County, the temps have been perfect for tomatoes,
cept a hot spell back in march or April as I recall, (or maybe not)!.
At any rate I've had my best tomato year in the 10 years I've grown them,
but yes the high humidity has made some "challenges".
Here in Yorba Linda, we've seen "Night after Night",
a humidity of 100% and it takes a while for it to "Burn off" the next AM.
So this year, (first year ever) I have been spraying with a copper spray,
(and knock on wood), I've "Kept the Beast at Bay".
Had I not sprayed, I'm sure whatever "Beasts" cater to the high humidity,
would have done in my tomatoes~~~~So far so Good.
Sorry you were not as fortunate!!!
Gary
Well, I used Copper (Bonide) and IâÂÂm happy, no problems whatsoever â¦. I agree that Copper is not strong enough to fight LATE Blight, but for EARLY Blight, I think itâÂÂs ok. [btw, I'm NOT connected in any way with Bonide, just a VERY happy customer.]
Regarding the Daconil, I still prefer to listen to:
- EPA when it says: âÂÂOn September 4, 1987, the Agency classified chlorothalonil [Daconil] as a Group B2 or probable human carcinogenâ or,
- Pesticide Action Network who says: âÂÂ[Daconil (Chlorothalonil)]⦠Toxicity: Link to information on toxicity to humans, including carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and acute toxicityâ or,
- Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) when it says: âÂÂIn laboratory tests, chlorothalonil causes kidney damage, mild anemia, liver damage, embryo loss during pregnancy, oxidative DNA damage (damage to the cellâÂÂs genetic material), and cancers of the kidney and forestomach. Most of these effects have been observed in several test species.âÂÂ
The above statements are enough reasons for me NOT to use Daconil.
When I will read - on RELIABLE sources - that Copper is bad for health, I might rethink what fungicide I'll use. Actinovate is next on my organic fungicides list.
Obviously, people use whatever products they desire - organic or chemical fungicide - but it's always good to take INFORMED decisions.
Sherry_Bell, this year I used 2 types of mulch: Dewitt Weed Barrier Fabric and 
.
Both are good. Straw might be difficult to find. Fabric mulch allows easier water control from rain.
Here is a link that might be useful: Best mulch for tomatoes?
This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 14:19
Personally, Sun Sugar is my preference over sun gold. Rarely cracks and very sweet. I'm growing Neves Azorean Red and Indian stripe this year, which I haven't tasted but are starting to blush. Indian stripe is very productive and short for an I determinant, about 5'.
Depending on tomato size and meatiness, it's hard to say how many tomatoes you need to make sauce. I prefer the red and pinks, especially the hearts for sauce. I love to oven roast cherry tomatoes and smaller varieties. Next year, try growing Orange Strawberry for an incredible sauce. It has a sweet/tart taste which really came out when cooked and they are large tomatoes.
I am not a fan of black tomatoes cooked. Just a personal thing. To me they are best eaten fresh or oven roasted, especially black cherry.
Juliet is a Roma type cherry that made great sauce and was fantastic oven roasted, but bland to eat. So it all depends.
Sharon
To grow list are:
Neves Azorean Red (NAR)
Kellogg's Breakfast
Mariana's Peace
Brandy Boy
Returning are:
Opalka - productive (both plant and fruit) and good taste
Cuostralee - "
1884 - not quite as productive, but good taste
Paul Robeson... My wife's favorite black tomato of 2014.
Sun gold
SS100 (not my choice, but my wife's)
Sunshine...I feel your pain...hate is an OK word to use....it's emotional when you try so hard and your efforts are thwarted.
I've never used a fungicide but will research it also. My problem is that it is very labor intensive to apply (especially with 76 plants) and every time I attempt to spray we get a downpour. Perhaps less plants and a concerted effort to find a good organic fungicide and apply it from the get-go will delay the inevitable...there's always next year.
Hang in there, you're not alone.
This post was edited by LKZZ on Wed, Aug 13, 14 at 21:49
Septoria is airborne but yes, it could overwinter in debris, not the soil itself so cleaning up will work.
If you are interested in using less fungicides, you might want to look into aerated compost teas... idea is simple- replace bad microbes with good and let them duke it out...
Here is a link that might be useful: Compost tea
Time is of essence to me. That is why i plant as soon as possible (using hoops and WOA) and plant a lot of eary ones and some mid mids. Though our first frost is normally around mid November but October is usually cold and rainy, not tomatoes kind of weather.
So far most of my plants have produced ripe fruits. I just picked my first Cherokee purple, JBT. But Siberian and Green Zebra are taking their sweet time. Bloody butcher, Sun Gold, Matina, SFT and Early treat have been top producers since mid July.
I am going to drop ML (RC) and pineapple next year. Instead I will try Estler's ML, KBX and Brandy Boy.
I'm in northern MN, and this is the coolest summer that I can remember. We haven't turned on our central air yet this year, and looking at the extended forecast, probably won't. Highs have been mostly in the high 70 /low 80s range and the lows in the high 50s to mid 60s.
Most of my long season varieties aren't going to be able to ripen most of the heavy fruit sets that they have. Beautiful plants, loads of green fruit, but we need some heat. Running out of time. These were planted as very robust 12" high plants at the end of May.
Black Krim has been especially tough to get ripe fruit from. Of the big varieties, Cherokee Purple, and Giant Belgium have been my best. 3 of my big hybrid varieties are also very slow.